Frederick THIELE and his family.
Frederick THIELE was born at Doncaster in 1855, the sixth child of Gottlieb and Phillipine Thiele who were pioneer settlers of the district. He attended the school conducted in the Lutheran Church at Waldau where Max Schramm was the teacher. The transfer of the school from Waldau to Main Road in 1864 was effected during the time of his attendance. After leaving school, Fred worked on the family orchard at Friedensruh, and grew up to become one of the district’s most successful orchardists.
Early in his life he was sent by his father for professional training in horticulture at the nurseries of J.C. and T.C. Cole in Hawthorn where he learnt various methods of plant propagation. Fred was an innovator and introduced better methods of management to make the orchard more profitable. He was also a mentor to his brothers Edmund and Alfred, who in later years with Fred, worked the family orchard in partnership. At one time Fred realigned a section of Ruffey Creek below the homestead, digging this out by pick and shovel. Evidence of this can still be clearly seen in the creek today.
In 1889, Fred married Ada Yewers at St. Judes Church of England in Carlton. He would most likely have met his wife during the time she was assistant teacher to his brother Oswald Thiele, who at the time was Head Teacher of School 197 Doncaster.
Fred and Ada made their home in Church Road (north of Doncaster Road) on a property of 36 acres which the family partnership had purchased from John Beanland in 1885. Stone from a small quarry on the site had been used to build Holy Trinity Church of England in 1869.
Little is known about the original home, but it was always said by members of the family, that the oldest section had been a harbour masters cottage at Port Melbourne, and carted by dray to Doncaster.
Fred and Ada had a family of four - Everard, Laura, Genevieve (Viva) and Adrienne and a larger house was soon required. Fred extended his home by removing a small gabled section at the front and adding loungeroom and dining room of gracious proportions together with four bedrooms and wide verandahs on the north and south sides. This was built in Federation style with a slate roof and tall chimneys. The reception rooms were elegantly furnished. In its heyday, there were also extensive orchard outbuildings at the rear of the house. These were removed in later years when when the orchard was subdivided.
Fred had built a large stone cellar under his barn where soft fruit could be kept cool in hot weather to prevent overripening. To keep the temperature constant, cool air was drawn through underground pipes, from the the surface of a nearby dam, into the cellar. Tall flue pipes kept the air in the cellar fresh.
The orchard was enlarged in later years with the purchase of adjoining land from the Aumann family, and in time it became one of the best managed and most productive orchards in the district. Pears, peaches, lemons, and apples were the principal crops. On one occasion Fred Thiele won the Leader Cup, an award given by The Leader Newspaper for the best orchard in the metropolitan area.
In the early 1890s, Fred developed a variety of peach from a chance seedling which he named Thiele’s Cling. It became one of the most popular and widely grown canning peaches, and is still grown commercially today. He also brought the first Packham Triumph pear to Doncaster from New South Wales, and this tree was used extensively for propagation purposes. Many of the Packham pears grown in Doncaster originated from this tree.
Fred also introduced the Trifoliata stock for lemon trees. He grew this stock from a seed brought by him from Queensland in the 1890s. This stock, he always maintained, produced more reliable crops with heavier yields and longer living trees.
Fred was a manv of vision and foresight and during his life contributed much to the advancement of the fruit growing industry generally. He carried out many experiments on his property over the years, a number of these on behalf of the State Government.
One of his most significant and far reaching innovations was the development of irrigation. In order to overcome the ravages of drought he constructed dams on his orchard. Water was pumped by means of steam power from a large gully dam to various hillside dams around the orchard. From these smaller dams water could be reticulated by gravity through underground pipes to irrigate all sections of the orchard when required.
On one occasion when drought threatened frail crops elsewhere in Victoria, Doncaster’s thriving orchards attracted Government interest "See Fred Thiele’s orchard.”, Fred Petty advised the Premier. "Its like an Eden. Hell tell you why." Fred explained the local system and made a map of all the dams and depressions in the locality for the government.
Fred Thiele was a highly respected authority on fruit culture, and his advise was frequently sought by fellow orchardists. After a long day’s work in the orchard he would often spend his evenings answering correspondence from orchardists in other parts of Victoria and beyond.
He served as president of the Doncaster Fruitgrowers Association where he was always an active member and also as President of the Central Fruitgrowers Association for twenty eight consecutive years. He was a noted judge at fruit exhibitions throughout Victoria and on many occasions represented the Doncaster district as delegate at local and interstate fruit growers conferences.
In his retirement, he devoted much of his time to the large flower garden surrounding his home, leaving the management of the orchard to his son Everard.
Fred retained all his faculties throughout his long life and was well informed on current topics as well as those associated with fruit growing. He never drove a motor car, preferring to use the horse and wagon. On one occasion while driving his brother Oswald to Box Hill, the waggon tipped over when the horse bolted down the steep incline in Elgar Road near Koonung Creek. It's passengers were thrown out and Fred sustained minor injuries. He always walked with a limp after this mishap.
Fred Thiele died in 1949 at the age of ninety three years. After his death, the property passed to his son Everard. It was later purchased by Wal and Rosa Wilhelm who lived there until recently. Sadly the house is now to leave the district to be relocated at Mount Macedon, but happily it will survive to enter a new phase of its history.
Source: Eric Collyer writing in 1996 12 DTHS Newsletter
Need images:
- View of Frederick Thiele's first home from east side of Church Road. In the distance is Schramms Cottage.
- The Ambrose Street side, the new section with its verandahs and gables.
- The rear of Frederick Thiele's House showing the original section.
