Between 1875 and 1890, Doncaster was part of the Bulleen Shire. On 30 May 1890 the Shire of Doncaster was established. Fruit growing developed as the basis for Doncaster's economy, and a fruit growers' association was formed in 1892.
In 1953, a memorial plaque was inserted into a stone wall in JJ Tully Drive, Doncaster 3108 just south of Schramms Reserve. Plaque Inscription: Around outside: "Commemorating One Hundred Years Of Fruit Growing In Doncaster". In the middle of the plaque: "A Tribute To The Pioneers Of Doncaster And District Presented By Box Hill Horticultural Society 1853-1953"
Fruit Growers Centenary Memorial Plaque Looking JJ Tully Drive Looking North c Plaque at left. GoogleMaps Oct2018
Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society has Irvine Green Negative Collection which contains an image showing the inscription around outside of the circular shaped plaque inserted in the wall:
Doncaster Fruit Growers Celebrate: A HUNDRED YEARS IN THE ORCHARDS Fruit Farmers at Work — By a Staff Correspondent
TEN miles from Batman's "village" in 1853 a handful of pioneers matched themselves against nature, felled hundreds of yellow box, red gum and stringy bark trees and grew fruit trees on the land they cleared. Throughout this year their grandchildren, a few of them grandfathers themselves, will celebrate the centenary of fruit growing in Doncaster, the picturesque district at Melbourne's back door overlooking the blue Plenty Ranges to the north and the Dandenongs in the east.
The Doncaster pioneers were not the first to grow fruit trees in Victoria, but were the first to establish a permanent fruit industry. Edward Henty planted a small orchard at Port-land as early as 1834, while John Pascoe Fawkner purchased a 25-acre lot near the Albert Park Lake and grew 2500 fruit trees on it a year later. In recent months most Doncaster families have been delving into the deed chests and odd drawers for relics and records of the past. From this a story of courage, determination and industry is being unfolded. The Serpell, Petty, Williams, Fingers and Thiele families were amongst the first to settle in the dis trict. Some had tried their luck in the gold fields and failed; others were keener on horticulture and a country life than the hurly-burly of the dig gings. Descendants from these families still live in Don caster, many on the same blocks as their grand father-pioneers. They are now meeting regularly to prepare for the centenary and collate the district's history.
MR. W. A. Thiele, grandson of Gotlieb Thiele, who settled at Doncaster in 1853, after two years as military tailor to Governor La Trobe, is typical of the present-day orchardist. He is intensely proud of this heritage and the early Doncaster settlers. "They were men of vision and loved the land they worked," he will tell you as he sorts out peaches in an old tin shed to the rear of the wattle and daub homestead built by Gotlieb Thiele 95 years ago. It is still in a fine state of preservation. Then, with a broad smile on his face, he will offer you a juicy 12 oz. peach and add, "Not bad for ground that has been in steady production for a century." SOON he can not help telling the story of how these old orchards still continue to produce a steady crop year after year. "The old settlers have proved an orchard's life is almost limitless provided there is sound farm management, intense cultivation and the correct amount of manure distributed. "We are carrying on where they left off. These orchards are 'good' for another century if we look, after them." As Mr. Thiele takes you around the orchard he has plenty to show and tell. There is the 80-year-old pear tree which cropped 40 cases last year, the reservoir, erected many years before the area was reticulated which has saved his trees in several droughts and the pine trees his grandfather planted to keep the wind from the fruit. WHEN the history of Victoria's fruit his tory is written Don caster will be well to the fore. As early as 1882 its or chardists had successfully exported pears to London. These were probably the first to leave Australia. Some years later the Doncaster orchardists erected one of the first cool stores in Australia to ensure an all-the-year- round supply of apples and pears. The 100 years of fruit growing in Doncaster is a success story. There have been bad seasons and bad times - fruit has fallen to as low as 1/6 per case— but the orchardists have over come most of their troubles easily and quickly. In the growing of peaches they have excelled themselves. Since the turn of the century they have supplied the bulk of Melbourne's dessert peaches and exported at least 30 varieties of peach trees to South Africa, America and the Argentine. Among these are the Zerbes, Noonans and Thiele's Cling, mentioned in many oversea horticultural books. They hope to tell this story at an Australia wide fruit show being sponsored by the Box Hill Horticultural Society, on May 8 and 9 to demonstrate the value of the fruit industry to Australia. Profits from this show will be used to assist in the erection of a memorial cairn and plaque at Doncaster to perpetuate the memory of the fruit growing pioneers.
TO the bush lovers these pioneers need no memorial to remind future generations of their work. The beauty they have preserved in the undulating Doncaster district is a me morial in itself. The well-cared-for or chards, with their neat homes, the lofty pine tree wind breaks, the eucalypts and the winding roads and by-roads, make it one of Victoria's beauty spots. As autumn approaches and the green leaves on the fruit trees change to pastel shades, numerous ar tists take their trestle, can vas, brush and oils to the back roads of Doncaster. Here they have quiet ness and beauty before them to spend their lei sure hours with the hobby and in the district they love.
ALREADY the enticing offers of wealthy real estate companies have induced many orchardists to sell out and their orchards have been subdivided into building blocks. The former beauty has been lost and the quietness destroyed. The recent Metropolitan Board green belt development order should prevent haphazard subdivision in the district. Doncaster is the best advertisement for a green belt around Melbourne.
Source: 1953 'Doncaster Fruit Growers Celebrate:', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 13 January, p. 2. , viewed 04 Sep 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206112274
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