Joseph Gilbert (winemaker)

Joseph Gilbert
Born1800
Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England
DiedDecember 23, 1881(1881-12-23) (aged 80–81)
Pewsey Vale, South Australia
Occupationpastoralist

The Gilbert family (1864)

Joseph Gilbert (1800 – 23 December 1881) was a pastoralist and winemaker in South Australia from 1839 until his death.[1]

Gilbert was born in Puckshipton, Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey. The second of four sons, his father was Joseph Gilbert and his mother, Jane (née Pike). He studied at Marlborough College in Wiltshire and learnt about vine-growing and winemaking on the European mainland.[1]

He migrated to South Australia in 1839 on the Buckinghamshire and immediately erected his prefabricated two-roomed Manning cottage on an Adelaide allotment. He acquired a property on the South Para River and stocked it with sheep purchased from Van Diemen's Land. He later moved his flock to a selection near Lyndoch, which he named "Pewsey Vale" and developed into an ideal country home.[2]

In 1847 he established Pewsey Vale winery in Eden Valley, the same year Jacob's Creek winery was established in the neighbouring Barossa Valley,[3] with substantial cellars, and Pewsey Vale clarets, burgundies and hocks achieved considerable success.[2]

He married Anna Browne (1812–1873) in 1848. Her brothers Dr. William James Browne (1815 – 4 December 1894) and Dr. John Harris Browne (1817–1904) made a wedding present of the property "Wongalere" near Williamstown. Joseph's brother William emigrated to South Australia and leased Wongalere for ten years, after which it was managed by Joseph's son, also called William.[4]

In 1872 he acquired leases 3-5 in the Northern Territory, just north of Oodnadatta. His son William, in company with James Churchill-Smith and E. M. "Ted" Bagot (whose father E. M. "Ned" Bagot had acquired leases 1&2) drove 1,000 head of cattle from Adelaide to the MacDonnell Ranges.[5]

Gilbert was a member of the South Australian Jockey Club and raced several good horses, notably Ace, Ace of Trumps (1874 Adelaide Cup winner), Skylark, Lapdog and Poodle.

Joseph and Anna Gilbert and several of their descendants were buried at the Pewsey Vale Anglican Cemetery built on land excised from their property in 1861; around half the graves or memorials are for members of the Gilbert family.[6]

  1. ^ a b Findlay, Marjorie. "Gilbert, Joseph (1800–1881)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. ^ a b "A Pioneer Pastoralist". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 30 March 1923. p. 12. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  3. ^ "South Australia in the 1840s". SA Memory: Timeline. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  4. ^ Valmai Hanckel. "Early Days of Winegrowing in South Australia". Winestate.com.au. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Pewsey Vale Anglican Cemetery". Australiancemeteries.com. Retrieved 22 March 2014.