Boronia’s Old Orchard vineyard left ‘to rot’ by Knox Council, former owners claim
A ONCE-thriving vineyard has been left “to rot” with the prime Boronia site, part of a precinct slated for high-rise development, still sitting unused after more than two years.
Outer East
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KNOX Council has been accused of leaving a once-thriving Boronia vineyard “to rot” with the prime site, part of a precinct slated for high-rise development, still sitting unused.
Wantirna South couple David and Pat Smith ran their award-winning Old Orchard Winery in Scoresby Rd for nine years until their lease expired in July 2015.
Mr Smith said council, which manages the 8ha site on Crown land, had offered him only a month-by-month lease, forcing him to vacate.
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Mr Smith said the couple wanted to keep running the vineyard and applied to an expression of interest in November 2015 but never heard back from the council.
After repeated requests for explanations, he said the only response he received from the council was that its plans for the site were confidential.
Mr Smith and his wife, Pat, contracted winemakers to produce Old Orchard wine there from 2005 to 2015 and won several awards, including best shiraz at the 2008 Victorian Wines Show before their lease expired.
He said it was a shame to see the vineyard “deteriorating” when he had offered to maintain it
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Without urgent pruning before the start of Spring, the grapes would be unusable, he said.
“The vines are completely overgrown,” he said.
“It (pruning) needs to be done in the next month or so, because if it’s not it becomes like a jungle and it will be a waste.”
Mr Smith said Knox Council had ignored requests to reopen the vineyard and had left it to “rot”.
Council director of city development Angelo Kourambas said in a statement to Knox Leader: “With regard to expressions of interest received, council is unable to provide further details, consistent with its obligations under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014”.
“Discussions regarding the future of the site remain ongoing, with a final decision yet to be made,” he said.
Mr Kourambas said the council “has previously undertaken pruning of vines at this Crown Land site, as well as grass slashing” but would not comment on whether they planned to maintain the vines.
He confirmed the Old Orchard winery site was within the designated Knox Central Precinct — an area earmarked for development to be used as a “modern mixed-use activity centre”.
The vineyard was planted in 1981 as part of a work-for-the-dole scheme sponsored by the council with the aim of turning a profit.
The grape varieties imported from South Australia failed to thrive in Victorian conditions, but the council continued to produce wine that was served at civic functions and given away as corporate gifts.
The true cost of the venture was revealed when State Government-appointed commissioners took over the city during council amalgamations in the mid-1990s and shut down the ratepayer-subsidised operation.
The lease was advertised and Swinburne TAFE’s Lilydale campus took over in 1995, incorporating the vineyard in its viticulture program until 2004, a year before the Smiths saw it advertised for lease.