This vineyard was sold-out by the world's largest plonk merchant to an interstate developer to build a tacky little yuppy ghetto. This was aided and abetted by a complicit,pro-development Labor government, as part of their urban infill philosophy that saw widespread community opposition. The council, supposed guardians of local community issues, spent more time and effort blaming everyone else for their complete failure to prevent this from occurring, than trying to assist the local community in preserving their local identity. The silence from the local wine and tourist association was deafening. Perhaps this is due to the membership of this association being completely dependent on the afore-mentioned plonk merchant for the purchase of the product of their vineyards.
The interstate developer intends to call this heritage site 'Peppercorn Grove'. Where do they get these these corny names names from. According to the recently erected signage 'there is room to grow'. I'm not sure where the growth will occur, because the 330 sq metre postage stamp blocks will be barely big enough to build a small house on.
This site was constructed in order to provide a chronology of the destruction of South Australia's first commercial vineyard, planted in 1838 by John Reynell. This vineyard has been continuously under vine for 161 years, and while the vines currently growing are not the orginal ones planted by John Reynell, the site is clearly one of significance, because it demonstrates important aspects of the evolution or pattern of the state’s history; it is an outstanding representative of a particular class of places of cultural significance; and it has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance. These are three of seven criteria that are described in the Heritage Places Act, a South Australian Act of parliament which defines the eligibility for listing on the State Heritage register.
I will not attempt to detail the extensive documentation that is available about John Reynell, but will provide links, where possible, to the work of others who have spent considerable time and effort in this area.
Devine Homes commissioned a report on the heritage value of the vineyard by historian Peter Bell, according to an article in The Australian
The article states,
Bell's report, which has not yet been publicly released, unequivocally concludes that the vineyard "is of no heritage significance" and that much of the lore around it originated in wine marketing campaigns.
"In past decades, both Chateau Reynella and Thomas Hardy & Sons for their own reasons exaggerated John Reynell's role in establishing the wine industry,"
This appears to be at odds with the wealth of information about John Reynell, and his role in the development of this State. See James Hook's excellent blog on John Reynell here
Bell further labels those who oppose his findings as suffering from "nibbyism". Given that opposition to this development has come from not only the local community, but from around Australia and overseas, his use of the term is rather trite, and seems to be part of an increasing trend to label those who dare to have opposing ideas in such a pejorative manner. Bell should let the report speak for itself, but I suspect the report commissioned by Devine will never be publicly released
It is a shame that in a country as relatively young as ours, the precious history that we do have, is able to be discarded and dismissed with the stroke of a pen.