Dalwood Station (1823 - )

Situated halfway between Maitland and Singleton in the Hunter River region of New South Wales, Dalwood Station was first taken up by David Mazier in 1823. The property, then known as Anandale, was located ‘on main branch of Hunter River, 2,000 acres, 6 miles on East also by river North and South’. Unfortunately for Maizer, he was declared insolvent in 1828 and Anandale went up for sale. George Wyndham, from Wiltshire, England, was newly-arrived in the colony and, under advice from John Macarthur, who described Maizer’s property as ‘a remarkably fine small estate’, purchased Anandale on 15 January 1828. He renamed it Dalwood after a portion of his father’s Dinton estate in England, lived with his wife, Margaret, in Mazier’s existing slab hut, and began making plans for a permanent homestead. This, when finished in 1840, became the first example of Greek Revival architecture in Australia. A long, low, one-storeyed house of brown stone, Dalwood House is today listed with the National Trust. While the homestead was being built, Wyndham busied himself with the property’s management. He established the first herd of pure-bred Hereford cattle in New South Wales and one of its first thoroughbred horse studs. In 1830, Wyndham put down the first commercial plantings of Shiraz; the following year, Dalwood produced its first vintage which, according to Wyndham, ‘promised to make good vinegar’ due to the hot conditions. He was right. By 1860, Wyndham’s total vineyard holdings were producing 11,000 gallons of wine. These were recognised overseas with numerous prizes, including Bronze and Silver medals at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. When he died in 1870, Wyndham was already Australia’s most successful commercial winemaker of international rank. Dalwood Station passed into the hands of one of his eleven son, John, who also focused on winemaking until his death in 1887. Five years later, when Dalwood was awarded the coveted Gold Medal for best Australian wine at Bordeaux, France, the property passed permanently from the Wyndham family. Its homestead block of 266 acres, which had been subdivided by George Wyndham on his death in 1870, was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank and sold to JFM Wilkinson in 1901 for £6,500. He in turn subdivided the property, selling the house and 130 acres to Michael McNamara and the remaining 136 acres to the Penfold Hyland family. The last of the vines planted by the Wyndhams were taken out in 1961. In 1970, in honour of George Wyndham’s remarkable success, Dalwood Wines was renamed Wyndham Estate.

Full Note:

Related Bodies:
Bukkulla Station

Related People:

References:
G Nesta Griffiths, Some Northern Homes of NSW (Sydney: The Shepherd Press, 1954); Cecily Joan Mitchell, Hunter’s River: A History of Early Families and the Homes They Built in the Lower Hunter Valley Between 1830 and 1860 (Maitland, New South Wales: Maitland Mercury, 1973); Dalwood Restoration Association, Dalwood House, Branxton, New South Wales (Newcastle: Newcastle Herald, 198-?).

Related Families

• Wyndham Family