Robert Cleeland and Barry Toovey working at a Phillip Island chicory kiln, 1961. Photo: Laurie Dixon By Pamela Rothfield
THE root vegetable chicory is synonymous with Phillip Island, with the first crops being grown on the island as far back as 1869. It is said that the famous botanist Dr Ferdinand von Mueller, who established Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Garden, advised a number of the early settlers on Phillip Island to avoid planting crops such as wheat and barley and instead grow crops of either chicory or mustard – which would be either too bitter or too hot for the destructive pests such as caterpillars.
Many took his advice and chicory, which was used as a substitute for coffee or as an addition to coffee essence, became the staple crop of the island for about 100 years.
THE root vegetable chicory is synonymous with Phillip Island, with the first crops being grown on the island as far back as 1869. It is said that the famous botanist Dr Ferdinand von Mueller, who established Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Garden, advised a number of the early settlers on Phillip Island to avoid planting crops such as wheat and barley and instead grow crops of either chicory or mustard – which would be either too bitter or too hot for the destructive pests such as caterpillars.
Many took his advice and chicory, which was used as a substitute for coffee or as an addition to coffee essence, became the staple crop of the island for about 100 years.
In the early days, chicory harvesting was performed by hand, which meant digging the chicory root out of the ground and then removing or ‘topping’ the green head. This was a backbreaking job, and often involved being out in the paddocks in winter, suffering from the cold, wet and muddy conditions. Help arrived when a local man, Duncan McGregor, working as a blacksmith, invented a purpose-made hand-harvesting device called the ‘chicory devil’ in the 1880s which assisted farmers digging out the chicory roots.
It wasn’t until the 1930s when a horse-drawn single furrow plough began to be used to lift the crop that the chicory devil’s use declined, although some use was still made of the devil when the ground was too wet to use other implements or where roots had been missed by the mechanical equipment. For the smaller growers, the devil was in use right up until the 1960s.
The difficulties experienced in transporting the chicory crops to Melbourne were eased with the building of the first jetty in Cowes in the latter part of 1870. Initially the chicory crops were shipped to Melbourne green (that is undried), in the schooner the Stephen. But it wasn’t long before the resourceful farmers developed a primitive drying method, which involved keeping a fire burning in a hole in the ground, and fixing a wire mesh over the hole, on which the chicory could be placed and dried.
This drying process became obsolete on 4 June 1878 with the construction of the first chicory kiln on Phillip Island by brothers John and Solomon West. They also ran West’s General Store, located in what we know today as Thompson Avenue.
The kiln was opened with great fanfare. A sumptuous banquet for some 70 guests was thrown at the renowned Isle of Wight Hotel. The kiln was described in the press as a ‘handsome brick building containing a steam engine and all the necessary appliances for cutting and drying chicory on a large scale”.
This drying process became obsolete on 4 June 1878 with the construction of the first chicory kiln on Phillip Island by brothers John and Solomon West. They also ran West’s General Store, located in what we know today as Thompson Avenue.
The kiln was opened with great fanfare. A sumptuous banquet for some 70 guests was thrown at the renowned Isle of Wight Hotel. The kiln was described in the press as a ‘handsome brick building containing a steam engine and all the necessary appliances for cutting and drying chicory on a large scale”.
When coffee was in short supply during World War II, the chicory industry flourished. In the 1940s, the Western Port area was responsible for producing more than 75% of Australia's chicory needs. In 1947 there were 117 registered growers with an average area of 4½ acres of chicory. A typical harvest on Phillip Island yielded about 3-4 tons of green chicory per acre.
The last chicory crops on the island were grown in Rhyll in 1987 by the McFee Family who had been farming chicory for three generations.
Although the crop is no longer grown on Phillip Island, the shells of the old chicory kilns with their distinctive pyramid shaped roofs are today iconic sights dotted around the Island.
This essay was first published on the Phillip Island & District Historical Society website.
The last chicory crops on the island were grown in Rhyll in 1987 by the McFee Family who had been farming chicory for three generations.
Although the crop is no longer grown on Phillip Island, the shells of the old chicory kilns with their distinctive pyramid shaped roofs are today iconic sights dotted around the Island.
This essay was first published on the Phillip Island & District Historical Society website.
