THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
The Kyeema Disaster 1938
The great 1938 vintage was followed by disaster. In October 1938, the Australian wine industry lost three of its key leaders in an airline crash. Tom Mayfield Hardy, Hugo Gramp, and Sydney Hill-Smith, all grandsons of founders, were killed on their way to a conference in Canberra when their Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 Kyeema crashed into the western slopes of Mount Dandenong, near Melbourne, while approaching Essendon Airfield. This tragedy shocked the wine community to its core and marked the beginning of very difficult times. The South Australian wine industry had lost the best of its leaders at a time when it needed them most. During the years 1925 through 1939, Australia showed enormous promise, with average exports of 12.6 million litres of wine to Britain annually, which represented 20% of the country’s total wine imports. According to wine writer James Halliday, up to the outbreak of World War II, the value of Australia’s wine exports to England was significantly greater than that of France. But by the end of the decade, the wheels were falling off once again. Over-planting of vineyards and the declaration of war with Germany and Japan hammered grape prices, dried up export sales, and made many wineries unprofitable. Once again, the Australian workforce, including members of the wine industry, was required for war service.
Article on the 1938 Kyeema disaster, The Advertiser ,
Wednesday 26 October 1938.
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