CHAPTER 13 | 1900s – Federation
In August of the same year, Eliza won first place for a sweet white wine at the Corowa Agricultural and Horticultural Show. But in July 1905, under the conditions of their father’s will, the vineyard was sold at auction and purchased by Eliza’s brother, John James McWilliam, who by this time had fully established his Mark View vineyard and winery at Junee. The Sunnyside Vineyard was leased out initially and then sold in August 1911 to Mssrs WA Taylor and RG Henderson for £2,560. According to vigneron Doug McWilliam, the three sisters (without their elder sister, Isabelle) moved to Christchurch, New Zealand. Eliza McWilliam never married and eventually returned to Sydney, where she died in 1919 aged 53. This story highlights the difficulties for women working in the wine industry at the turn of the century. Male heirs enjoyed the trappings of inheritance, while women struggled to make ends meet, especially when not married. In addition, superstitious beliefs and conventions of the time prevented many women from working in wineries. Vineyards and wineries run by women, usually widows, were something of a novelty in the early 1900s; however, in newly federated Australia, as in the United Kingdom and the United States, there was a move for change. Women were seeing increased political representation, and the growing suffragette movement was a sign of things to come. The Coonawarra Fruit Colony began to fail in the early 1900s, despite the bumper crop in 1901. Although production steadily increased during the 1900s, the seeds of its demise were already sown by the federation of Australian colonies in January 1901. There is some irony in this because John Riddoch believed that federation would improve the living standards and opportunities for South Australia’s southeast. The removal of intercolonial trade barriers exposed Coonawarra to severe competition in Australia from established wine regions and wine producers. Heavily reliant on export markets and exposed to increasing preference for fortified wines, especially after World War I, Coonawarra’s fortunes began to decline. While the fruit colony was not overly exposed to the disastrous Federation Drought (1895–1903) because of the huge underground basin of artesian water, the project’s momentum began to slow down. W Catton Grasby had already identified the Coonawarra Fruit Colony’s Achilles heel. In 1899, he observed that John Riddoch’s grand scheme would rely heavily on his ‘ample capital’ and inferred that without it, the purchase of wine and making of wine would be at risk. Although the 1903 vintage had increased to 540 tons (81,000 gallons), and in 1909, the winery had processed 493 tons (70,000 gallons), sales were not matched with production. Grape prices had declined as well. By this time, prices had dropped from £7.10/ton (cabernet sauvignon) and £4.10/ton (shiraz) to just £3 per ton for both in 1909 if the crop could be sold. According to James Halliday, some were selling grapes for as little as 15s a ton – or even feeding them to pigs.
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