The vegetable canning factory Simplot celebrated its Centenary this year, having begun vegetable canning in 1926 under the well-known brand name Edgells. In the early 1900’s, Robert Gordon Edgell bought Bradwardine Homestead in 1906 and over the next 15 years developed what was to become The Home of Edgell. Mr Edgell’s purchase of the property was not only important for Bradwardine but for the Bathurst district, because it led to major steps in secondary industry development alongside prosperous rural activity.
Vegetable growing in Bathurst had an earlier history than that of Edgell’s, with the arrival of the Chinese labourers from the goldfields of Sofala, Lambing Flat, and Napoleon Reef, where alluvial gold had run out, and goldfield populations dissipated. In the 1870’s, the Chinese had established themselves as growers and hawkers of vegetables. The Chinese gardeners’ knowledge of floodplain farming and water management made them the most successful vegetable growers in the Bathurst region for many years. The river flats owned by Francis Suttor of Bradwardine were leased to a Mr Lee, who established a syndicate of Chinese Market gardeners. Many had their gardens leased on the land surrounding Bradwardine and Esrom. Tobacco was another very profitable crop grown alongside the cabbages, asparagus, onions and potatoes. Tons of produce were sent by rail to the Sydney Markets.
The big flood in 1900 known as the ‘Snow Flood’ put an end to the syndicate and destroyed the pise huts which housed the Chinese gardeners. Only one building remained, and this stood in the corner of the paddock near the main road opposite the present Head of the Junior School’s home.
As Bradwardine and the factory were next door to Esrom, the All Saints’ College site, the boys of the school soon learned that the products from the gardens and apple orchard on the homestead surrounds were of the best quality and for many years they lived up to the slogan ‘that an apple a day keeps the Doctor away’. Perhaps it may have been the boys who inspired the slogan on the first Bradwardine label reproduced.
Edgell’s of Bradwardine existed side by side for 35 years after the school had purchased Esrom in 1923. The Edgell family always took great interest in the school and helped secure its re-establishment on its present site. Machinery, tools and other equipment from the factory were used to prepare building sites, playgrounds and ovals. The relationship between the occupants of the two properties was, for the most part, very peaceful despite the boys’ occasional forays into the orchard and asparagus plots. Many meals served to the boys were products from the factory as well, in particular, creamed asparagus. Asparagus was successfully grown on the Bradwardine river flats and canned in the factory. Edgell’s Asparagus became a household word to the Australian housewife. Marsden girls can also recall the many evening meals that were made from Edgell’s canned vegetables.
In 1958, the Church of England Property Trust, Diocese of Bathurst, at the request of the All Saints’ College Council, approved the purchase by the school of Bradwardine homestead and 30 acres of land adjoining the school property on its eastern and southern boundaries. The purchase was made from Gordon Edgell and Sons Ltd. for ten thousand pounds, thus providing additional boarding accommodation and more playing fields.
Structural alterations were made to the building, with the boardroom and engineering shop used as dormitories and the carpenter’s shop as a toilet block. A family home and factory became a schoolhouse where an average of 40 boys lived and worked over the next fifty-plus years.
Playing fields, netball and tennis courts, workshops, agricultural structures, gardens, horse arenas, on-site parking, and classroom buildings occupy the homestead acreage where there were once tobacco fields, market gardens and orchards.
Today, Bradwardine home is still on the hill overlooking the school, its future uncertain, but its rich history is not forgotten.
Mrs Memory Sanders
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