Thomas Hardy (14 January 1830 – 10 January 1912) was a winemaker in the

McLaren Vale McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wine ...

, South Australia. He has been called the "Father of the South Australian Wine Industry".

History

Thomas Hardy was born in

Gittisham Gittisham is a village and civil parish in Devon near Honiton. The village is from Ottery St Mary and it has a church called St Michael. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Awliscombe, Honiton, Sidmouth, Ottery ...

in Devon. He and Joanna Holbrook, whom he later married, arrived in South Australia on the ''British Empire'' on 14 August 1850. While on the voyage he acted as schoolmaster to the boys on board, while one Mrs. J. Gillard is reported as having taught the girls, however that name does not appear on passenger lists. He soon found work with

John Reynell John Reynell (9 February 1809 – 15 June 1873) was an English-born emigrant to the colony of South Australian where he became established as a wheat farmer, a sheep and cattle breeder, and a vigneron and winemaker. Reynell was born in Ilfraco ...

at Reynella Farm, and learned much of winemaking from the German fellow-workers. After two years he left for the goldfields of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, where he was quite successful working with a butcher and droving cattle to the diggings from Yankalilla. He then started work on a station near Normanville. In 1853 he purchased a property of on the

River Torrens The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

which he called "Bankside", now Underdale, near the present Hardys Road. In 1854 he planted of fruit trees, mainly oranges, and of

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

vines which he enlarged in 1856, then added an acre of

Muscatel Muscatel ( ) is a type of wine made from muscat grapes. The term is now normally used in the United States to refer to a fortified wine made from these grapes rather than just any wine made from these grapes. This fortified muscatel became pop ...

table grapes in 1861. He made his first wine in 1857 and exported two hogsheads to England in 1859, one of the first exports of wine from South Australia. By 1863 his vineyards covered of Grenache, Mataro, Muscat, Roussillon, Shiraz and Zante grapes. He also purchased grapes from other vignerons in the Adelaide area. By 1879 his vintage had reached 27,000 gallons (100,000 litres). He purchased "Brookside" of at

Marion, South Australia Marion is a suburb in the City of Marion, around south-west of the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Founded as a rural village in 1838 on the banks of the Sturt River, Marion was found to have rich soil and the populatio ...

in April 1862, planted it with grapes and put John Western in charge. Western was followed in 1884 by son-in-law Arthur Quick, who took it over in 1910. In 1874 Hardy, with A. M. Bickford and Sons, W. N. Crowder and others founded a bottle works in Chief Street, Brompton which began production in 1875, and eventually became the South Australian Glass Works Co. Ltd. The Tintara winery at

was built by Dr. Alexander Charles Kelly and purchased by Hardy in 1877 and was used for wine production until 1927. In 1878 or 1879 he expanded his McLaren Vale holding by purchasing a disused flour mill and the Bellevue Hotel (both of which still stand). He started Adelaide's first wine bar. In 1881 he built a four-storey warehouse, head office and bottling cellars "Tintara House" (demolished 1961) at 87–89 Currie Street. In 1887 he founded Thomas Hardy and Sons Ltd. with his three sons James J. Hardy, Thomas N. Hardy and Robert B. Hardy, and Joseph Rowe Osborn. Hardy planted specimens of various grape varieties at Adelaide Botanic Gardens, but these were subsequently removed to provide more open space for recreation purposes. He founded a jam manufacturing company with premises at Dequetteville Terrace later occupied by Adelaide Malting and Brewing Company and now a block of luxury apartments. The

Mile End Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...

cellars were built in 1893. Around this time Thomas Hardy and Sons were South Australia's largest wine producers. The Bankside winery was destroyed by fire in 1904. It was not rebuilt. He oversaw the destruction of a

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

n vineyard infected with

Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

and was a prime mover in writing the Phylloxera Act of 1879.

Later developments

Around 1910 management of the company passed to his son Robert, followed in 1928 by Robert's nephew (Thomas' grandson) Thomas Mayfield Hardy. Bankside was sold to F. G. Gill. The homestead was demolished in 1962. In 1976 the company acquired Emu Wines with a high export profile and vineyards in Western Australia. Hardy's had at McLaren Vale and other vineyards at Dorrien, Keppoch and

Waikerie Waikerie ( ) is a rural town in the Riverland region of South Australia on the south bank of the Murray River. At the , Waikerie had a population of 2,684. The Sturt Highway passes to the south of the town at the top of the cliffs. There is a ca ...

Personal

*Member of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society for many years, and in 1904 was elected president. *Member of the Chamber of Manufactures *Member of the Agricultural Bureau *Member of the West Torrens School Board of Advice *Member of the Winegrowers Association *Member of the

West Torrens Council The City of West Torrens is a local government area in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Since the 1970s the area was mainly home to many open spaces and parks, however after the mid-1990s (1993-1995) the LGA became more residen ...

Family

His sister Martha (ca. 1830 – 25 May 1909) married Frederick Stoward. In 1854 he married Joanna or Johanna Holbrook (ca. 1827 – 24 January 1868). He married a second time, to his cousin Eliza Hardy (ca. 1834 – 27 November 1886) of

Colyton, Devon Colyton is a town in Devon, England. It is located within the East Devon local authority area, the river River Coly runs through it. It is from Seaton and from Axminster. Its population in 1991 was 2,783, reducing to 2,105 at the 2011 Censu ...

on 29 September 1869. His children included: *Anna Elizabeth (3 January 1854 – 15 May 1931), a nurse, was her father's aide and companion. *James Joseph "Jim" (30 October 1855 – 14 June 1904) *Caroline Adelaide (1857 – 5 June 1885) married Arthur Quick of "Brookside",

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mari ...

*Thomas Nathaniel "Tom" (ca. 1862 – 15 June 1911) married J. L. "Louie" Mayfield ( – 12 October 1910) of "Ivanhoe",

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

on 12 November 1889 :*Dorothy Hardy ( – ) :*Tom Mayfield Hardy (ca. 1892 – 25 October 1938) Chairman and managing director 1924–1938. Killed near

Mount Dandenong Mount Dandenong is a small township/suburb of Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Mount Dandenong recorded a population of 1,2 ...

in crash of plane "Kyeema" with Hugo Gramp of

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

and Sydney Hill Smith of

Yalumba Yalumba is an Australian winery located near the town of Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley wine region. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August ...

wineries ::* James Hardy (29 November 1932 – ) *Robert Burrough "Bob" ( – 16 August 1927) married Esther Lavinia Simpson of Gilberton on 5 January 1893. Managing director 1912–1924. :*Robert Cyril (26 June 1894 – 7 May 1917 died in action, France) :*Kenneth Thomas Hardy (23 May 1900 – 13 November 1970) managing director 1938 to 1965; succeeded by Thomas Walter Hardy *Gertrude Mary (ca. October 1877 – 30 July 1878) *youngest daughter Eliza J. Hardy ( – 3 March 1911) married William V. Anstis of

Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vic ...

Recognition

At the Adelaide Exhibition of 1881 he was awarded a trophy valued at 100 guineas awarded by Sir Edwin Smith for the "exhibit of greatest national importance to the State".

Sources

*Bishop, Geoffrey C. ''The Vineyards of Adelaide'' Lynton publications, Blackwood, South Australia *O'Neill, Sally, 'Hardy, Thomas (1830–1912)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hardy-thomas-3716/text5767, accessed 7 September 2012.

References

External links

* http://www.hardys.com.au/pages/hardys/hardys.jsp {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Thomas Australian winemakers 1830 births 1912 deaths People from East Devon District English emigrants to Australia