Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/568

542 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The smith Family (Yalumba) vineyards were again extended to plant several acres in Shiraz, Albiileo, and Frontignac grapes. As the trade increased, the grapes and cellarage accommodation ex])anded. But Mr. Smith's sphere of operations did not stay in a single groove. He induced people in the neighborhood to grow grapes, which he purchased from them for wine-making purposes. Thus the industry in Angaston practically had its birth, and because of the enterprise of the Smiths and others, the district is the chief wine producer in the Province. In later years, when the wines were widely known, the demand increased. The; work so ably begun by the pioneer has been continued and extended by his descendants with excellent results. There are now 1 20 acres under grapes, whilst the cellarage accommodation covers an area of nearly two acres. The celebrity of the Yalumba Vineyards is not confined to the Province, but extends over the seas. Hundreds of tons of grapes are bought by the firm annually and converted into wine, the machinery (worked by steam) being capable of treating 50 tons of grapes per day. In addition to the wine-making, there are extensive fruit-canning and jam manufacturing plants at Yalumba, which manipulate a considerable quantity of fruit every year. The Yalumba wines are held in high esteem, and for the last 30 years have carried off gold medals at Bordeaux, Paris, Antwerp, Calcutta, Melbourne, Hobart, and Brisbane ; besides numerous silver medals and champion cups. A leading connoisseur, speaking of Yalumba wines, said, "They are a credit to the maker, and an honor to the Colony." Mr. Samuel Smith died in 1888, and he was succeeded in the business by his son, Sidney, who since boyhood had taken a most active and intelligent interest in the fortunes of Yalumba. Mr. Samuel Smith was a man of unsullied honor, and was respected throughout South Australia. F"or many years he was superintendent of the Angaston Congregational Sunday-school, and he won the earnest respect of hundreds of boys and girls, since scattered in different parts of South Australia, who do not forget the kindly face, the homely teachings, and the Christian example of this indefatigable pioneer. Mr. Sidney Smith, head of the Yalumba proprietary firm of Messrs. S. Smith and Sons, was born at Wareham, Dorsetshire, England, in March, 1837. He came to South Australia with his father in 1847, and of that period he retains a very vivid remembrance, few people in the Province equalling him in this respect. The a|)pearance of the towns, the condition of the country as it was being slowly tamed, and the circumstances of development, are still bright in his mind. He can tell many stories of droll or pathetic interest relating to the "forties" and "fifties" of South Australian history, and by-gone periods on the outer stations, in rounding-up cattle and minding sheep among men of whimsical character and wild adventure. He was nurtured in the Australian bush, and, with all his predisposition to humor, there is in his character a strain of the melancholy which comes from such rural associations and from an acquaintance with the strange men of youthful promi.se and wrecked lives who gathered together on the earlier sheep-stations and cattle-runs. From his boyhood Mr. Sidney Smith identified himself with his father's interests, and gradually acquired the knowledge of grape production and wine -making which, in after-life, fitted him to succeed so worthy a forerunner. He eventually became a partner in the business, and, on his father's death, took charge of the estate.