Richon Vineyards Site

Statement of Significance

The place is significant as one of the earliest vineyards established in the district, and is associated with J. Marian and Anton Marian.
The place is important for its potential to yield archaeological material and information about the remaining built features that demonstrate the function and arrangement of the former vineyard.

Physical Description

The place comprises all that remains of the former Richon Vineyards, part of a broader site that has been subdivided for residential development. The site of the former cellar is on a reserve in the centre of the subdivision, through which a narrow creek runs and includes the broken remnants of a concrete foundation for a wine press, brick rubble from former buildings, and a stone contour channel and dam wall used for diverting water, presumably for irrigation.
The concrete foundation is now a pile of rubble but is distinguished by its laterite pebble aggregate mixed with a large volume of cement (as opposed to other broken pieces of concrete in the vicinity, which have blue-metal aggregate) and is located to the north of the Chateau Court cul-de-sac, near the fence line of adjacent residences. Areas of brick rubble are located further east, up the rise of the creek bed, and include some bricks stamped with ‘‘Coombe’’ (most likely from the Coombe & Co steam brickworks operating in Armadale and managed by Albert Cornish 1905-33), and various other building artefacts such as pieces of corrugated iron and sash weights (from windows). At the top of the rise, a stone dam has been constructed across the creek. A shallow stone-lined channel, approximately 1 metre wide, extends north from the dam for approximately 100 metres. Further north, where the reserve nears Treecrest Gardens, a large Plane tree also associated with the Richon property continues to grow.

History

In 1901, J. Marian, with his nephew Anton, planted a vineyard on the gently sloping hills on the upper side of the Bunbury Road. This property was known locally as the ‘‘Slavonian Vineyard’’ and, later, as ‘‘Marian’’s Vineyard’’. In 1905, the vineyard produced 1,000 gallons of wine, increasing to 8,000 gallons in 1912. A cellar was built in 1906, but this was destroyed by fire in 1914. However, it was rebuilt and extended soon after. Richon Vineyards was the name chosen by G.V. McCarthy- who purchased the property in 1919- after the Richon le Zion (meaning, ‘‘first in Zion’’) vineyard financed by Baron Edmund de Rothschild in (what was then) Palestine.
In the former Palestine, commercial wine-production dates from Jewish re-population in the second half of the nineteenth century. Small household winepresses were in use to crush grapes bought from Arab vineyards in the surrounding hills. The first European varieties were planted in 1870 at the Mikveh Agricultural School, and Baron Rothschild (at that time co-owner of Chateau Lafite and a sponsor of early Jewish pioneer settlement) had high hopes that viticulture would develop in the region, and would provide a viable export industry (of kosher wine) to Jews around the world.
After the first harvest, Rothschild financed construction of two wineries at Richon le Zion (1889) for Judea and Zikhron Ya'akov (1892) for Samaria. Both were equipped with refrigeration, and both are still fully operational. By the end of the 19th century about half of Jewish land under cultivation was vineyard. The subsequent grape glut and wine surplus forced Rothschild to render further financial aid to compensate vineyard owners, who now uprooted vines and planted almonds, olives and citrus groves.

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