LABEL, PRODUCT - ILLAWARRA APPLES

The land on which this orchard was established was selected by Edward Keane in 1891, and sold shortly afterward to Edward Wharton White and Lionel White (the manager of the Canning Mills), and E.H. Dean Smith (a well-known Perth architect). Situated at about 1,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the most elevated orchards in the State. In 1893, clearing and planting began, Lionel White laying out the initial 12 acres of Illawarra(named after the Whites family home at Kapunda, South Australia) with a theodolite, supervising extensive underground drainage, and preparing the ground with a team of bullocks and a railway formation plough. An orchardist from Mundaring, Mr. Laufer, planted the first trees.
In 1899, Thomas Price moved with his wife Emily Claudia Price (nee Rogers) to Karragullen to become manager/partner of the IllawarraOrchard, relocating from the fruit tree nursery and orchard he managed at Guildford for Charles Harper. Price was born (in 1864) and educated in Shropshire, after which he studied horticulture with a large firm of London nurserymen. In 1891 he migrated to Western Australia, and settled in Guildford.
Around 1900, there were 32 varieties of apples planted at Illawarra, and as many varieties of pears. The five main varieties of apples were Doherts (or Improved Yates), Jonathons, Cleopatras, Dunns Seedlings, and Rokewoods. The Bartlett was the most important pear variety, followed by Gansels Bergamot. In addition, there were numerous varieties of stone and citrus fruits, quinces and persimmons. By 1902, there were 44 acres of fruit trees at Illawarra, the majority apples. By 1912, the property comprised 228 acres, of which 50 acres had been brought under cultivation. The annual output in that year had reached 10,000 cases of apples and pears.
Granny Smithapples were planted in trial plots in 1911-12, the largest in the State. The first shipment of these apples was exported in 1922. There had been earlier exports of Illawarrafruit, with the first trial shipment to London in 1907.

Illawarra Orchard has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
The place has aesthetic value as a large orchard with various sheds and residential buildings situated in the backdrop of native jarrah bushland.
The place has historic value as is was integral to the development of agriculture in the wider Armadale district, being the place where Thomas Price experimented with various fruit species to determine their suitability for the area in the 1900s, and also implemented new practices and technology to improve the cold storage of the fruit, the control of pests, and the irrigation of the orchard.
The place is associated with Thomas Price, a nurseryman and active member of the Executive Council of the Western Australian Fruit-growers Association, who originally partnered with Charles Harper at Woodbridge Nurseries, and then went on to run Illawarra Orchard.
City of Armadale Local Heritage Survey February 2020