Early Farms In The District

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Brooklyn Villa
Elder Green
Hillcott Farm
Surrey Farm

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BROOKLYN VILLA
Brooklyn Villa (section 2143)
G.R.O. Application 27144
�         James Nihil (Land Grant) 1842 Farmer

�         Simon Boase,1852 Gentleman Farmer

�         John Goodall 1 854 Storekeeper

�         William Gregory, 3 April 1873 Farmer

�         Theodore Gregory to Arthur Henry Bowey,l4^th April 1915 Farmer

�         Morton Allen Ackland,1922 Farmer

�         Arthur Henry Bowey,1923

�         Benno Edmund Schmidt,1925

�         John Thomas Tilley,1926

�         Brian Thomas Ti11ey,1960

Brooklyn Villa Farm is situated on the corner of Grove Way (formerly Yatala Vale Rd) and Golden Grove Road and has been owned by members of the Tilley family for the last 79 years. Most of the farmland belonging to Brooklyn Villa Farm has gone to developers. The house, cottage and out buildings, which sit on approximately 4 acres, are all that remain today. 

The house known as Brooklyn Villa dates from early C.1850s. 

Sections 213 l, 2103, 2283 including 2143 on which Brooklyn Villa still stands, was purchased by Simon Boase in 1852. He was classed as a `gentleman farmer'.  (A gentleman who has the means to employ others to do the actual farm work).

Clearly shown in the Assessment Records for 1853, (some of the earliest for this area) there was a `house and outbuildings, cottage and land fenced and good' on this section. 

Section 2143 on which Brooklyn Villa stood was approximately 80 acres with a further 240 acres adjoining the original farm.

Brooklyn Villa Farm was an important part of the farming community in the Golden Grove area for over 140 years. The farm produced grain crops as well as having dairy cows and sheep.

 In 1932, when John Garfield Tilley was seven, he used to walk two miles to Golden Grove School and two miles back home to Brooklyn Villa. Sometimes hee was lucky enough to get a lift with the milk truck driver who would drop him off at `Golden Grove House', not far from the school, 
until such time as he got a bike. At this time John's grandparents lived at Greenwith Farm half way between the school and Brooklyn Villa, so on the long walk home he would call in for some `goodies' to sustain him, but if he was late home he would get a good talking to from his father!

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George Chapman was a runaway sailor. He left his ship at Port Adelaide with one shilling and a pocket-knife and made his way to Tea Tree Gully. He hid out in a barn (part of the steam mill - now the Fox & Firkin) for three days. R. Smith Snr. who owned Surrey Farm, gave George a job. The residence at Surrey Farm at that time was a small cottage. It was during this time that George met Lavinia Dowton, who lived on the next door property, with her younger sisters. 

George eventually bought; what was to become Elder Green from the Dowton sisters, who were quite young when their parents died.,Lavinia being about 17 years old was the oldest of the sisters and George was 22 years old when they married in 1858. 

They lived in a two-roomed slab and daub cottage, where two of their children were born. About six years later George built two stone rooms nearby, where they lived until 1888, when the present house was built, reputed to be the best in the area at that time. George and Lavinia had 5 children, one died at eighteen and the baby, 3 weeks after Lavinia in 1871.

In 1 873 George married Rebecca - Lavinia's younger sister - they had 7 children. George Chapman made use of all the land he had. Lemon and orange trees as well as grapevines grew around the house. George made wine from the vines, Mulberry wine and Elderberry wine: It is said of the Elder�berry "whether for neuralgia or nostalgia is not known "~. He died in 1910, working to the last - picking grapes. 

The top paddock was planted with hay for the horses, with orchards on most of the land - apricots, apples, pears, peaches and almonds. George Chapman grew many types of fruit tree and supplied Glen Ewin Factory with some of the first apricots that were made into jam. Many years later the orchards were replaced with vines. 

Mrs. Chamberlain the present owner of Elder Green is the daughter of Allan Chapman the youngest child of George and Rebecca. After George Chapman's death in 1910, sons, Allan and William Chapman continued to work the property - they bought land next door, known as Gregory's, so Elder Green land stretched from Yatala Vale road (now Grove Way) to Grenfell road. 

In 1915, Allan Chapman married Laura Sandford, they lived at Elder Green�for about 18 months before buying land in the Millicent District and moving there. They returned to Elder Green in 1934 after Rebecca Chapman died. Allan plantted more vines until there were about 56 acres of vines. The grapes were sold to wineries.

The grapes were used for Sherry or the dark Grenache grapes were made into Port. They were grown without the assistance of irrigation and so had a high sugar content. 

The vines started to get `dieback' and the apricots got a disease called `Gummosis', finally most of the aprricot orchards roundabout died. With the sudden death of Allan Chapman in 1943, Mrs. Chapman and her daughter Joyce Chamberlain with the help of an elderly uncle carried,on farming. When Mr. Chamberlain, Joyce's husband, came back from the war in 1946, he organised the vines and called for tenders and rented to Penfolds. 

Penfold's rented the vineyards for the next ten years, after which Wynn's who had Surrey Farm Estate, took it on for approximately the next fifteen years. During this time eight or nine acres was sold to Wynn's to enable them to build a dam for irrigating their vines. This was the first parcel of land belonging to Elder Green that was sold.

After it was decided to sell the remaining land to Hookers, the Land Commission stepped in and took everything to the North of Dry Creek. This left Hookers with about fourteen acres of comparably flat land without views! As developers moved through the area, Elder Green still remains the home of Mrs. Joyce Chamberlain nee Chapman, with a few token acres left around the house, where horses are still kept and stabled. The original slab and daub cot�tage built by George Chapman is still in existence on the property. The remains of the original Dowton family cottage lay underneath the Wynn Vale Dam.

* Elderberry wine was a very popular home-made wine in the UK.

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HILLCOTT FARM

Hillcott Farm (Section 2131)

�         Mrs Emilia Grove of Staffordshire, (Land Grant) 1842

�         James Nihil,1848

�         Simon Boase,1852 Farmer

�         Henry Tilley, July 1 Farmer

�         John Tilley,1878

�     John Tilley died 1907

John Henry Tilley & George Casper Tilley,1910 

The Tilley family of Wiltshire U.K. arrived in Adelaide aboard the migrant ship `Asceola' in April 1851.

Henry Tilley with his son John, just 13 years old, set off in 1 853 to try their luck on the Victorian goldfields. On their return to S.A. Henry paid 800 pounds for 77 acres of land at Upper Dry Creek (Golden Grove), (section 2131) in 1854. This was to become Hillcott Farm named after his native village, Hillcott in Wiltshire, U.K. 

The homestead was situated near the south-west corner of Yatala Vale Road and Golden Grove Road.

Much of the land was used for grain crops and hay - they had an extensive orchard, as well as keeping horses, cows, pigs, and poultry.

With the re-development of the area Hillcott Farm, as with many others, is no more. The actual homestead and outbuildings were finally demolished in 1998. 

When visiting their cousins at Eldergreen, Mrs Beryl King nee Sandford, tells of the time she and her brother were asked to fetch some eggs from `Hillcott Farm', next door. They were quite young at the time, so basket in hand they happily set off. Chained in the paddock was the Tilley's big red bull, a very ferocious beast, with a bad reputation. Erring on the side of caution, Beryl and her brother decided to climb through another fence and into the `Hillcott' orchard to get to the farmhouse. Half way through, they were confronted by these huge pigs, which were roaming around, they ran for all they were worth, finally making it to the farmhouse, where they got the eggs and re�turned safely to `Eldergreen' ... by another route. , Quite a heart stopping adventure for two kids on holiday!

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SURREY FARM
Surrey Farm (Section .2141)     G.R.O. Application 26310
�         G. Angas, H. Kingscote, J.R. Todd (S.A. Company), October 22, 1842 (Land Grant)
�    Charles Smith, 1853 (Western Moiety*) - John Smith, 1864 Richard Smith. 1876
�         Richard Smith, 1853 (Eastern Moiety*) Farmers
�         Richard Smith Senior died 1892

C.T. 1006-96
�         Richard C. Smith 1914
�         Vincent A. Zed 1925
�         Edward Erskine Cleland 1927

C.T. 1497-30
�         Colin Claude & Harold Bruce Bowden - Pastoralists 1928
�         John H. Tilley                 Tennants in
�         Howard James Ross.     Common 1944

 C.T.1951-190
�         Ethel Rita Grace Ross, 1945
�         John H. Tilley
�         Samuel, David Victor, Allen VVynn,1946
�         Wynvale Vineyards Pro Ltd (1954 became Modbury Estate Ltd) 1949

 C.T. 3565 -174
�     S.A. Land Commission 1975

Moiety - An antiquated term meaning- one or ttwo parts of divisions of something. 

The 1853 Assessment Records for the District of Highercombe shows that R. Smith Senior. leased from the S.A. Company 120 
acres on sections 2130, 2142. He had a further 80 1/2 acres that he owned and leased from the S.A. Company these being sections 2141, 2150, 2283. Charles Smith also owned 120 1/2 acres of land on sections 2141, 2140, 2150, 2283. It is noted on these sections were `House etc. and land of various qualities'. The dwelling house of Surrey Farm consisted at this time of a cottage style home. 

There were almond orchards and hay paddocks at Surrey Farm, with fruit trees around the house, but the majority of land was given over to vineyards. There was also a very steep hill and quarry on the property where the land was unable to be used for cultivation. 

Richard Smith Snr, helped George Chapman, a runaway sailor, by giving him work and lodging. George eventually married Lavinia Dowton, from the property next door that was to become Elder Green. 

Not forgetting that George Chapman had worked for them, apparently when Mr. & Mrs. Smith and family saw the large house that was being built at Elder Green in 1888, they were prompted to build an equally and if not larger residence! 

The `new' `Surrey Farm house had an entrance hall which was a very imposing 40ft x 20ft. Large rooms with high ceilings were on each side of the long hallway. Some of the rooms had fireplace surrounds of beautiful white marble. There were three cellars under the house with access from inside as well as outside. The verandahs around the house were edged with beautiful wrought iron `Lacework', which still survives today. 

The building is testimony to what once was Surrey Farm - so much a part of the farming and viticulture of the area.

With the compulsory purchase of land by the S.A. Land Commission in 1975 for development of the area, the `Surrey Farm' building is now used as 'The Golden Grove Homestead Community Child Care Centre' and sits just off the lower entrance to Pedare School, on Surrey Farm Drive
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