922 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
No. 11.—WINE CULTURE IN N. S. WALES: 
By F. B. Kynepon, M.R.A.C. 
(Read Tuesday, 11 January, 1898.) 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
Wines of excellent quality have been produced in N. 8. Wales 
from an early date. The first grape vine in Australia is ae to 
have been planted at Castle Hill in November, 1791, by Colonel 
de la Campe, a French emigré. Mr. George Suttor planted his 
first grape vine near Parramatta in 1801. Mr. John Macarthur, 
doubtless, had noticed how well grape vines grew, for as soon as 
Europe was opened to travellers after the peace of 1815, accom- 
panied by his two sons, James and William, he visited the leading 
vineyards of Franceand Spain, chiefly on foot, and collected cuttings 
of about thirty of the most renowned varieties of vines and en- 
trusted them with a London nurseryman for forwarding to 
Sydney. On the return voyage, the ship stopped at Madeira and 
the vineyard proprietors promised to forward in due time cuttings 
of their seven choice varieties. This spirited effort to place wine 
culture on a sure foundation by introducing the best varieties in 
the world was doomed to failure. When the cuttings arrived, 
they were planted at Camden Park, and in course of time bore 
grapes that were strangely inferior to those they were supposed 
to represent, and their wines were equally so. Not till many 
years afterwards were suspicions rendered certainties. In 1825 
the Australian Agricultural Company sent out from Chiswick 
cuttings of the true Madeira and Muscat varieties, which, when 
they fruited, proved the Macarthur collection to have been 
tampered with. The London nurseryman had evidently substi- 
tuted a common grape, and the Madeira vineyard proprietors had 
sent worthless sorts. Not only did Mr. Macarthur recognise the 
need of the best grape vines, but the introduction of skilled vine- 
dressers to tend them. Application was made to the British 
Government to introduce foreigners under the existing bounty 
system, but it was needlessly refused, and it was not until 1844 
that such men arrived in the colony. The early cultivators of 
the vine learnt much from repeated failures, and persevered under 
every disadvantage. One and all were pursuaded of the fitness 
of soil and climate for vine culture, and Mr. William Macarthur 
[afterwards Sir William] was particularly enamoured with the 
suitability of the eastern counties of N.S. Wales. = true Ver- 
deilho grape was imported by the A.A. Co. in 1825, and the 
Macarthurs obtained some cuttings, as well as of two sorts of 
Muscat, and from them small quantities of wine were made, and 
these proved that the earlier failures were due to inferior varieties 
and not to the soil. There are few records extant of Australian 
