CHAPTER 13 | 1900s – Federation
scene, the firemen could not get enough water pressure to douse the fire, and so, according to wine writer Robert Mayne, they tried pumping port into the fire, with disastrous results. . . . By the early 1900s, Peter Bond Burgoyne was very active in Victoria and invested hugely in the Rutherglen area. In 1903, he purchased the Mount Ophir Estate, a mixed farm, from Eisemann and Gleeson and immediately set about building the most advanced winery of its time. With ambitions to build a thriving export market, the business was also exposed to the devastating effects of phylloxera and the mishandling of the crisis by the Victorian government’s agricultural department. The winery was planning to plant half a million grafted vines in 1905 and encourage small producers to abandon winemaking and concentrate on contract grape growing. According to Thomas Hardy’s speech at the opening of the winery, the profile of Australian wine in the UK market was immense, with prominent advertising at almost every railway station. . . .
Lunch for the Right Hon. RJ Seddon at Auldana Winery, Magill South Australia 1906. Edmund Mazure is sitting at the head of the table looking back at the camera. [SLSA B-60831]
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