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Heirloom Veggies

Lou Larrieu

Vegetable gardening in Australia has a history dating back to the arrival of the First Fleet into Sydney Cove. European convicts and early settlers, unfamiliar with the Australian flora and fauna that sustained indigenous Australians for many thousands of years, brought seeds with them to cultivate food for their future in the new colony. The ships of the First Fleet bought with them basic rations but also many seeds to cultivate including peas, cabbage, onion, spinach, beet and lettuce as well as grain seeds like wheat, barley buckwheat and oats.

The new arrivals faced a constant threat of starvation as rations ran out and they struggled to cultivate food crops that were familiar to them in a new and unfamiliar environment. Many early attempts failed due to a lack of understanding about Australia’s seasons, soil, pests and growing conditions. Crops that did survive were often pilfered by the desperately hungry.

Certain crops were heavily relied upon to get through these tough times. One crop that performed well, particularly in NSW, was Indian corn or maize which was grown at Sydney Cove and at Parramatta. Some early varieties included Red Indian for cornmeal and stock feed and Manning Supreme with its long white cobs. Corn cultivation flourished throughout NSW. However as land clearing and cultivation expanded, corn became a source of terrible conflict and retribution as Aboriginal people raided settlers’ cornfields unaware of British concepts of land ownership.

Turnips were among the first vegetables successfully grown in Australia and have been grown to provide quick sources of nourishment in times of crisis. According to Keith Smith’s 1995 book, Bill Beatty reports that the world’s largest turnip, weighing 40kg, was grown on Maria Island off the west coast of Tasmania and exhibited at Crystal Palace London in 1851.

As the colonies expanded and early settlers became familiar with Australian conditions vegetable growing began to thrive and demand for seed increased. The earliest records of seed being advertised in Australia come from the Sydney Gazette where onion seed was offered for sale in 1805. By the mid 1800’s seeds were being marketed through some of the first seed catalogues to be distributed throughout Australia. In Tasmania James Dickinson issued a seed catalogue in 1845 and in 1850 Law, Somner Seed Merchants and Nurserymen were established in Swanston Street Melbourne. Many years later, the Blazey family, led by Clive bought out Law and Somner Seed Merchants and The Digger’s Club began to take shape.

These first Australian seed catalogues contained varieties that were mostly familiar in the British homeland. But the selection available was impressive for its diversity. Many different varieties were grown by early settlers as they searched for those that performed best in localised Australian conditions.

Most early improvements in vegetable varieties in Australia were through local selections of introduced cultivars and some endure as favourites today. For example, Hollow Crown Parsnip has had a long history of successful cultivation in Australia dating back at least 150 years. The classic Australian Brown Onion is a strain of Spanish Brown Onion that was selected for market cultivation in Australia in the mid 1800’s. The seed from Australia was sold to Altee Burpee of Burpee’s Seed Company in the USA who was responsible for naming the variety Australian Brown in 1897.

Western Red carrots were developed by market gardeners in Western Australia who selected the variety for its deep tapering dark orange roots and ease of growing.

In the mid 1800’s many Chinese came to Australia, some as indentured labour from Singapore and others in search of prosperity in the gold fields. The Chinese immigrants set up intensive systems of vegetable cultivation and introduced many new varieties including Chinese cabbage and radishes. Gold Rush lettuce, a favourite backyard heirloom variety, is a Chinese lettuce that was bought to the Ballarat Goldfields in the 1850’s.

Plant breeding in Australia and New Zealand became commercially oriented after 1879 when Arthur Yates, immigrated to Auckland. Arthur was the grandson of George Yates who operated a grocer and seed shop in the Britain. Following in his family’s footsteps, Arthur opened a seed business in Auckland and in 1887 he started an Australian branch of the Yates Seed Company in Hay Street Sydney.

Some examples of the Yates seed breeding legacy include Derwent Globe beetroot, described in the Yates Annual 1933 as the finest strain of Crimson Globe.

Derwent Globe is said to have been developed by Yates seed breeders in Tasmania to be almost perfectly round to meet the demands of housewives who preferred round beetroot so they could fit more in a pot. Yates varieties like the Hawkesbury Wonder dwarf stringbean, introduced in the 1940’s, became the basis for several other strains of beans selected by individual growers for their good performance. Crystal Apple cucumber with its oval fruit and white skin is a variety introduced by Yates around 1930. Richmond Green Apple was developed as a larger strain of Crystal Apple with pale green skin and a crisp fresh texture.

Some of the more iconic of Australian varieties came about by chance. For instance, Australian pumpkins, with their distinct hard blue skin, are thought to result from cross pollination due to poor isolation techniques with Ironbark being the likely common ancestor. Herbert J. Rumsey, an experienced nurseryman and horticultural writer in the 1930s and 40s, commented that the Queensland Blue pumpkin is a result of an accidental cross. Jarrahdale is the result of a cross with Queensland Blue that originated in Western Australia. Triamble is another of beautiful ‘Australian type’ pumpkin with its distinctive three lobes and smooth grey skin.

Potatoes have been an Australian favourite for years and particular attention to selecting and breeding has occurred in Tasmania. Pink Eye is a waxy and delicious potato variety selected in Australia from unknown origin. It was included in the Tasmanian Certified Seed Potato Scheme in 1944 but was grown well before this in the Southern States. Coliban is an Australian cultivar originating from the UK and released in 1902.

The gardeners’ constant quest for the perfect tomato has a long history and many varieties have been bred and developed to suit Australian conditions. Herbert J Rumsey’s 1930 publication, The Australian Tomato Book provides detailed descriptions of the popular varieties like Australian Dwarf, Burwood Prize and Bendigo Red.

Burnley Gem, released by the Victorian Department, has Grosse Lisse and Bellevue Busk as its ancestors. It is a bush type, wilt resistant variety developed in 1968 by plant breeder Miss Helgi Nirk at the Victorian Department of Agriculture.

Many other varieties of Australian bred tomatoes have followed and tomato breeding schemes continue. Although unfortunately this has been largely commercially focused concentrating on disease resistance and market suitability over flavour.

However, as us gardeners reclaim control over what we eat and trends towards using vegetables that taste like their supposed to continue, we may see a resurgence towards vegetable breeding for taste and texture over transportability and shelf life. At Diggers we are in the process of selecting and hand pollinating the best and most true to type of Seed Savers' Bohemian pumpkins. This is a delicious and silky texture heirloom pumpkin that has all but disappeared from Australian gardens.

Our seed production team selects and saves seed from the best quality fruit and vegetables to ensure robust offspring. Most of the seed saving that we do at Digger's is for varieties that we can't access anywhere else so it is important that we keep a healthy stock of these heirloom varieties which may otherwise disappear. We can lay claim to restoring stocks of the ancient Painted Lady runner bean. Painted Lady, also known as known as York or Lancaster, has its origins in Britain , but had all but disappeared from Australian gardens before Digger's grew enough seed to offer members from one donated seed. Black Russian tomato seed stocks were built up by Digger's from donated seed and are now sold through the Seed Saver's Exchange in the USA.

Heirloom vegetables have long and interesting histories and local heirlooms are particularly suited to local conditions. So preserve your heritage and grow some old varieties. You may even get inspired to try a bit home plant breeding. Who knows, your name could be on the next big thing in tomatoes.