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SIMPSON George Frank Laverack arrived in Australia and obtained work at Illawarra Orchard, Karragullen. He soon began to look about for suitable apple growing land and selected Lot 492, 100 acres of Crown land about a mile from Illawarra. Frank held as lease commencing on 1st July 1902 with an expiry date of 30th June 1922. When Frank went into partnership, this lease was transferred to joint ownership by Frank Laverack and Sydney Smailes. In 1902 they had 10 acres cleared at £20 ($40) per acre, bought a horse and his partner ploughed the ground twice while he kept on working at Illawarra and helped dig and timber a 30ft. well at night and on Sundays. Realising that to make money one must specialise. He planted only one variety of apple, the Rokewood, a very late red apple, and named the orchard “Rokewood”. |
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FRANK LAVERACK ON VERANDAH OF HIS HOUSE AT ILLAWARRA #2 |
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SYD SMAILES #3 |
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MAP SHOWING LOT $(@ IN MIDDLE #4 |
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NEWSPAPER ADVERT WITH MISS SPELT NAME #5 |
Paying consideration to the future conservation of labour, he started the limbs of the trees coming out very close to the ground, leaving only one foot of trunk instead of 3ft. (1 metre was the usual practice), thus saving a lot of ladder work when pruning, picking, etc. The trees grew well and Frank continued working at Illawarra, while his partner carted sleepers by contract. After a few years the trees became very sick and on 13th July 1907 Frank bought out his partner Syd Smailes, and, leaving Illawarra, grew and sold about 1,000 young apple trees each year as a side line to keep the pot boiling. He then turned his attention to drainage as a cure for the sick trees
and put an underground box drain between every row of trees, three miles
altogether taking two years to complete, at the same time manuring the trees
liberally. The trees soon responded to this treatment and then bore heavy crops
of blossom but set very little fruit. He noticed, however, that the trees bore
heavily where he had planted a few different varieties of apples for domestic
use, and in another part of the orchard where he had a tree with two new
varieties grafted on; thus proving conclusively that many varieties of fruit
required cross fertilisation by bees with other varieties if good crops were to
be obtained. |
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Here was a problem, for his money was about done and he could not afford to wait until I could re-work some of the trees to other varieties, and then wait for them to grow enough to flower and so fertilise the whole orchard. Frank decided to put the orchard up for sale, however he decided to bud 40 trees in equally divided parts of the orchard as security in case he was unable to sell the property. Frank then took a trip to England to visit his family who he had not seen for some years. While he was away, Rokewood was sold to Mr. William Fletcher, an orchardist from Tasmania, who, however, neglected to look after the buds Frank had put in, with the result that only a few buds grew, and in two years he sold Rokewood to Mr. George Simpson. KARRAGULLEN George Simpson was the son of Duncan Simpson of Renmark, in South Australia. Duncan arrived in Melbourne from England with his parents at the age of nine years old. In 1870 he married Miss Eva Jones. After spending some years in South Australia and in the Horsham district, he then went to Mildura, where he was engaged in contracting and channel work. He went to Renmark in about 1895 with his family, which then numbered eleven. He was contracting and channel building in the district for some years, being one time engaged by the State Irrigation Trust. He had been in uncertain health for some years prior to his death, aged 79 years, in 1927. At that time there were twelve surviving children: Mrs. Rhonda Roche, New Zealand; Mrs. Julie Benjamin, Mildura; Mrs. C. H. Katekar, Renmark; Mrs. R. Marshall, Colonel Light Gardens; Mrs. Spen Roper, Yantanabie; Mrs. A. Fennell, Renmark; Messrs. Walter, Fred and George Simpson, Western Australia; Mr. Ernest Simpson, Sydney; and Mr. Joseph Simpson, Mildura Three of the Simpson boys ended up in Western Australia. George bought property at Karragullen, while Fred settled in Kendenup. Details of Walter have not been found. Although
George has some experience of soft fruit culture at Mildura, he had none of
apple growing when he purchased land at Karragullen in 1916. He had, however,
seen the value of pruning designed to form strong framed trees, with good open
centres, and this was what he set himself to obtain when establishing his
orchard. Mr. Simpson immediately grasped the
importance of cross fertilisation, and in his vigorous and thorough way. He
used to drive to his old orchard, a few mile away, load his sulky with branches
of other varieties of apples in full bloom, drive back and place them in
bottles of water hung in many of the trees at Rokewood. Thus giving the bees
the blossom of another variety with which to cross fertilise the Rokewood
blossoms. Heavy crops of Rokewoods were immediately obtained and have been
maintained since. He also immediately grafted or replaced many trees with other
varieties, obviating the necessity for carrying on with his very ingenious plan. |
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ADVERT FOR 1923 CHEVROLET CAR #19 |
Planting was
commenced in 1917, and approximately half of the area of 21 acres was set out
in the course of the next few years. The remainder, an adjoining property, was
purchased at a price satisfactory to the new owner, mainly 10 acres of aged
trees, consisting entirely of Rokewood, had never yielded good crops. This
orchard was initiated by Messrs. Smailes and Laverick, when 9 acres of
“Rokewood” apples were planted and from which the property was later named. It
was an old-fashioned apple orchard, and he proceeded to slaughter the trees in
a way which caused many people to doubt his sanity. A look at the old trees
later showed that there was a method in his madness. Grafts of Doherty were put
in to provide for the adequate pollination of the blossoms. In November 1923 he purchased a brand new Chevrolet car. George Simpson, was member of the Armadale Road Board 1923-26 and 1927- 1932
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INVENTION All those who
have ever nailed down fruit cases know that the task involves a considerable
amount of care, time and above all, an even temper. Many lids split as the
nails are driven home, and when the case is tightly packed with the fruit
projecting, it is very difficult, after nailing down one end to secure the
other without bruising the top layer of fruit. To eliminate the disagreeable
nature of this operation a neat contrivance, invented by George Simpson, a
fruit grower of Karragullen, will shortly be put on the market under the name
of the “Rokewood Case Press”. When placed
in the machine, the packed fruit cases are supported, at the ends only, by a
firm steel frame, the rest of the case being free from contact. The lid is then
placed in position, and the overhead frame of the press in brought down by
manipulating a lever. This presses the two ends of the lid down simultaneously
on to the case ends, and they may be nailed with ease. Because the remainder of
the case hangs free, the contents are not bruised in any way, and there is an
equal bulge at the top and the bottom. This method of nailing is of particular
advantage where the orchard caters for the export market, which demands that
the top and bottom layers project about half to one inch out of the case. Mr.
Simpson, who had his press in practical use throughout the last season, stated
it was admirable for apples, oranges and soft fruits, such as apricots and
tomatoes. When questioned as to the advantages of the press as compared with
the hand method of nailing from the point of view of time, Mr. Simpson declared
he was prepared to challenge anyone that he could nail three cases with the
Rokewood Press to the other’s one, and that without bruising the fruit or
splitting the case. In discussing
the probable price of the contrivance to a representative of “The Farmer
Newspaper”, Mr. Simpson stated that one form of the press suitable for dump
cases would retail at approximately six pounds ($12), while a combination set
suited for both dump and flat cases would cost some one pound ten shillings
($3) extra. |
GEORGE SIMPSON WITH DOG #6 |
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DEMONSTRATION OF "ROCKWOOD" CASE PRESS #7 |
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That the
innovation was proving attractive to fruit growers was evident from the fact
that during a tour of the Kalamunda district, Mr. Simpson visited 11 orchards
and in all but one instance, disposed of a press to each. In one case two being
asked for. On the 28th
July 1924 a baby daughter named Etty, was born at Nurse Stockley’s Private
Hospital, 590 Newcastle Street, Perth. Family
consisted of Alvina, Ethel, Lloyd, George, Richard, Bill and Lennard. |
KARRAGULLEN LOG CHOP 1923-24 |
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Sadly on 4th
September 1926, George and his wife sustained a sad bereavement by the death of
their daughter Alvina Beatrice, who passed away at the Children’s Hospital
after an illness that had extended over a period of seven months. She was just
8 years old her birthday being on the Sunday before she passed away. She had
been attending the Karragullen State School, until a slight illness
necessitated her removal to the hospital, and which ultimately resulted in her
death. |
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KARRAGULLEN SCHOOL 1926 Back Row (L -R): BILL HANBURY, LIONEL STINTON, ERNEST HANBURY, JOHN COOPER, TED SAUNDERS, DAVID LAVERACK, NORMAN LANTZKE, GEORGE SIMPSON, |
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Drainage were
installed throughout the orchard. All the pipes used were made on the property
using several moulding machines. Most of the pipe making was done at a period
when 9/- (90 cents) a day was paid for labour, one man making an average of 300
pipes per day. On this basis and allowing for the cost of cement and haulage of
sand and water, the actual cost of the pipes worked out at three pounds seven
and sixpence ($6.75) a 1000, or somewhere about one-third of the cost necessary
for the purchase of ordinary agricultural pipes. George Simpson employed a
mixture of six parts of sand and one part of cement. While this has been
entirely satisfactory, he points out that the mixture is a weak one unless
provision is made for the damping of the pipes regularly over a period of about
seven days to enable the mixture to set evenly. “Rokewood”
orchard produced some remarkably yields in the 1927 season. From 2 ½ acres he
has 916 dump cases of fruit, and from 1 acre of Dunn’s Seedlings, the yield was
400 cases. The trees are young, and have been planted approximately 100 to the
acre. He has 27 acres under apples and believes in plenty of manure, including
a fair amount of potash, hard pruning and thorough drainage. Incidentally he is
a great believer in motor power for orchard work. On 7th
June 1927 Mr. & Mrs. George Simpson of “Rokewood”, Karragullen, left for a
short holiday in the North-West aboard the “S. S. Koolinda”. George
Simpson’s inventive mind was always coming up with new ideas. As most people of
the day, were familiar with the “Coolgardie Cooler” and the water-tank, George
decided to combine the two. He made a metal box encased in cement let into the
side of the water-tank. It had two doors that opened out and several shelves
inside. The water in the tank kept everything cool with having to keep renewing
the water supply and arranging the drip rags as with the cooler. |
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A visit of
the Roleystone Fruitgrowers’ Association in December 1928, was a revelation to
some of the members, when George explained his method of training the trees by
combined winter and summer prunings, in order to cover the whole of the main
branches with fruit spurs. The trees are kept low so that the fruit can be
gathered without the use of ladders, and spraying and other treatment of
diseases are simplified. This same method has been used by the Illawarra
Orchard Company for a number of years. In an advert in
December 1928, George was looking for an orchardist to join him on a share
basis. A partnership of Simpson and Winter was formed, then later the orchard
was advertised as for sale in January 1929 on terms if required. It
was leased by Di Blasio and R.N. Mooney, then purchased by the Metropolitan
Water Supply Board in 1969 and grubbed up. |
NEWSPAPER ADVERT #9
NEWSPAPER ADVERT #10 |
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While
visiting Ottawa, Canada, in January 1929, the local M.L.A. Mr. R. S. Sampson
was shown a new type of rhubarb, called “Ruby”, that had been developed at the
Central Experimental Farm. The aroma and flavour were unusually fine. They
offered to forward a root to Western Australia for Mr. Sampson. When it arrived
he arranged for George Simpson to develop it for him with the object of
distributing free samples to those who were interested in commercially growing
it. |
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George made a
trip to Adelaide in triple-engined “Hercules” plane. Then travelled on to the
Eastern States that covered 3000 miles visiting districts in Queensland, New
South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, in May 1929. On arriving home, George
reported back about a visit to Silk Bros., Ltd., in Sydney. Here he inspected
some of the apples sent from Western Australia. He described them as a
disgrace, both in quality and packing. In some cases no less than three grades
were in one case. He continued that when several sizes of apples are in one
case, the whole case suffers, and a much lower price than would otherwise be
the case, is secured. Poor grading, he claimed, usually means slack pack and
poor prices. More than ever he advocates the use of fruit graders. He was so
ashamed that he ask representatives of the company not to mention that he was
from Western Australia. In October
1929 the purchased a new Chrysler Six. |
IMAGE OF 1929 CHRYSLER SIX CAR #20 |
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While
thinning trees in December 1929 it was reported that although he started work
at 6 a.m. he was unable by 6 p.m. to effectively thin out more than nine apple
trees. A tribute to the size of the trees at “Rokewood”. A son, Richard Stanley, was born on 22nd May 1930 at Nurse Urry’s Private Hospital IMPERIAL FRUIT SHOW AWARDS The 1931 was
a great year. Firstly in May case of Yate apples was forwarded to the King by
the Premier’s Department through the Agent-General. They were supplied by
George Simpson and were packed in a polished curly jarrah case. They were being
carried by the courtesy of W.A. Airways’ on a Hercules. Then in October, George
Simpson of “Rokewood” Orchard, Karragullen won a replica of the Silver
Challenge Cup and a Gold Medal, for the Best Exhibit Granny Smith Apples at the
Imperial Fruit Show, in London. “Rokewood” was represented in 1931 by three
entries, and caught the judge’s eye to the extent of two first prizes, one
second and a gold medal with which was awarded the Championship Cup. |
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IMPERIAL FRUIT SHOW GOLD MEDAL #11
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Following
these successes, Mr. Simpson with four entries in 1932, secured three first
awards, one second and a special carrying Cup. Then in the 1933 Show,
“Rokewood” added further lustre to its already enviable record, by capturing
with four entries, two first prizes, a second, and special, including the Cup,
which was awarded for the best exhibit irrespective of variety. The Cup, having
been won three times by Mr. Simpson, now became his property. |
SILVER CHALLENGE CUP #12 |
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GOLD MINING Chasing gold saw a change of direction for George. In 1935 he ended up at “The Twenty Mile Sandy”, adjacent to Nullagine, in the Marble Bar district. The Nullagine area drew his attention back to gold, and in 1935 he acquired the Rattler and Parnell leases, erecting a battery and cyanide plant, and employing twenty men. He was interested in gold mining in his early days but it was not until many years later that he decided to try out again for his fortune.
EARLY MARBLE BAR TOWNSITE #13 |
MODERN NULLAGINE TOWNSITE #14 |
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GOLD MINE RUINS AT NULLAGINE #15 |
GOLD MINE RUINS AT NULLAGINE #16 |
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GOLD MINE RUINS AT NULLAGINE #17 |
The enterprise and pluck shown however, did not prove a success. The proposition included the care of the Government battery, and while he cannot claim that from a monetary standpoint, success was achieved, for good work was certainly done in respect to the treating of dirt for prospectors and others. He returned to his orchard at Karragullen in 1942 after seven years away and quickly settled back into the culture of fruit and its associated problems
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MAP SHOWING POSITION OF TWENTY MILE SANDY #18 |
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SERPENTINE In 1945
George Simpson is in partnership with an orchard at Serpentine, operating as “Bevan
and Simpson’s” orchard. George is the man responsible for the orchard
management and he is an old hand at it. Orchards are both his business and
pleasure, for in the tending of the trees he finds satisfaction comes from the
successful employment of his hands and brain, and the happiness of the man who
uses his skill and knowledge to cooperate with the good earth in the production
of a bounteous yield. The orchard
at Serpentine covers about 40 acres and includes among its bearing trees about
500 Navels, 24 Loppers, 800 Valencias, 120 Mediterranean Sweets, 280 Lemons, 50
Grapefruits and 25 Mandarines. Most of the trees are upwards of 30 years old.
Some being nearer the half-century mark. George has known the property for 30
years during which he had exercised a certain amount of supervision and
planning at various times, but it is only three years ago that he gave it his
full-time attention as a resident on the property. |
REMAINS OF ROKEWOOD ORCHARD #22 |
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ADELAIDE In the Pirie
Street Methodist Church in 1951, George Simpson of Colonel Light Gardens, Adelaide
formerly of “Rokewood”, Karragullen, married Matron Whyte of Kiverton Hospital,
Unley Park, Adelaide. She wore a beaded burgundy Chantilly lace frock and hat.
Her daughter, Mrs. A. Rosenthal, from Melbourne and Mrs. J. McKenzie were
matrons-of- honour, in turquoise blue satin and needle-run lace hats. A
reception was held at the Berkeley Hotel.
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Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.
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References: Article: Gordon Freegard Images: Internet 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20
Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2008-2022 |
