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State Library of South Australia Jd Somerville Oral History Collection STATE LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA J. D. SOMERVILLE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION OH 692/128 Full transcript of an interview with D’ARRY OSBORN on 13 March 2001 by Rob Linn Recording available on CD Access for research: Unrestricted Right to photocopy: Copies may be made for research and study Right to quote or publish: Publication only with written permission from the State Library OH 692/128 D’ARRY OSBORN NOTES TO THE TRANSCRIPT This transcript was donated to the State Library. It was not created by the J.D. Somerville Oral History Collection and does not necessarily conform to the Somerville Collection's policies for transcription. Readers of this oral history transcript should bear in mind that it is a record of the spoken word and reflects the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The State Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the interview, nor for the views expressed therein. As with any historical source, these are for the reader to judge. This transcript had not been proofread prior to donation to the State Library and has not yet been proofread since. Researchers are cautioned not to accept the spelling of proper names and unusual words and can expect to find typographical errors as well. 2 OH 692/128 TAPE 1 - SIDE A NATIONAL WINE CENTRE ORAL HISTORY. Interview with d’Arry Osborn at McLaren Vale on 13th March, 2001. Interviewer: Rob Linn. Well, d’Arry, could you give me a bit of background. dO: Well, yes, the reason we got into the wine industry I think was that Dad actually did medicine for three or four years but flunked out, and he was doing it in Ormond College, where they did in those days. And his health wasn’t too good, I think. And my grandfather, who was a director of Thomas Hardy & Sons—Joseph Row(?) Osborn—bought him the property down here because he was a friend of Tom Nottage, and Nottage, we can imagine, said, ‘You know, what about buying the vineyards—the Milton property alongside of our Tintara vineyards, though the Tintara vineyards is for sale, and it’s a nice young vineyard’. So he bought that, and this is where we’re sitting now, in the original house they built in about 1880. I think they planted the vines in about 1890, and there were fifty-six acres here at the time. And they must’ve been pretty good because Dad told me that the first vintage he got 250-odd ton off, and that was a lot for a dry grown fruit in those days, off fifty-six acres. Grandfather, being a director of Hardys, of course, was a strange fellow insofar as he signed the pledge. He was a Methodist lay preacher, I think, or something. Very strong pillar in the Methodist Church. And he married my grandmother in a registry office, which was most peculiar, we discovered eventually. My brother researched this out. And he’d been married before. Nobody knew that. (Laughs) And what happened to his first wife and his family I have no idea. But that’s amazing. It’s one of those mysteries that surfaced when Rowen started digging through the records of marriages. He was married by his friend, Rev Stow, in the Stow 3 Memorial Registry Office. In front, not in the Church itself, which is strange. Anyway, he was also a great athlete, and he was the first Captain/President of Norwood. His picture’s up there in the relics(?) club. And he also was a very keen racehorse breeder and racing bloke. And he’s a Methodist! (Laughter) dO: Yes, he didn’t bet. No, that’s right. Didn’t bet. And we wonder if he didn’t bet because he made a lot of money out of it, I think. Or must’ve made quite a lot of money out of it at some stages. And one of the most famous horses that he had was one called Foot Bolt, which has a picture out there in the tasting room, and hence the Foot Bolt Shiraz, which is written on the back label about that. Sorry, I’ve had that d’Arry. (Laughs) dO: Yes. Well, Dad, when he came here of course, it was only a vineyard. And it was all horses and so on. And a fellow called Norm King and his wife came with him and lived in this cottage, and he batched with them. And then he built the two rooms on the other side of it there, which is now our open office, which was actually two rooms in those days. And in 1920 he married my mother, Eleanor d’Arenberg, and she used to cook out here in a dirt floor kitchen in a lean-to on the side, and lived in those rooms while they built the house, which I live in over there. About 1920 that was built. He went to the War—the First World War—in 1915 in the AIF, the 43rd battalion. And had a bit of a scratch wound. He used to say that it was just a scratch but I think it slowed him up a bit. And there his great friend in the 43rd battalion was one Sam Tolley, who married my aunt, my father’s youngest sister who was widowed when her husband, Felstead— Theo Felstead—was killed in the War, in the Air Force out in France. And she married Sam Tolley when they came back. And Uncle Sam, of course, was TST Brandy in the Barossa Valley and lived in the house and vineyard alongside the distillery, which is owned by the—it’s Elderton Wines. His 4 name was Samuel Elderton Tolley. That’s Elderton Wines. So that’s how it got the name Elderton. What’s the name of the people? I can’t think what their name is now. Anyway, they’ve got that vineyard there. They’ve divorced actually. Well, the fellow died, didn’t he? I believe so. dO: His widow’s got it, yes. Anyway, my other uncle who married Dad’s eldest sister, Jim Marshall, he looked after the property while Dad was at the War and helped plant some of the vineyards on the north side in 1916. So in 1912, they buy here. Is that right? dO: Yes, that’s right. And Dad planted vines straight away. (Sounds like, Small sand), that was planted in 1912, I was told, and 1916 he planted, what we call, the other side over here, which is Grenache, Mataro and—oh, Grenache and Shiraz. And actually the fellow planting them was a fellow called Will Humphries, who’s Humphries from the Hardy’s—father. Jim Humphries’ father. Gradually, of course, when Dad got back from the War and started to get back into it again, he really wanted to do more than just be a grape grower, and he made wine in partnership with Wilkinson, who eventually became Ryecroft, and is now Rosemount, and about to become Southcorp. About to become Southcorp or something. (Laughs) So he made wine out there. And he used to cart the grapes out there in a old chassis, which is a trailer over there now, a Willys-Overland chain- driven solid tyred—rubber tyred—vehicle, which lay as a wreck for years in my childhood out there. And went over Chalk Hill Road and out the back there. In fact, it’s the sort of thing that makes your memories twig a bit, is that on one occasion we were going out—and he used to be able to drive flat along Chalk Hill Road and straight on out through the swamp there, past the back of Tinlin’s and onto the flat road. That’s the straight road— goes through there. You can’t now. 5 Is that Penney’s Hill? dO: No, no. Just out the bottom of this property, it is. Did that used to go right through? dO: Chalk Hill did, yes. Into the flat road where the school is, and so on. It used to be a track through there. It was pretty rough. And in that rough track was a lot of ironstone rocks like this, which came out of this paddock out here when they cropped it, and they put it there because it was boggy, you see, and they couldn’t drive through there with a truck. All that stone’s still there. I’ve seen it there. Anyway, a bit of useless information I suppose but it’s fascinating when you go down there and you see it, and you think, ‘Ah! I know what that is’. I can imagine my father and his slaves putting it there with horses and drays, or whatever in those days. Anyway, my mother had—I have an older sister and an elder brother. My sister’s the eldest, who’ll be eighty this year. My brother will be seventy- seven. I’ll be seventy-five. What are their names, d’Arry? dO: Antionette—my sister. My brother’s Rowen. And he’s named for Grandfather, whose name was Joseph Row Osborn, but he raced under the name of Mr Rowen. And Rowen was named for that. So with your mother, d’Arenberg heritage, was she French? dO: No. She was born in Adelaide with—my grandfather d’Arenberg came out from England. There’s a whole list of stuff on that actually, if you want to get some of that. It probably would be worth having but it would be better if my brother gave it to you.
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