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 on the main channel 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." (2) He grew potatoes, onions, strawberries, and clover, amongst
other crops and found that Asparagus and
celery can be raised to wonderful perfection. (3)
The
next reference was in The Age of May 10,
1912 when it was reported that
That land on the Kooweerup Swamp can be turned to more profitable account than growing potatoes has been demonstrated by Mr. Roxborough [sic]; 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.
Some time ago Mr. Roxborough induced an American expert to visit the locality, and he declared that the Kooweerup Swamp land is particularly well adapted for this, form of cultivation, and Mr. Roxborough's experience bears out his opinion. It is stated that a Melbourne jam factory has offered to put up a canning factory if Mr. Roxborough will agree to put 20 acres under asparagus. (4)
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 newspapers (such as in the article above) as being at Iona, Garfield or Catani. The farm was locally known as Roxburgh Park and was 352 acres. The Roxburgh's had begun their purchase of land on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp in 1902-1903.
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). As noted in Thomas' obituary -
Later he 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. Mr. Roxburgh established an asparagus farm at Garfield, Gippsland, where an extensive business is conducted by his two sons, Mr. Leslie le Gay Roxburgh and Mr. Reginald Owen Roxburgh. (5)
Thomas and Sarah had seven children; the first two children were born in Ballarat and the others in Hawthorn -
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)
Mary Hope Bradgate (1899 - 1978, married Jeffrey Ivey Retallack in 1942). (6)
Thomas Roxburgh (1851 - 1931)
The Argus December 31, 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4432544
Thomas died on December 29, 1931 and he was buried, as we said, at the Brighton Cemetery. The service was conducted by the Reverend Charles Strong of the Australian Church and the pall bearers were -
Sir James Elder, trade advisor to the Commonwealth Government and Director of Goldsbrough Mort pastoral company, who is also buried at Brighton Cemetery.
Japanese Merchant, Mr T. Hirai - I have no more information about him at the moment, but he may have been connected to the Japan-Australia Shipping 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 Overseas Ship Owners Association and chairman of the Victorian Stevedoring Co.
Aubrey Clifton Matthews, who later became a Director of Thomas Roxburgh Pty Ltd.
W. Parbury - presumably connected to the firm of Parbury, Henty & Co, merchants and importers and exporters. (7)
Sarah Anne Roxburgh died on July 24, 1942, aged 84. Thomas and Sarah are buried at Brighton Cemetery. Interestingly, their name is spelt as Roxburghe on the head stone. (8)
Back to Thomas and his asparagus, he did not personally work on the farm he employed farm managers and later his son, Leslie, managed the farm. 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. (9) 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. (10) [cwt - hundred weight
or 112 pounds or 50 kg].
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. (11)
The Land Army Women at Roxburgh's farm in November 1942
The Australasian, November 21, 1942 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142417773
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! (12)
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
In June 1943, The Herald reported on the state of the asparagus industry -
Victoria's crop, which is estimated to be nearly 40, 000 cases, each containing 24 2-lb. tins, is grown by about 20 growers on nearly 1000 acres in the Koo-Wee -Rup, Portarlington and Barwon Heads, and Bairnsdale districts. All but about 20 per cent of the crop, which was sold fresh, was processed for Commonwealth consumption. (13)
However during the War the Federal Government declared asparagus to be a luxury item. Charles Gartside, M.L.C., of Gartside Brothers Cannery, was not happy about this and he was interviewed by The Herald on June 1, 1943 on the issue -
The main processors at the time were the Gartside Brothers Cannery at Dingley, the Rosella Preserving Company or A.J.C. (Australasian Jam Company).
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 advertised for sale by auction in 1947 and at that time it had 125 acres of asparagus under production. The top offer was £20,750, but this was below the reserve and the sale was not completed. (15) Two years later the Weekly Times of November 24, 1949 could report that the Koo Wee Rup Swamp had 1,300 acres under asparagus. (16)
In April 1951 Cheriton Park was on the market again and was sold for a price close to the reserve of £39,000. The buyer was listed in the newspaper as the Australasian Jam Coy. Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Henry Jones Ltd, even though the Shire of Berwick Rate Books have the owner as the Tatura Cultivation Company Pty Ltd, of 1 Garden Street, South Yarra, the same address as A.J. C. They held the land until around the early 1970s. (17)
There were several other early growers from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp which I found reports on. In 1934, The Age reported that -
Smaller plantations in this locality are also being cultivated by Messrs. Dick and Hardy, with favorable results. Several other progressive farmers are also contemplating a change from potatoes. At Cora Lynn, Mr. D. Kinsella (Kinsella Bros.) has this season planted a 12-acre paddock. Mr. Wadsley has long been the pioneer of this vegetable at the "Five-mile." (18)
Ten years later, in 1944, The Age published a short obituary of Mr Wadsley -
Mr Charles William Wadsley, JP, 53, died at his home, Strathallan, Koo-wee-rup, on Tuesday after a long illness. Mr Wadsley was a former president of Berwick Shire, in which he represented Iona Riding for 11 years. He retired three weeks ago. He was an expert on asparagus growing, and in addition to his own property supervised an asparagus farm at Geelong. (19)
The Weekly Times of March 22, 1941 reported on Alf Ellett, another asparagus grower -
When, in 1937, the whole of his farm was submerged for upwards of a week, Mr. Alf Ellett found that, when the water subsided, his few rows of asparagus - grown for his own use - alone had survived. Indeed, their subsequent growth showed that they had actually benefited from the thorough soaking which the land had received. The thought then occurred to him that asparagus growing was worth developing, not only as being equally profitable as other forms of vegetable culture, but as a safeguard against future floods. He thereupon set about putting almost the whole of his 42-acre block under asparagus.(20)
There is still a reminder of Cheriton Park. 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, and can be seem in the photograph below.
Some of the trees planted by Thomas Roxburgh at Cheriton Park, on the corner of Fallon Road and Simpson Road, Vervale.
(photo taken about 2010)
Trove list - 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.
Footnotes
(1) See these websites of Koo Wee Rup Swamp asparagus growers - https://www.momack.com.au/ and https://www.mottaproduce.com.au/asparagus and https://raffafields.com.au/
(2) The Australasian, October 31, 1896, see here. I have written about James Pincott here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2024/10/mr-pincotts-model-farm-at-iona.html
(3) Ibid
(4) The Age, May 10, 1912, see here.
(6) Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages and personal notices in the newspapers.
(7) The Herald, December 31, 1931, see here; James Elder - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elder-sir-james-alexander-6099; Japan-Australia Shipping Line - The Age, April 28, 1927, see here; Walter Sollas - The Argus, March 6, 1933, see here; William Swanton - The Age, November 12, 1951, see here; John Fordyce - The Age, April 13, 1942, see here; Norman Seale - The Sun News-Pictorial, August 27, 1925, see here; The Sun News-Pictorial, October 21, 1944, see here; Aubrey Matthews - The Argus, September 6, 1938, see here; W. Parbury - Brisbane Courier-Mail, November 18, 1933, see here.
(9) The Age, September 28, 1927, see here.
(10) The Argus, April 2, 1932, see here.
(11) AWLA - https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/homefront/land_army Training - The Age, November 24, 1942, see here; The Age, January 26, 1943, see here.
(12) The Argus, November 11, 1942, see here.
(14) The Herald, June 1, 1943, see here. Charles Percival Gartside (1887-1958) https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/charles-gartside/
(15) The Argus, November 7, 1947, see here.
(16) Weekly Times, November 23, 1949, see here
(17) The Argus, April 28, 1951, see here; Shire of Berwick Rate Books.
(18) The Age, October 31, 1934, see here.
(19) The Age, September 14, 1944, see here.
(20) Weekly Times, March 22, 1941, see here;
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