ROCKER, WINE BARREL

The rocker was used at the Derry Na Surra Vineyard to gently rock wine barrels to ensure there were no large sediment build ups.
Was thought to have been used in the vineyard from the 1920s to 1940s when it was owned by Derry Na Sura Vineyard Ltd.
In the early 1890s Martin Jull and Dr Ferguson Stewart purchased 113 hectares of land along the Neerigen Brook and up along the hills overlooking Armadale and the Narrogin Inn. In 1894 they planted 26 hectares of Shiraz, Grenache, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon vines on the hill slopes with the aim to produce port and red wine.
During the 1890s Jull and Ferguson expanded the vineyard and in 1896 Dr Ferguson sold his share of the vineyard to Sir Arthur Cowell-Stepney and Earl of Carnarvon. Sir Cowell-Stepney was a wealthy English Baronet who was travelling the world while also keeping an eye out for business opportunities. With further investment from Sir Cowell-Stepney the vineyard was expanded again to 68 hectares of vines and a three storey wine cellar was built. In 1901 the vineyard was renamed Derry Na Sura. In 1904 Martin Jull sold his share of the vineyard to Sir Cowell-Stepney.
In 1909 the vineyard was sold to Mr Sewell and Mr Crocker who formed Derry Na Sura vineyard Ltd. The vineyard would continue to expand with wine production from 86,376 litres in 1910 to 136,383 litres in 1928. The wines also won a number of awards at the Perth Royal Show in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Great Depression (1929-32) and World War II hit the vineyard hard, sales dropped, labour during the war was hard to find and the vines were getting old and the cost to cultivate new vines was deemed too high. In 1951 the vineyard was sold to Mick Mouritz who cleared most of the vines to make way for grazing paddocks for his cattle. A few years later the land was subdivided and part of it sold for a housing development. Over the next 40 years the land was slowly developed into housing blocks. In 1996 the area was renamed Mount Nasura, acknowledging the former vineyard.