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50
2015
Gingin British Day
Norcia • Regans Ford • Wannamal
JUNE
Bindoon • Bullsbrook • Calingiri • Chittering • Gingin • Muchea • Mooliabeenie • New
New Norcia olive grove fruitful again
The St Ildephonsus Old Boys in the olive grove. Tamieka Preston
The Benedictine town of New Norcia is celebrating a bumper olive harvest this year largely thanks to the work of a group of former St Ildephonsus College students who volunteered to resurrect the ageing olive grove 12 years ago. In keeping with his Spanish heritage, Dom Rosendo Salvado planted around 3000 olive trees when he established New Norcia in 1847. Although many of the first cuttings failed, in 1896 a diary entry records that 90 litres of olive oil was produced from the 3-5 tonnes of olives hand-picked by the monks and crushed using a horse-drawn stone mill. By the early 1900’s olive production was an important part of the growing Benedictine community’s self-sufficiency along with
other agriculture. However by the end of last century the surviving 800 olive trees scattered throughout the historic town site had fallen into a state of neglect. Some had towered as high as 50 feet (15 metres) but the massive growth had virtually stopped the development of fruit. In early 2000, Laurie Watson and John Monkhouse, who both graduated from St Ildephonsus College in the late 50’s, were visiting New Norcia for an old boys’ reunion when they noticed the productive decline of the majestic trees. They sought permission from the monastery to reinstate the orchard, consulting Dom Paulino, who was orchardmanager in his younger days. When visited in Mercy hospital, Dom Paulino, then aged 98, was thrilled at the idea, suggesting that: ‘It couldn’t hurt much to have a go at them with a chainsaw’.
It was all the encouragement Laurie and John needed to gather a group of ‘old boys’, most of whom were now retired, willing to take on the hard work alongside New Norcia staff. The first task was pruning the trees back into shape. In 2009 they were able to borrow a cherry-picker from a local farmer to lop the top off the trees (pictured above). This was the first step in bringing down the height to an optimum 10-12 feet tall (3m) and thinning the trees into the ideal ‘champagne glass’ shape. The St Ildephonsus Old Boys, as they call themselves, now spend two weeks each year in May picking, two weeks in July pruning and a few other days here and there doing general maintenance. Team member John McPartland says it has been a rewarding experience, “It’s something we look forward to every year”.
Their work has proven very fruitful and this year the team, along with the monks, other volunteers and staff, picked a whopping 5296 kg of olives from 400 selected trees. The fruit has been pressed by the York Olive Oil Company and has produced 993 litres of oil, which will be hand filtered, bottled and labelled into 3500 bottles to be sold at the New Norcia shop. Laurie has high hopes for the latest ‘liquid gold’. “We only picked the best fruit this year, and the oil has a wonderful peppery flavour – we believe it’s been blessed by the Pope!” he says, and he’s hoping to see a repeat of the 2012 Perth Royal Show win of first prize. While there has been a slight price rise since 1929 when a 200ml bottle cost shilling and sixpence, New Norcia olive oil is a wonderful local product and one with a priceless history. COUNTRY PROPERTY EXPERTS
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BINDOON: 9576 0626