Showing posts with label Asparagus growing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asparagus growing. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Thomas Roxburgh - Asparagus Pioneer

Over ninety percent of Australian asparagus is grown on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp and asparagus has been commercially grown in this region for over 100 years, so this is a look at the early history of asparagus growing on the Swamp.

The first mention I can find of asparagus was in The Australasian of October 31, 1896.  There was a report on James Pincott’s farm about three miles from Bunyip, one of the most interesting and best managed in the settlement. Mr. Pincott carried out some experiments for six months for the Agricultural Department on this plot, when the fertility of the soil was being tested, and the place locally has consequently become known as the “experimental farm." He grew potatoes, onions, strawberries, and clover, amongst other crops and found that Asparagus and celery can be raised to wonderful perfection.

The next reference was in The Age of May 10, 1912 when it was reported that Thomas Roxburgh, had planted asparagus at his farm on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. Mr. Roxburgh who, although a busy man in Melbourne, pays a good deal of attention to his farm at Iona, and for a considerable time has experimented in the cultivation of asparagus. Some three years ago he put in one acre as a test, adopting the American principle of planting 1 foot in depth and 3 feet between the plants, with rows 10 feet apart, so as to allow of cultivation between, the soil being of a peaty nature. Now he has nine acres under asparagus, and intends extending the area, as the managers of hotels and cafes in Melbourne have advised him that the asparagus is of the finest quality. This article puts Roxburgh’s first planting in 1909; he had imported the seed from California.

Who was Thomas Roxburgh and where was his farm? His farm, Cheriton Park, was on the corner of Fallon Road and Simpson Road at Vervale, even though it is also listed in the papers as being at Iona, Garfield or Catani. The farm was locally known as Roxburgh Park and was 350 acres.

Thomas Roxburgh was born in Jamaica, West Indies to Adam Roxburgh and Jane Watson. The family arrived in Melbourne on September 28, 1853 when Thomas was two years old. They moved to Ballarat which was where he married Sarah Anne Holthouse on July 2, 1879. Sarah was the daughter of Ballarat’s well known and most esteemed citizen, Dr Thomas Le Gay Holthouse, as he was described in a newspaper report,  and his wife Hanna (nee Pratt).

Thomas and Sarah had seven children - Edith Jenny (1880-1881), Mabel Stella (1881-1970), Leslie Le Gay (1884 -1969, married the delightfully named Miss Widgie Potts of Narrabri, NSW,  in 1915. Her real name was the more prosaic Ann), Reginald Owen (1889-1953, 1st A.I.F), Dorothy Alice (1890-1987), Leeuwin Beatrice (1895 - 1981, married Peter Charles Ferguson, of Barcaldine, QLD,  in 1924),  and Mary Hope Bradgate (1899 - 1978, married Jeffrey Ivey Retallack in 1942). The first two children were born in Ballarat and the rest in Hawthorn. Sarah Anne Roxburgh died on 1942, aged 84. Thomas and Sarah are buried at Brighton Cemetery. Interestingly, their name is spelt as Roxburghe on the head stone. 


Thomas Roxburgh (1851 - 1931)
The Argus December 31, 1931  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4432544

According to his obituary, Thomas became a member of the firm of James Fry and Co., wheat millers and ship charterers. In 1895 Mr. Roxburgh commenced business on his own account as a grain and shipping broker in Collins-street, and this business he personally conducted practically up to the time of his death. He did a large business, with the East, and was agent for steamers trading with Japan. (The Age, December 30, 1931)

Thomas died on December 29, 1931 and his pall bearers were - Sir James Elder, trade advisor to the Commonwealth Governement and Director of Goldsbrough Mort pastoral company. Read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here; Japanese Merchant, Mr T. Hirai - I have no more information about him at the moment, but maybe connected to the Japan-Australia line of which Roxburgh was an agent; Walter Herbert Sollas, shipping agent, died 1933 aged 78; William Howell Swanton, Director of William Crosby & Co. - Ships Agents, Charterers and merchants, died 1951 aged 88; John Fordyce, General Manager Union Bank, Collins Street, died 1942, aged 78; Norman Seale, chairman of the Victorian Stevedoring Co.; Aubrey Clifton Matthews, who later became a Director of the Roxburgh Company; W. Parbury - presumably connected to the firm of Parbury, Henty & Co, merchants and importers and exporters.  

Back to Thomas and his asparagus - Roxburgh did not personally work on the farm, he employed a farm manager and by 1927 it was reported he had planted 100 acres of asparagus, and his farm was one of the most lucrative farms on the Kooweerup Swamp area, as a ready sale is found for the product at £1 per box. The rich, peaty soil is particularly adapted for the production of the plant, which grows to perfection. (The Age, September 28, 1927). By 1932, the farm had 120 acres under asparagus and in the cutting season 20 to 25 men are employed every day, and from 10cwt. to 15cwt. of asparagus a day are despatched. [cwt - hundred weight or 112 pounds or 50 kg]. (The Argus, April 2, 1932)

It seems that most of the asparagus was canned by either the Gartside cannery at Dingley or the Rosella Preserving Company or A.J.C. (Australasian Jam Company).

During the Second World War, the Roxburgh farm had the Australian Women’s Land Army (AWLA) girls working on the property. The AWLA was established to fill the gap in agricultural workers due to the War. They had training at Mont Park or the Werribee Research Station and were then allocated to farms.


Australian Women's Land Army girls - Naida Rose and Jennie Shouewille working on Roxburgh's farm.
The Australasian November 21, 1942.
View this and other photos here   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142417773

The Argus of November 11, 1942 interviewed Mr G. Roxburgh (this was Thomas’ son Leslie Le Gay, who was listed in the Electoral Roll at Vervale, occupation farm manager) - about the Land Army 'girls' and the  family farm which was growing asparagus for the use of the Army. Mr Roxburgh was quoted as being “very proud of the girls. He finds them fine workers, though physically they cannot stand up to the same speed of work as the men. He thinks that 5 girls can do the work of 3 men”. “They are steady workers," Mr Roxburgh said, "and once I have told them what fields I want done I do not have to worry again.” The women did the cutting, placing the spears into bundles, the picking up of the bundles onto the cart and also worked in the packing shed. The report goes onto describe the living conditions - There are 20 girls, and they live in a camp on the estate, where they sleep in tents and have a small recreation hut. The camp is run on the lines of a Girl Guides' camp, as 2 of the girls first there are Guides, and they helped to establish the camp. The day is a long one. The girls rise at 6.15 and are in the fields at 7.30. They have one hour for lunch, 12 to 1, when they all go to the cookhouse for a generous hot meal, and then spend 20 minutes or so in their tents resting. Work finishes about 5.30, or sometimes earlier if they are able to get through their day's work quicker. In spite of this long day, the reporter said that after work the girls often ride the 6 miles on bicycles to Garfield, to go to the pictures or to a dance. The day I was there several girls were going to walk 2 or 3 miles to a dance!



Australian Women's Land Army girl - Norma Elliott working on Roxburgh's farm.
The Australasian November 21, 1942. 
View this and other photos here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142417773

All the asparagus produced was being sent to the canneries for the American Army, as it had been declared a ‘luxury item’ by the Commonwealth Government. Mr Gartside was not happy about this and he was interviewed by the Herald on June 1, 1943 - Canneries which had processed practically the entire output, were virtually told that tins could not be provided for asparagus designed for civilian consumption. Instead of canning asparagus in long spears, canneries had been ordered to cut it into small soup pieces, which turned good food into pig's food, claimed Mr Gartside. Both civilians and service personnel were prevented from eating asparagus as it should be eaten—long spears dipped in melted butter or iced — and troops would have to eat it in soup or with a fork.


Australian Women's Land Army girls - setting out for the field after their midday rest on Roxburgh's farm.
The Australasian November 21, 1942. 
View this and other photos here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142417773

From October 1944 there was a small Italian Prisoner of War Camp at Koo Wee Rup (read more here) and the men were allocated to work on various local farms, including the Roxburgh farm. My Dad, Frank Rouse, who was ten at the time, remembers truckloads of the prisoners driving down the road to the farm in the morning, one guard on each truck. At lunch time a food van with a portable cooker would go the farm to feed them. 

Cheriton Park was sold in 1947 to A.J.C and by that time it had 125 acres of asparagus under production. A report in the Weekly Times of November 24, 1939 said that the Koo Wee Rup Swamp had 1,300 acres under asparagus. There were two other early growers that I found reports on.  The Weekly Times of March 22, 1941 reported that Mr Alf Ellett had noticed that after the 1937 flood, asparagus that he had planted in his garden grew well, so he started planting the crop on a commercial basis and by 1941 had nineteen acres sown with seedlings in hand to sow another 10 acres. Also, in the Weekly Times, this time on September 14, 1944, there was an obituary for Charles William Wadsley, who died in 1944 at the age of 53. The Obituary described him thus -  He was an expert on asparagus growing, and in addition to his own property [Strathellen]  supervised an asparagus farm at Geelong.

Finally, there was an interview in the Pakenham Gazette of December 8, 1999 with Bill Roxburgh, the grandson of Thomas. In the interview Bill talks about how his grandfather, who owned Cheriton Park, had planted all different kinds of trees on a five acre section of his land and had built his own park to relax in. Some of the trees are still there.



Some of the trees planted by Thomas Roxburgh at Cheriton Park.
(photo taken about 2010)

I have created a list of newspaper articles on Trove on asparagus growing on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp in the early days and Thomas Roxburgh, you can access it, here.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Vervale

Vervale is a little known town or locality between Cora Lynn and Iona. I grew up in Vervale, although I often say Cora Lynn, because no-one has heard of Vervale. Most people haven't heard of Cora Lynn either, but it's slightly more well known. The Shire of Berwick Rate Books give us some idea of the development of Vervale. Ratepayers in the area were listed as living in Cora Lynn or Iona until 1916 when some of these same ratepayers had Clarke’s Post Office as their address. This had changed to Vervale in 1917. The area was also known as Kirwan’s after John Kirwin, who established the Post Office in 1907. Vervale was first written as Vere Vale. Vervale means “green valley”, a bit  ironic as  it is just flat Swamp land.

Vervale didn’t have a lot of facilities – there were no Churches, for instance. Until around 1960 Methodist and Presbyterian Services were held on alternate Sundays at the Cora Lynn Hall, or Presbyterians could attend the Iona Presbyterian Church. Catholics could attend St Josephs Church at Iona and those of the Methodist and Anglican faiths could attend Churches in Garfield. There were no Vervale sporting teams – you had to go to either Cora Lynn or Garfield to play sport.

Vervale General Store and Post Office, taken 1967 or 1969.
National Archives of Australia photograph. www.naa.gov.au

What Vervale did have was a General Store and Post Office, established in 1907 by John. Kirwan. According to the Shire of Berwick Rate Books it was sold to James & Edith McMannis in 1916. Mr McMannis died April 9, 1959, aged 90, and Mrs McMannis died June 4, 1967, aged 88, thus ending 51 years of store ownership. I only remember going there once, it must have been just before Mrs McMannis died and all I remember was that Mrs McMannis looked really old. Given that she must have been well into her eighties and I was only about seven, it's not surprising. Mr and Mrs McMannis are buried at the Bunyip cemetery.

Vervale also had a State School, and although it had three names it was never called Vervale. State School No. 3201 was established in 1894 as Koo-Wee-Rup North School, changed its name in 1899 to Bunyip South and changed its name again in 1905 to Iona. The School closed December 1993.

However, Vervale does have one claim to fame as it was the first place in Victoria in which asparagus was commercially grown. Thomas Roxburgh, who was a Shipping Agent, planted the first commercial crop of asparagus at his farm on Fallon Road,  Cheriton Park, though locally it was referred to as Roxburgh Park. The earliest reference I can find to this planting is an article in The Argus from May 8, 1912, page 6.


The Argus from May 8, 1912, page 6. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

It's a bit hard to read - so here's what it says.   Asparagus Culture.  Bunyip, Tuesday. - Mr Roxborough, an enterprising resident of Melbourne, who owns land on the Koo-wee-rup Swamp, has grown nine acres of asparagus at Iona, and a jam company has offered to erect a canning factory on the land if he grows 20 acres.

The jam company, was, I presume A.J.C., as the farm was later called the A.J.C farm. Even though it says Iona it was really Vervale, but as I said before, Vervale  wasn't used as a name until about 1917. You can read more about Thomas Roxburgh and asparagus growing, here.