Making the connection between history, agricultural diversity and place – the story of Victorian apples Johanna Annelie Christensen Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2016 School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences The University of Melbourne 1 2 Declaration The following declaration, signed by the candidate is to certify that: • the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD; • due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; and • the thesis is fewer than 100 000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Johanna Christensen 3 Table of contents Declaration ...................................................................................................................... 3 Table of contents .............................................................................................................. 4 List of figures .................................................................................................................... 7 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 10 1 Chapter One, in which I introduce the wax apples and give an overview of my thesis 12 1.1 My motivation .............................................................................................................. 12 1.2 The wax apple models ................................................................................................... 13 1.2.1 The history of the wax models ......................................................................................... 15 1.2.2 The purpose of the models .............................................................................................. 18 1.2.3 Different ways of exhibiting ............................................................................................. 22 1.2.4 The wax models and my thesis......................................................................................... 27 1.3 Thesis overview ............................................................................................................ 28 1.3.1 Thesis aim ......................................................................................................................... 29 1.3.2 Research approach ........................................................................................................... 29 1.3.3 Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 30 1.3.4 Contribution ..................................................................................................................... 30 1.4 Thesis structure ............................................................................................................ 32 2 Chapter Two, in which I provide context and introduce my research questions ......... 34 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 34 2.2 The context ................................................................................................................... 34 2.3 Climate change impact on apple growing ....................................................................... 36 2.4 Farming in a social and ecological system ...................................................................... 40 2.5 The socio-cultural and historical context of apple growing ............................................. 43 2.6 Definitions .................................................................................................................... 45 2.6.1 Local knowledge and memory ......................................................................................... 45 2.6.2 Landscape ......................................................................................................................... 47 2.6.3 Heritage ............................................................................................................................ 50 2.6.4 Place ................................................................................................................................. 53 2.7 Research questions ....................................................................................................... 58 2.8 A note on policy matters ............................................................................................... 59 2.9 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 60 3 Chapter Three, in which I outline my methodology and discover Bourdieu ................ 62 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 62 3.2 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 62 3.2.1 Social-ecological systems ................................................................................................. 64 3.2.2 Bourdieu ........................................................................................................................... 67 4 3.3 Case study .................................................................................................................... 76 3.3.1 Selection of case study sites ............................................................................................. 78 3.4 Methods and data collection ......................................................................................... 80 3.4.1 Historical Research design ................................................................................................ 80 3.4.2 Document and artefact analysis ....................................................................................... 81 3.4.3 Scoping methods .............................................................................................................. 84 3.4.4 Pilot study ......................................................................................................................... 85 3.4.5 Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 86 3.5 Data analysis ................................................................................................................. 89 3.5.1 Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 89 3.5.2 Historical, document and artefact analysis ...................................................................... 91 3.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 92 4 Chapter Four, in which I explore the environmental history of apple growing in Victoria .......................................................................................................................... 94 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 94 4.2 Once upon a time there were only wild apples .............................................................. 94 4.3 Apples in Australia ........................................................................................................ 99 4.3.1 The beginnings ................................................................................................................. 99 4.3.2 Pests and diseases .......................................................................................................... 111 4.3.3 The bust .......................................................................................................................... 114 4.3.4 The twentieth century .................................................................................................... 115 4.4 The contemporary Australian apple industry ............................................................... 125 4.5 The connection between socio-cultural place and ecological place ............................... 130 4.6 Apples, place and identity ........................................................................................... 132 4.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 134 5 Chapter Five, in which practice meets theory .......................................................... 136 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 136 5.2 Main factors influencing variety choice and practices ................................................... 137 5.2.1 Physical place ................................................................................................................. 138 5.2.2 Breeding programs ......................................................................................................... 142 5.2.3 Markets .......................................................................................................................... 144 5.2.4 Technology and practices ............................................................................................... 146 5.2.5