Vintage 2027 Grape and Horticulture Internships are now open

Applications due: July 4, 2026.

DJ’s Grower Services run a paid intern programme. Each Spring and Summer, we have the requirement to offer paid internship positions to appropriately qualified Horticulture/Viticulture undergraduate and post-graduate students.

As a leader in providing Agronomy services, we are looking for 4-5 Interns with a mature, practical understanding of the local wine and horticultural community from a field production perspective.

Ideally, these Students should possess some of these attributes:

• Have the ambition to pursue a career in local Horticulture/Viticulture

• Mon-Friday availability for 2 to 3 days of work

• Have a sound understanding of production Horticulture/Viticulture

• Have excellent communication skills

• Attention to detail

• Have a strong work ethic and enjoy working outdoors

• Be able to work both as part of a team, and independently

• Can professionally represent DJ’s Grower Services within the broader industry

We see this as a wonderful way for highly talented Students to involve themselves in the industry, from a technical viewpoint.

We want to interview prospective Interns in July. So get your CV and cover letter into us!

Applications can be sent to James Hook, e: james@djsgrowers.com.au, Matthew Wilson e:matthew@djsgrowers.com.au, & Jen Pedder e: jennifer.pedder@djsgrowers.com.au

A short history of... Tatachilla and the Cameron Family

c. 1910

Building on the history explored in Lazy Ballerina’s Tatachilla article, the Tatachilla Winery site represents far more than a former winery building. It reflects the evolution of McLaren Vale itself, from one of South Australia’s earliest vineyard districts into the modern premium wine region recognised today.

c. 1930

Originally established in the 1860s by John George Kelly, son of Dr Alexander Kelly of Tintara, the Tatachilla property quickly became one of the district’s major vineyard holdings. By the late nineteenth century, extensive vineyards covered the Tatachilla Road landscape, with fruit supplying both local production and export markets.

The substantial limestone winery constructed by Stephen Smith & Company during the late 1910’s and into the 1920s. It became one of the defining industrial wine buildings of McLaren Vale. At its peak, Tatachilla wines were exported extensively to England under the “Keystone” label, helping establish McLaren Vale’s international reputation long before the modern table wine boom.

Importantly, the Tatachilla district also connects directly to the Cameron family, whose ongoing contribution to McLaren Vale viticulture continues today through Camwell Wines.

Great, great grandparents of Brad Cameron lived and worked at Tatachilla as a foreman and camp cook respectively. Brad's great-great-grandfather, William Cameron, was an expert with using horses.

A virtual drive through McLaren Vale to Tatachilla using 1934 aerial image with Derek Cameron and James Hook.

Modern Camwell Wines continues this family-led approach through small-batch winemaking sourced from family-owned and managed vineyard sites located only a few hundred meters away from the ancestors along California Rd.

That continuity is an important part of McLaren Vale’s story. While wineries, labels, and ownership structures have changed over time, many vineyard families remained closely tied to the same districts for generations. Tatachilla’s landscape evolved from fortified wine production and large export volumes into the premium regional focus seen today, yet the district still reflects the same close relationship between growers, vineyards, and winemaking families that shaped McLaren Vale from the beginning.

Today, although winemaking at Tatachilla ceased in 1964, the surviving buildings and surrounding vineyard landscape remain an important reminder of the scale and ambition of early McLaren Vale wine production. The ongoing work of families like the Camerons through ventures such as Camwell Wines demonstrates how strongly the region’s modern identity still draws from these historic vineyard foundations.

A short history of... The McLaren Vale Hotel (or should that be Bellevue?)

1910 appearance.

Long before the modern wine region became internationally recognised, the township was divided into two small settlements — Gloucester and Bellevue — which slowly grew together through the nineteenth century. The hotel stood at the edge one of those original villages and became a lasting symbol of the district’s transformation from farming settlement to wine town.

The building began life in 1857 as the Clifton Hotel, constructed by Richard Bell, founder of the township of Bellevue. Bell named the hotel after his wife’s family, the Clifts, and the structure quickly became a landmark on the route through the southern vales. In those early years the district was still developing, with wheat farming, flour milling, lime burning and bullock transport driving the local economy.

The first licenees were Clifton Hotel; A Bock, jnr 1857, J. Clift, snr 1859-60, and N. Clift 1861-63.

Bellevue itself was a practical working settlement, made up of cottages, inns and service buildings supporting agriculture and transport moving south toward Encounter Bay.

Like much of rural South Australia, the district experienced difficult decades during the nineteenth century. Population decline and economic change saw the Clifton Hotel fall into disuse by 1864. For nearly twenty years the building sat largely dormant as Bellevue faded into a quiet rural hamlet.

Its revival came through one of the defining figures of Australian wine history — Thomas Hardy. After purchasing nearby Tintara Winery in the late nineteenth century, Hardy also acquired the former Clifton Hotel. He expanded the building by adding the distinctive gabled wings still associated with the structure today, renamed it the Bellevue Hotel, and used it as his headquarters while overseeing operations at Tintara. The hotel became closely connected to the rise of McLaren Vale as a wine-producing district, sitting directly alongside Hardy’s growing winery empire.

Licensees 1880s onward as the Bellevue Hotel; Thomas Hardy (owner/operator as a wine and refreshment establishment), 1907–1911 John H. Carter

J. E. Howie — more correctly recorded as James Edgar Howie — appears to have been proprietor/licensee of the Bellevue Hotel, McLaren Vale from approximately 1915 to 1923.

The architecture of the hotel still reflects those layered periods of history. The original bluestone central section survives from the 1850s, while Hardy’s later additions gave the building a grander appearance more fitting for the prosperous wine district emerging around it. Its verandah, balcony and stone construction remain characteristic examples of early South Australian country hotel design.

What makes the Bellevue Hotel particularly important is how closely its story mirrors the development of McLaren Vale itself. The merging of Gloucester and Bellevue into the modern township during the early twentieth century reflected the district’s gradual consolidation around viticulture and wine production. The hotel sat directly within that evolution, transitioning from rural inn to wine merchant headquarters and eventually becoming part of the broader identity of the town.

From 1939 it became known as Hotel McLaren.

Today the building survives as part of the modern Hotel McLaren precinct, but traces of the Bellevue name and heritage remain embedded throughout the site. The surrounding gardens, views toward Hardys Tintara, and the continued hospitality role of the building all connect modern visitors back to more than 160 years of local history.

Few buildings in McLaren Vale capture the continuity of the district quite like the Bellevue Hotel. From bullock teams and flour mills to vineyards and cellar doors, the structure has watched the region evolve through every major chapter of its history.

2006 Hotel appearance.

A short history of... The McLaren Vale Fruit Packers Building

McLaren Vale Fruit Packers c. 1974 - image restored by James Hook - DJs Growers

Long before McLaren Vale became internationally recognised for wine, the district was built on mixed farming, orchards, and the movement of fresh produce to Adelaide and beyond. One of the clearest reminders of this earlier era is the old McLaren Vale Fruit Packers building, opened around 1928 and closely linked to the railway line that arrived in 1917.

Today, many people pass these surviving structures without realising their importance. Yet buildings like this tell the story of how the region evolved from a scattered agricultural district into one of South Australia’s most significant food and wine regions.

A Railway That Changed the District

The arrival of the railway line in 1917 transformed the southern districts. Before rail transport, moving produce from the Willunga and McLaren Vale district to metropolitan markets was slow, difficult, and heavily dependent on horse-drawn transport over rough roads.

The railway created a direct connection between growers and the Adelaide market. Suddenly, fruit, wine, produce, and agricultural supplies could move far more efficiently. This changed the economics of farming in the district and encouraged larger-scale commercial production.

The Fruit Packers building emerged directly from this opportunity. Constructed beside the railway infrastructure, it became part of a growing agricultural supply chain that linked local growers to urban consumers.

More Than Wine

Modern perceptions of McLaren Vale often focus entirely on vineyards and wineries. However, the district historically supported a far broader agricultural economy.

In the early twentieth century, orchards, currants, almonds, vegetables, and mixed farming were all important components of the local landscape. Fruit packing sheds were essential infrastructure in this system. They allowed produce to be graded, packed, stored, and prepared for transport.

The McLaren Vale Fruit Packers building reflects a period when agriculture in the district was highly diversified. Grapevines were important, but they existed alongside many other crops.

This diversity also shaped the region’s settlement patterns and infrastructure. Railway sidings, storage sheds, packing facilities, and agricultural merchants developed around the needs of growers. Many of the district’s surviving industrial-style buildings date from this period of expansion.

Fruit drying house at Tatachilla c. 1900 - Image restored by James Hook - DJ’s Growers

The Importance of Packing Sheds

Packing sheds were once central to regional communities across South Australia. These buildings provided employment, coordinated freight movement, and acted as gathering points during harvest.

Inside these sheds, produce was sorted by quality and packed into crates for transport. Timing was critical. Fruit had to move quickly and efficiently to maintain quality before reaching markets.

The scale of investment in facilities like the McLaren Vale Fruit Packers building demonstrates the confidence local growers had in the district’s agricultural future during the late 1920s.

A Snapshot of Interwar South Australia

The late 1920s and early 1930s were transformative decades for regional South Australia. Agricultural communities were modernising rapidly, adopting mechanisation and improved transport networks.

Buildings such as the McLaren Vale Fruit Packers shed reflected this optimism. Their construction represented permanence, growth, and confidence in regional industry.

Despite economic challenges during the Depression years, these facilities continued to support local production and helped maintain regional employment.

Remembering the Earlier Landscape of McLaren Vale

The surviving agricultural buildings of McLaren Vale are reminders that the region’s identity was built over generations of evolving farming systems.

Today’s vineyard landscape sits on foundations created by earlier industries including orchards, currants, mixed farming, transport infrastructure, and agricultural cooperatives.

The old Fruit Packers building is therefore more than an industrial relic. It represents a key transition period in the history of the district — when improved transport and agricultural coordination helped shape modern McLaren Vale.

As redevelopment continues across South Australia’s regional towns, preserving and documenting structures like this becomes increasingly important. They provide physical links to the working agricultural history that created many of today’s wine regions.

For locals, these buildings are familiar landmarks. For visitors, they offer a glimpse into the earlier economic life of the district. And for historians, they help explain how transport, agriculture, and regional communities developed together across the twentieth century.

The story of McLaren Vale is not only about wine. It is also about railways, packing sheds, orchards, freight networks, and the generations of growers who built the district long before wine tourism existed.

Supporting Australia’s Top Vineyards

James Hook and Matthew Wilson from DJ’s Grower Services recently contributed to the sixth annual Vineyard of the Year Awards run by Young Gun of Wine. Their involvement highlights the value of strong technical expertise across Australia’s vineyard sector.

As part of the judging process, James and Matthew conducted independent vineyard inspections. These visits verified practices on the ground and ensured consistency across a diverse group of finalists. The awards recognised 45 vineyards from across the country, each demonstrating high standards in sustainability, innovation, and fruit quality.

The Vineyard of the Year Awards continue to highlight the critical role growers play in shaping wine quality and regional identity. Independent assessments like these provide valuable benchmarking and support continuous improvement across the industry.

James and Matthew’s work through DJ’s Grower Services demonstrates how practical experience and technical knowledge can deliver real value to vineyard businesses. Their contribution supports better decision-making and reinforces confidence in vineyard performance at a national level.

2026 Cover Crop Guide

Establishing and maintaining a vineyard ground cover, and adding compost, can be one of the first activities cut during times of tight budgets. Should it be? Experience shows that ground cover and soil health is absolutely critical over the medium to long-term to keep vineyards viable. 

Soil carbon % one of the most critical indicators of soil health, and keeping ground cover is also one of the central tenets of regenerative agriculture.

If you are going to do it, do it effectively...

Olive Grove Soil Testing

Soil testing is a valuable tool that empowers olive growers to make informed decisions regarding nutrient management, irrigation practices, soil health, and pest control. By optimising these key factors, farmers can unlock the full potential of their olive groves, ensuring higher yields, superior fruit quality, and long-term sustainability.

Contact Jen Pedder for a quote (email). 

Incorporating soil testing into regular farm management practices is a wise investment that yields multiple benefits for olive growers, contributing to their success and the overall health of the olive industry.

Comparing 2024/25 to historical droughts

We are currently 6 months into an extended dry period with some similarities to 1982/1983. How do current conditions compare?

Read below.

Fig 1: 2024/25 extended dry period in South Australia.

1967 Drought Summary

Fig 2: South Eastern Australia affected by drought in 1967.

Intense drought affected southeastern Australia in 1967. The first six months were the driest January–June period in the 20th century over large areas of Victoria, southeastern South Australia, and northern and eastern Tasmania. Unseasonal dust storms affected South Australia in late May, and again in late July. By now, parts of southwestern Victoria were being declared drought areas. In Melbourne and Adelaide, 1967 remains the driest year in more than 160 years of records.

1982–83 Drought Summary

Fig 3: 1982/83 extended dry period over most of Australia.

The 1982/83 dry period was more severe than what we are currently experiencing because it occurred across almost all of Australia. The extended dry period lasted 11 months—from April 1982 to March 1983—locally there was about 2/3 of a typical winter rainfall season (200mm) at Willunga and then a dry spring and summer. This drought was linked to a very strong El Niño event. Current local conditions are not linked to El Niño conditions.

After widespread rainfall in March 1982, conditions rapidly deteriorated. By winter, a severe drought had taken hold across most areas east of a line from Alice Springs to Ceduna in South Australia. Clear skies, low humidity, and frequent severe frosts in June and July compounded the situation. Extremely dry conditions continued through spring across eastern Australia, with many regions recording their lowest rainfall on record between April and December.

By November, topsoil had dried out to the point where it was being blown away in dust storms. The drought culminated in disaster with the Ash Wednesday bushfires in February 1983. On February 8, massive dust storms swept across South Australia and Victoria. Just eight days later, on February 16, the devastating bushfires struck.

Relief finally arrived in March. A major low-pressure system developed over northwestern Australia on March 12. Over the following week, it moved eastward, bringing widespread heavy rain and flooding. It then tracked south through New South Wales and Victoria, reaching Tasmania by March 23. This system delivered record-breaking March rainfall across much of the drought-affected area. Follow-up rains in April and May marked the definitive end of the drought.