Petty's Orchard in Templestowe, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, is among Melbourne’s oldest and last-remaining commercial orchards. A section of the orchard holds one of the largest collection of

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

apple varieties in Australia, including more than 250 varieties of old or rare apples and other types of fruit. In 1853 Thomas Petty arrived in Australia from England and selected land in the Doncaster and Templestowe area. His grandson Thomas Henry Petty first purchased the property now known as Petty's Orchard, located between Homestead Road and the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stre ...

, in 1911. Thomas Henry was the first of three generations of Pettys to manage the orchard until Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works purchased the property in 1981. Under successive Victorian governments, the site has since been owned and administered by Melbourne Water (from 1992),

Melbourne Parks and Waterways Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropoli ...

and

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

(1996 to present). The Petty's Orchard property occupies 44 hectares of land. It is leased t
Yarra Organics
who operate it as a family business. Twenty-five hectares of the property is run as an organically-certified commercial orchard providing a range of fresh fruits to the market, and also incorporates an organic food shop and a popular cafe. The Petty's Orchard property additionally encompasses a four-hectare heritage fruits collection (previously referred to as the 'Demonstration Orchard'), a

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

area including a bird hide, and remnants of a former fruit and nut

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

.HFS: Petty's Orchard
Th
Heritage Fruits Society
manages and maintains the heritage fruits collection at Petty's Orchard. The volunteer-run Society is one of many worldwide which conserve rarely-seen fruit varieties for use, study and appreciation by future generations. Long-term conservation of fruit varieties involves replicating them by

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...

budwood onto rootstock. To this end, the Society annually runs public events which include the sale of budwood, basic training in tree grafting, and fruit-tasting events where rare fruit varieties can be seen and sampled.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Cite web , title=Old Pettys Orchard info flyers , url=https://heritagefruitssociety.org/page-1860647 , website=Heritage Fruits Society, date=, first=, last=
Drone fly-over video of Petty's Orchard
''YouTube video.'' City of Manningham Companies based in Melbourne Horticultural companies of Australia Orchards Agriculture in Victoria (state)

See also

References

External links