SPEECHI BY THE PRI IE MINISTER, [ iR. E. G. WIPITLA:!,
AT THE OPENING OF THE KAISER STUHL ' IIERY CIATEAU, ' URIOPTA
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, FRIflAY 9 11ARCi 1974
JNE OF THE MOST NOTICEABLE CHANGES IN AUSTRALIAN
LIVING IN THE LAST DECADE OR SO HAS 3EEN THE GREAT AND
GROWING POPULARITY OF WINE. IT HAS COME HAND-IN-HAND
WITH A TRANSFORMATION OF OUR EATING HABITS. ARE NO
LONGER A NATION OF PEOPLE WHO EAT STEAK, EGGS AND CHIPS,
WASHED DOWN WITH BEER. MANY AUSTRALIANS ARE NOW AS
LIKELY TO BE FOUND EATING VEAL MARSALA, ACCOMPANIED BY
A RIESLING, OR BOEUF AU POIVRE WITH A BOTTLE OF CABERNET
SHIRAZ. IT IS ONE OF THE SMALL DISADVANTAGES OF MY
DUTIES THAT I AM NOT ABLE TO SHARE THE FULL FRUITS OF
THIS TRANSFORMATION, A SYBARITIC LIFE, IT SEEMS, IS NOT
POSSIBLE FOR THOSE IN HIGH OFFICE.
IT IS FITTING IN THE IAROSSA VALLEY TO PAY TRIBUTE
TO THE TWO QUITE DISTINCT GENERATIONS OF NEW SETTLERS WHO
HAVE PLAYED SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THIS DEVELOPMENT.
GERMAN REFUGEES ESCAPING FROM RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
FOUNDED THE FIRST PROFITABLE WINERIES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA
AND THEIR DESCENDENTS HAVE CONTINUED AND EXPANDED THEIR
ACTIVITIES SINCE THEN. THE NAME KAISER STUHliL ALONE
SYMBOLISES THE EFFORTS OF THE MIGRANTS FROM PRUSSIA AND
SILESIA WHO WERE THE FIRST SETTLERS IN THIS VALLEY IN 1842.
IT WAS A LATER GENERATION OF MIGRANTS WHO DID SO MUCH
TO MAKE AUSTRALIANS APPRECIATE THEIR OWN WINES.
SOME OF THOSE MIGRANTS, TOO, WERE ESCAPING RELIGIOUS
PERSECUTION INDEED, THE MOST FEARSOME PERSECUTION THE
WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, OTHERS WERE SEEKING A NEW LIFE
AFTER THE RAVAGES OF WORLD WAR I. THEY BROUGHT WITH
THEM A NEW AND DIVERSE STYLE OF LIVING WHICH HAS CHANGED
IRREVOCAIBLY THE HABITS OF ALL AUSTRALIANS.
THIE CURRENT SOOM IN WINE, W,-IHICH IS ONE OF THE
BENEFITS OF THE INFLUENCE OF THESE TWO SEPARATE
GENERATIONS, FOLLOWS A LONG PUT UNCERTAIN HISTORY FOR
THE INDUSTRY. THE FIRST FEEBLE VINEYARD IN AUSTRALIA
WAS PLANTED BY CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILLIP SOON AFTER THE
ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST FLEET IN 1788, IT WAS NOT UNTIL
YEARS AFTER THIS INITIAL FAILURE THAT GREGORY PLAXLAND
PRODUCED A VINTAGE AND SHIPPED A 30 GALLON CASK OF h4INE
TO LONDON. IN THE ENSUING FEW YEARS WINE MAKING WAS
CARRIED ON BY OTHER SETTLERS. ONE WRITER HAS, HOWEVER,
REMARKED THAT IN THOSE VERY EARLY DAYS VITICULTURE AND
WINE MAKING 1WERE EXCLUSIVELY THE HOBBY OF LANDED,
EDUCATED ENGLISH COLONISTS WHO HAD ACQUIRED A TASTE FOR
WINE OF THE CONTINENTAL STYLES':, :' PRODABLY THE WINE THEY
MADE WAS POOR STUFF,' THE WRITER HAS REMARKED RATHER
GRUFFLY, NEVERTHELESS, THE INDUSTRY GRADUALLY SPREAD
IN NEW SOUTH WALES, VICTORIA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH
AUSTRALIA,
Tin LSTH CENTURY HAD NOT ENDED, HOW'. EVER, BEFORE
THE INDUJSTRYI STRUCK PRODLEMS. ITS REPUTATION SUJFFERED
GREAT DAMAGE BECAUSE OF THE BOOM IN CHEAP, FORTIFIED WINES
ON THE GOLD DIGGINGS. THEN THE WINE DISEASE, PHYLLOXERA
VASTATRIX, SPREAD THROUGHOUJT VICTORIA AND PARTS OF NEW
SOUTH WALES. LIE SECOND PROBLEM WAS SOLVED. THE FIRST
CONTINUED, IN DIFFERENT FORMS, FOR SOME TIME. TIE LACK
OF PROPER EXPORT QUJALITY CONTROLS AND ' BAD BLENDING WITH
INFERIOR WINE FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE THEN EMPIRE GREATLY
HARMED THE REPUTATION OF AUSTRALIAN WINE. IRONICALLY, IT
WAS THlE SECOND WORLD WAR NHICH GAVE NEW nEART TO OUR
WINEMAKERS. THE SHORTAGE OF OTHER LIQUOR LED TO AN
ALMOST THREE-FOLD INCREASE IN THE DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION
OF WINE. THE REAL BREAKTHROUGH, HOWEVER, CAME IN THE
1950S AND 1960lS. A. T LONG LAST AUSTRALIAN WINES WERE
ACCEPTED BY A GROW1ING NUM' 3ER OF AUSTRALIANS FOR THEIR TRUE
WORTH. AUSTRALIANS ARE NOW DRINKING MORE THAN TWO GALLONS
OF WINE PER HEAD EVERY YEAR, THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN OF
PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA. MORE THAN
TWO-THIRDS OF ALL AUSTRALIAN WINE IS GROWN IN THIS STATE
AND THIS HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN THE ECONOMY OF
A NUJMBER OF REGIONS, SUCH AS THIS AREA.
-j-
WHILE THE INDUSTRY IS GENERALLY BUOYANT AT PRESENT,
THE GOVERNMENT RECOGNISES THAT SOME PROBLEMS DO EXIST.
A TARIFF B3OARD REPORT ON BRANDY IN AUGUST LAST YEAR DREW
ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEM OF THE OVER-SUPPLY OF BRANDY,
TO WHICH MANY GROWERS LOOK AS A MEANS OF USING SURPLUS
GRAPES. THE MINISTER FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRY, SENATOR WRIEDT,
AND THE MINISTER FOR SECONDARY INDUSTRY, MR. ENDERBY, HAVE
ESTABLISHED A BODY TO REPORT TO THEM ON THE MEANS OF
ABSORBING GRAPE SURPLUSES ARISING E2EFORE ANY LONGER TERM
RESTRUCTURING OR ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS CAN BE IMPLEMENTED.
WE EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO CONSIDER THIS REPORT VERY SOON.
IN DEALING WITH THOSE AND ANY OTHER PROBLEMS WHICH MIGHT
EXIST IN THE INDUSTRY, THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE GUIDED BY
THE PRINCV'-LE IT WISHES TO APPLY TO ALL PRIMARY INDUSTRIES:
THAT THEY BE SELF-SUJFFICIENT, PROSPEROUS AND EFFICIENT.
AGAINST THE GENERAL BACKGROUND WHICH I HAVE DESCRIBED,
THE BAROSSA CO-OPERATIVE WINERY LIMITED HAS BEEN ONE OF THE
SUCCESS STORIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN WINE INDUSTRY. IT CAME
INTO BEING IN 1931 WNHEN THE GROWERS IN THE VALLEY POOLED
THEIR RESOURCES TO MAKE W INE DURING THE DEPRESSION. SINCE
1953, WHEN THE KAISER STIJllL LABEL NAMED AFTER THE FLAT--
TOPPED HILL OVERLOOKING THE BAROSSA V! ALLEY WAS FIRST
USED, THE CO-OPERATIVE HAS PURSUED A VIGOROUS MARKETING
POLICY. IN ADDITION TO QUALITY BOTTLES OF WINE, IT HAS
SUCCESSFULLY MARKETED FLAGON AND OTHER POPULAR WINES.
ONE OF ITS MOST ENCOURAGING ENDEAVOURS HAS BEEN IN
THE FIELD OF EXPORTS, LIE CO-OPERATIVE HAS A FULLTIME
EXPORT MARKETING DIRECTOR AND IS, I UNDERSTAND, NOW THE
LEADING EXPORTER OF AUSTRALIAN WIPES TO THE UNITED STATES
AND JAPAN, ITS WINES ' 30 TO MORE THAN 20 OVERSEAS MARKETS.
~ JUSTIFIABLY IT WAS ANARDED A NATIONAL EXPORT A\ WARD FOR
OUTSTANDING EXPORT ACHIEVEMENT IN 1973. 1 HOPE THAT ITS
WORK IN THIS FIELD IS TAKEN AS A LEAD BY OTHER AUSTRALIAN
WINEMAKERS. CERTAINLY THE AUJSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY
INDUSTRY AND TUlE DEPARTMENT OF OVERSEAS TRADE STAND READY
TO ASSIST IN ANY W~ ORTHWHILE ATTEMPTS TO EXPAND OUR OVERSEAS
MARKETS. ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I AM ALSO DELIGHTED AT ANOTHER
INNOVATION OF THE CO-OPERATIVE. YOU HAVE INVITED ME TO
BE THE FIRST MEMBER OF " CLU3 13" WHICH WILL ENABLE SELECTED
WINES TO BE LAID DOWN IN THE KAISER STUML CELLARS FOR
NOMINATED PERSONS. I HAVE HAPPILY NOMINATED MY GRANDSON,
ALEXANDER, TO BE THE RECIPIENT OF SOME PORT WHEN HE REACHES
HIS 13TH BIRTHDAY. THIS W'ILL SERVE AS A MATURED MEMORY OF
THE OPENING OF THE NEW KAISER STUHL WINERY CHATEAU D3Y ME
TODAY.