History – Apple blossom time in Port Albert

Springtime in Port Albert was once awash with apple blossoms as far as the eye could see – stretching from Kokako along Wellsford Valley Road, through Port Albert Central and on towards Wellsford via Shepherd’s Valley. The apple-growing industry was so important that the name Port Albert became known from one end of New Zealand to the other, and even overseas. Settlers here tended some of the finest orchards in the Auckland district. Bringing with them the English tradition of gardens and fruit trees, they planted many of the standard English varieties. Most fruit was bottled and preserved, with leftovers fed to pigs, which provided much-needed meat for local families.

As better roads and transport opened the way to Auckland, settlers turned their eyes to the old gumfields. Once thought poor and unproductive, these areas revealed a surprising gift – they were perfect for growing apples. Establishing the industry required great effort, particularly from pioneers such as the Becroft family, who arrived on the Matilda Wattenbach.

John Becroft, a great lover of trees, was the first in the district to own more than an acre of orchard. His sons – Peter, David and Lewis Philip – later expanded the enterprise into a larger commercial operation.

They were soon joined by other families, including the Shepherds, Gubbs, Reids and Neals. Interestingly, three of the district’s major orchardists – George Reid, Benjamin Martin Gubb and Geordie Smith – had all previously served as headmasters of Port Albert School.

For some years, apples were the district’s principal export. Two fruit-canning factories operated before World War I, but closed when many young men left for military service. At the height of the industry, 12 commercial orchards covered about 250 acres, producing around 40,000 cases each season. With roughly 100 trees to an acre, the landscape was a sea of green foliage and pink-white blossom.

A range of apple varieties was planted, with the principal being the Dougherty – a handsome, hard-fleshed, thick-skinned fruit that kept exceptionally well. Port Albert apples were exported as far as the United Kingdom and South America and, by 1893, they were fetching high prices. April and May were the busiest months – packing sheds overflowed with fruit, as apples were loaded onto trading boats like the Minnie Casey and taken down the Oruawharo River. After 1909, when the railway arrived, the harvest was transported to Wellsford, where the rail sidings were packed with apples bound for distant buyers.

In 1934, Gravenstein and Cox’s Orange Pippin apples were shipped to England, while large-sized Delicious apples found markets in South America, Canada and New York. Further consignments to Argentina and Brazil sold for eight to nine shillings a case, with smaller grades sent to Great Britain under the Government guarantee. Granny Smiths followed as the next export to London, from a harvest noted for being particularly good and free of disease. Growers pruned their trees low and broad, allowing even a smaller-statured grower to pick three bushels from a seven-year-old tree without ever climbing a ladder – a simple yet clever innovation that reflected the district’s practical ingenuity.

As the apple trade expanded, so did the need for timber to make packing cases. Ever resourceful, Lewis Philip Becroft planted Australian gums and Pinus insignis on his land, their timber later milled at two local sawmills for the busy orchards.

Over time, orchards gave way to pasture, and dairy farming took over where apple trees once stood. Yet the legacy of those early orchardists endures – in the stories, the soil and the sweet memory of apple blossom time in Port Albert.