Gardening with Margaret Matthews
Emerald in autumn — a legacy of leaves
by Margaret Matthews
As we come once again to the "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" as Keats described autumn, I wonder if we consider how much we owe to those who had the vision and energy to plant the many thousands of European trees which now enhance our public parks and gardens, the streets in many of our older suburbs, and in the hills and ranges, especially Mount Macedon and the Dandenongs.
However much we admire our native trees, the beauty of deciduous trees from the northern hemisphere, when they assume their multicoloured mantle in autumn, adds another dimension to our landscape. Many of these trees were planted more than a century ago, which is a period of no significance in Europe, but worthy of considerable respect in the time frame of our short history.
The township of Emerald in the Dandenongs has a special place in Victoria’s history. Carl Axel Nobelius was one of the best-known figures in early Emerald and was virtually ‘uncrowned king’ of the district. He was born in Finland of Swedish parents and came to Australia at the age of 17. He was soon employed as foreman by Taylor and Sangster, nurserymen, in Toorak. Nobelius discovered that the red soils of the Dandenong Ranges were especially suited to the production of good rooting systems in fruit trees, and in 1886 began clearing land now owned by the Emerald Country Club. He worked during the week in Melbourne and took the train to Narre Warren at Saturday midday, walking the 16 miles to Emerald. Each weekend Nobelius cleared a fresh patch of timber and soon began planting the first fruit stocks. He helped lay out the Exhibition Gardens before coming to Emerald and later supplied many of the European trees for the Fitzroy Gardens.
It was Nobelius who placed Emerald on the map, for in its hey-day his nursery traded with South Africa, South America, India, New Zealand, Holland, France, England and Japan. Around the turn of the century the nursery provided employment for virtually all local inhabitants. Nobelius’ original property included both the council’s Emerald Park and the Emerald Country Club and some of his lambertiana cypresses still flourish on the latter property. A C Lawson’s former house was Nobelius’ first homestead and the present Emerald Scout Hall was once a cottage on Nobelius’ property.
Nobelius traded under the name ‘Gembrook Nurseries’, because his property was within the Parish of Gembrook. The nursery became the largest in the southern hemisphere in the days when trade with South Africa (secured through negotiations made with Cecil Rhodes) consisted of orders for between 30 and 40,000 fruit trees, and later some 400,000 fruit tree stocks were shipped each year. These were packed in one-ton cases by measurement, 60 to 70 cases to the order, and later South America received similar consignments. Such large orders were transported by bullock teams to Narre Warren station some 13 miles distant, over impossibly rough roads. It is difficult today to realise the extent of this early nursery, which began operations in earnest in 1892. Six years later Nobelius owned 15 acres of orchard, with 100 trees to the acre, and 50 acres under cultivation. By 1900, some 80 acres of land were devoted to nursery stock.
By 1903 Nobelius had one million trees for sale and in that year his Vicar of Winkfield pears, wrapped and packed, brought 15 shillings a case in London. The industry was at its height in 1914 when the amount of stock in all classes amounted to two million trees covering 450 acres.
Nobelius’ business collapsed during the First World War when it was no longer possible to export stock, and at that period three parts of the existing stock was burnt to the ground in order to make room for new trees. The fine ornamental trees, which today are a feature of the council’s Emerald Park, are some of those allowed to grow freely as a result of restricted markets.
My son, Rowan Matthews, lives only a few metres from the old homestead. He has inherited some magnificent trees, including a towering tulip tree (liriodendron), a huge copper-beech, and a massive English oak. He also enjoys the proximity of the unique quality of the surrounding landscape.
More about Carl Axel Nobelius and the early history of the Dandenongs in next month’s Fifty-Plus News.
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