Granny Smith Connection

It was at the orchard of Thomas and his wife Maria Ann Smith nee Sherwood that the Granny Smith apple was “discovered” about 1868. 

The discovery and development of this apple was described in an article written in 1924 that was published, among other places, in the Molong Express and Western District Advertiser, Saturday 15 November 1924, page 22:

GRANNY SMITH APPLE. ('Agricultural Gazette.') Of locally-grown apples, none is more esteemed than Granny Smith – attractive both in appearance and flavour, and unexcelled as a keeper. Evidence as to its origin has been collected by Mr. H. J. Rumsey, who, on 25th June, 1924, contributed an article the Farmer and Settler, in which he wrote as follows:- I have recently interviewed Mr. E. H. Small, a retired fruitgrower, now living at Burwood, and Mr. Harry Johnston, of Dundas, both of whom remember the original Granny Smith after whom Granny's apple was named. Though no actual dates are available, the memories of those two well-known fruitgrowers coincide to a remarkable degree on the facts as I am here relating them.

"Granny" was the wife of Mr. Thomas Smith, of that part of Ryde now known as Eastwood. Mr. Smith had an orchard, fronting the Great Northern road, down by the creek. One morning, in the year 1868, Mrs. Smith asked the late Mr. E. H. Small to look at a seedling apple that was growing down by the creek and to express an opinion about it. Mr. T. Small, then a 12 year old boy, went down with them. The tree was growing among ferns and blady grass down by the creek, and had a few very fine specimens of apple on it. Mr. Small, senior, tested it critically, and remarked that it was a good cooking apple, and might be worth working from, though Mobb's Royal and several other good cookers seemed to fill the demand at that time. The boy, however, remarked that it was also a good eating apple, too, as he sampled it. Mrs. Smith worked a few of the trees, and not long afterwards Mr. Edward Gallard, another member of the family, planted out a fairly large bed and marketed a crop annually from them up to the time of his death.

Mr. Small, senior, asked "Granny" how the apple came there, and she replied that she had brought some gin cases back from Sydney markets which had contained the remains of some Tasmanian apples in them; these were rotting and she tipped them out down the creek. It is thought that Mrs. Smith mentioned that the remains in the cases were of French Crabs. The greasy skin and keeping qualities of the "Granny Smith" point to this being correct. There is no evidence as to the length of life of the original tree; in fact, Mr. Small thinks that the whole creek was cleaned up not long after the first orchards from it came into bearing.

"Granny Smith" proved a saleable cooking apple, but its value for dessert was not known until some fruit agents began storing a few cases away, and found that they kept better than any other varieties. Mr. S. W. Webb, of Nana Glen (formerly of Bathurst) has stated, on the other hand, that he was under the impression that the apple in question was raised in the Bathurst district. The matter was lately referred to Mr. A. H. Benson, now Director of Fruit Culture in Queensland, but at one time Fruit Expert in the New South Wales Department. Mr. Benson replied as follows. – The history of the Granny Smith apple is as stated by Mr. Rumsey in the "Farmer and Settler." Although this apple was grown to a small extent in the Parramatta River district when I came to New South Wales in 1892, it was not grown outside that area to any extent, and I believe that the first planting, other than possibly individual trees, was made by me at the Government Farm, Bathurst, in 1895, as I then recognised the value of this variety both for cooking and dessert purposes. The apple was certainly not raised in the Bathurst district.

E H Small would have been Edwin Henry Small (443) (1856-1937) and his father was Thomas Small (44) (1829-1920). 

You may like to read more from the ABC interview with Janice Eastment or listen to the 2RRR radio interview