PRINTING BLOCK
1909 - 1951Derry Na Sura wine label letterpress printing block stamp. Made out of rectangler piece of wood, having attached the piece of rectangler zinc plate, which has the wineries' name in a scroll across the top and a bunch of grapes dripping into a stemmed wine glass, acid etched into the zinc plate, in a reverse image, for printing purposes. It is a Letterpress Printing production Block, used when printing wine bottle labels.
This Derry Na Sura Winery label printing block was part of a collection of wine making equipment owned by Clement Edward Pike who was the manager of the winery from 1938 to the late 1940s. Mr Pike was born in South Australia where he learnt to become a winemaker. He came to Western Australia in 1938 to manage the winery. He returned to South Australia in the 1950s.
In 1894 Martin Jull in partnership, with his soon to be brother in law, Dr Ferguson Stewart they planted 26 hectares of grapes on the northern side of the Neerigen Brook overlooking the main road to Perth. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Grenache varieties of grapes were planted. Their first crop was successful and sold for £5.
In 1896 Dr Stewart sold his share of the vineyard to the English Baronet Sir Arthur Stepney, the Earl of Carnarvon. In 1904 Martin Jull sold his share due to increasing demands from work. Sir Stepney planted another 100 acres of vines over the next decade and named the property Derry Na Sura meaning Valley of the Vines. In 1909 Sir Stepney sold the vineyard to Mr Sewell and Mr Crocker.
The vineyard continued to steadily grow with 19,000 gallons of wine being produced in 1910 and reaching a maximum production of 30,000 gallons a year in the 1920s. At the same time the vineyards ports became well known winning awards at the Royal Agricultural Society Show
The Great Depression (1929-32), soon followed by World War Two, hit the vineyard hard. Sales dropped, labour was hard to find, the vines were getting old and the cost of rehabilitating the property was deemed too high. In 1951, the land was sold to Mick Mouritz who cleared away the vines to make way for grazing. This only lasted a few years before he subdivided the land and sold it for housing. Today the land is the suburb of Mount Nasura.
Details
Details
:This object is a part of a collection that represents the skills and scientific knowledge required to produce wine and fortified wines in a commercial vineyard and how the products of the wineries were sold and marketed across Western Australia. The collection also represents the important role wine making played in the agricultural development of the City of Armadale from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. During this period several large and small commercial vineyards operated along Albany Highway and the South West Highway.
