ROSE HILL, NSW. — In April 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip explored beyond Port Jackson. He travelled as far as he could by boat up Sydney Harbour, tracing the Parramatta River to the point where Parramatta itself was established six months later, as Rose Hill. Here, grapevines were planted.
When the First Fleet landed in New South Wales in 1788, the colony’s members were poorly equipped for Australian conditions.
The colony needed to be self-supporting, but the seeds which had been brought from England had either gone mouldy on the long sea voyage, damaged by the salt and humidity, or simply could not survive in the harsh Australian soil and climate.
English tools were also unable to stand up to the rocky soil, and broke easily, while the convicts themselves were unwilling workers.
Grapevines had been planted in Sydney from the colony’s earliest days, but they couldn’t survive. On November 15, 1791, the first grapevine to survive in Australia was planted at Parramatta – the beginning of a later thriving industry.
