THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
halls. Authors Forrestal and Jordan, in The Way It Was: A History of the Early Days of the Margaret River Wine Industry , described it as having been ‘sharp and sour, but after drinking a couple of glasses, most people reckoned it was as good as champagne’. The property would be later sold in 1949 to Western Australia’s soldier settlement scheme. At Merbein, in Victoria, the Mildara Winery and distillery was mainly engaged in fortified wine and brandy production. It supplied Seppelt Great Western and most of the wineries in Rutherglen with grape spirit. Growers were encouraged to plant the neutral-flavoured grape variety doradillo for distillation purposes or for sherry production after World War I. During the Depression years, William ‘Bill’ Benjamin Chaffey worked in the winery as a young man, firing up the boilers, which ran the steam-driven machinery, and filling up casks. Many of the workers during vintage were shearers who worked their way down the Darling River on sheep stations and then arrived just as the vintage was getting its way at Merbein. Mildara exported most of its enormous volume of fortified wine to the Emu Wine Company. In an interview with journalist Rob Linn, Bill Chaffey recalled blending 50,000 gallons of flor sherry for export. The wine was moved by horse and trolley to the Merbein Railway Station or taken to the railway heads at Echuca or Morgan by barge. Most of it was sweet white muscat shipped in standard hogsheads and grape spirit in 44-gallon drums. In 1925, wine production in Rutherglen returned to pre-phylloxera levels after 25 years of trial and error, and new investment. The region then boasted over 7,000 acres under vine, with increasing plantings of wine grapes suitable for fortified wine production. By this time, Australia was exporting 750,000 gallons of burgundy-type wine to England. But already, fortified wines were finding favour with local consumers. Further south, in the Yarra Valley, the acreage under vine had greatly diminished. Rather than falling to phylloxera, which came much later, vineyards were pulled out for economic reasons. Many of the previously wealthy pioneers were running out of money. Although there had been several damaging frosts, increasing bird problems (mainly starlings), and the first incidence of downy mildew in 1918, there were other reasons. The market for dry table wines was sluggish, and the temperance movement was at or near its height. Farming techniques had depleted soils, and massive tree clearances, which had opened up the country to pasture, were causing erosion. Dairying was proving to be much more profitable. By 1920, the total vineyard area had diminished by 73%, from 994 acres to 251. The trend continued to accelerate, and by 1937, only kitchen garden vines existed. . . .
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