Founded 1859 by Dr. Charles Mackay, who first introduced graps for
winemaking in the region. Mackay's wines won three awards at the Garden
Palace Exhibition in 1879. Mackay was succeeded in 1895 by James Angus.
Was purchased in 1912 by Penfolds who operated the winery until it was
closed in 1978 - by 1962 soil erosion had made the vineyards unviable
and the winery relied on neighbouring vineyards. Under Penfolds the
winery's champagne and burgundy established Minchinbury as an
internationally known label. In the final years only
champagne was produced at Minchinbury. It was the first large scale
champagne producer in NSW under the direction of Leo Buring. The
company, which became known
as Penfolds, is now one of the biggest wine producers in Australia.
Originally the estate of Captain William
Minchin, who aquired the land in 1818 as a land grant under Governor
Macquarie.
William Minchin, a junior officer in charge of a detachment of the NSW
Corps died 1822. Minchin endured an atempted mutiny enroute from
England and was, himself, part of the Rum Corp Rebellion that saw the
toppling of Governor Bligh. His widow remarried to Mr Howie, who
started
the NSW whaling industry. Both died at sea and William Minchin's
brother from Canada inherited. Then bought by Charles Makey who
established the cellars and established a large-scale vine plantation.
Prior to this small-scale vineyards were scattered throughout the area
(an ancestor of mine had one in Prospect in the 1850's and 1860's).
Most of the original estate has now been turned into housing
developments. The ruins of the winery itself remain, although in a poor
condition. Currently owned by a real-estate
developer. Whilst the arrangement for the release of the site was that
the core buildings would be restored and kept intact, instead no
restoration has been done and in fact considerable damage has been done
to the core site, partly by vandalism but also by the developer. Fire
badly destroyed the winery buildings in 1987.
Redevelopment consent for the site was granted by Blacktown Council in
1995 conditional on restoration of the core of the winery. By March
2005, the lack of any restoration prompted the council to begin legal
proceedings against the then developer. Since then some work has been
done
on stabilising the site. In 2007 a new developer submitted plans for
the restoration of the remaint of the site, some 1.225 hectares,
converting it into an exhibition-conference centre, with shops, a
cafe-gallery and a number of residential units. Council approved the
latest devcelopment proposal, however whether it has gotten off the
ground or has gone nowhere like previous attempts is, at this date,
unknown.
The entrance to the winery was signposted by a fighter jet, which
remains today at the entrance to the suburb Minchinbury. The majority
of the buildings are masonry with galvanised roofs and constructed
bewteen 1865 and 1939.
Sources: Blacktown City Sun, 19/3/2002
Blacktown Council website, http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/our_city/oc_minchinburywinery.asp
Mt Druitt Historical Society - Historical Sites of Mt Druitt Tour.
George Nicolaidis. 21/10/2000
NSW Heritage Office Website, http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au "Housing Key to Winery Revamp", St Marys Star, 2nd May, 2006
"Winery Rebirth Plans Blocked", Blacktown Advocate, 20/2/2007
