ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0440 Pine Grove Farm Records

Scope and Content Notes
Call Number	HMSS 0440
Collection	Pine Grove Farm Records
Date Range	circa 1931-2015
Quantity	1.63m (9 containers)
Access Conditions	open
Copying Conditions	with attribution
Related Collections	HMSS 0125 Max Hill Papers; HMSS 0364 ACT Potato Marketing Board Records

In October 1930, vegetable grower Reuben Hill submitted an application to the lease Block 1 Section 2, Duntroon (later know as Pialligo) He was one of nine applicants. Reuben application detailed that he had been commercially growing vegetables in Canberra since 1917, had an established shop at Kingston, was already growing vegetables on a seventeen acre block – No 56 Woden and owned a number of plant and equipment. The administration offered the lease with the condition that Reuben surrender No 56 Woden. Reuben agreed and the lease for the 42 acres was granted on 1 December 1930, at a rental of 126 pounds per annum (inclusive of rates).

Reuben and his wife Eva (Eileen Eva May nee Carnall) and their children (two teenage girls, Eileen and Joyce, and four boys, Max, Fred, Geoff, and Doug) moved to what would become “Pine Grove” Farm, in the first week of December 1930. This became the family home for the Hills, and later their son Max’s (Norman Maxwell Hill) workplace, for the next fifty nine years. The land at the time was unsuitable for vegetable production and required a lot of effort to make it suitable for farming. The house also was very small for such a large family and Reuben was able to source two cabins for the boys to sleep in. The letter to the Chiefs Land Officer requesting the accommodation is included in the collection.

Reuben wanted his boys to join the public service so that they may enjoy a better working life than the one he experienced on the land. Max, however, had suffered whooping cough every winter since he was a baby. Reuben’s friends suggested that it was better for Max’s health to stay on the farm. Max began working on the farm in December 1934 after leaving school. He took over the farm in 1957 and was also permitted to buy the house, prior to this it was part of the lease. Max ran the farm until 1989 when he retired, at which point his son, Ian, took over.

This collection includes Pine Grove records of accounts, employees, plantings and correspondence predominantly during the time Max managed the property, but also includes records from his father’s and son’s periods of management. Interwoven are glimpses of Max and Reuben’s personal life such as Reuben’s invitation to a civic welcome for Queen Elizabeth II and Max’s radio broadcasting licenses. The collection also contains Max’s comparison of farming in the past to that of more modern times.

The ACT Heritage Library also holds Max’s personal stories of his life. These catalogued items provide further context about the records in this collection, and those related to it, from the employment of European migrants to working with the CSIRO to improve insecticides.

Box List
BOX NO.	DESCRIPTION	QUANTITY	DATE RANGE
1	Commercial Reckoners	3 Publications	[1923]–[1935]
1	Insurance certificates, Agreements with Buzacott- Wolseley Limited	1 Envelope	1930-1953
1	Taxation papers, receipts, Insurance certificates, receipt of application to RMS for Douglas John Hill (1944), land lease correspondence, Car owners certificate (1939) Hospital and Funeral correspondence and receipts for Geoffrey Alexander Hill, Thank you letter from Department of Education NSW re the Geoff Hill Shield for All Schools’ Sports competitions, (1938)	1 File	1931-1953
1	Letter to Chiefs Land Officer regarding request for 2 cubicles (sleeping accommodation) to be placed on Vegetable Block No.1, Duntroon, to relieve pressure on the house.	1 File	1931
1	Accounts Book	1 Book	1936-1943
1	Accounts Book - Employees and wages, plantings	1 Book	1940-1957
1	Receipts, orders and correspondence with Buzacott- Wolseley Limited	1 File	1942-1952
1	Cash and expenditure accounts, planting activities, Broadcast Listener’s Licences	1 Book	1942-1948
1	Insecticidal Control of cabbage Pests : Canberra 1944-48	1 Publication	1944-1948
1	Queanbeyan Pastoral, Agricultural & Horticultural Association (Queanbeyan Show) prize cards for Reuben Hill	5 Prize cards	1944-1950
1	Accounts Book – alphabetical by account holder	1 Book	1946-1955
1	Bank of New South Wales Deposit Book	1 Book	1947-1955
1	Cash and expenditure accounts, Broadcast Listener’s Licences, Receipt of ground tablet purchased for the late Geoffrey A. Hill (Allot 122C, Presbyterian portion, Canberra Public Cemetery), Bank statement	1 Book with loose papers	1948-1955
2	Vegetable Boom Instructions and plan (followed on from CSIRO work on recommendations)	1 File	circa 1950s
2	Account Books – Employee Wages	3 Books	1955-1961
2	Accounts presented, Deposit bonds	1 Book with loose papers	01/07/1959–30/06/1968
2	Seed plantings, mostly alphabetical by plant type	1 Book	1950-1958
2	Accounts Book – alphabetical by account holder	1 Book	1951-1955
2	Taxation papers, receipts	2 Files	1952-1954
2	Reuben Hill - Invitations and Ephemera regarding Queen Elizabeth II visits	1 File	1954,1958
2	Accounts presented (incomplete)	4 Carbon books	1957-1958
2	Invoices	1 File	1959-1960
2	Business receipts	1 File	1959-1960
3	Accounts - Expenditure	3 Books	1955-1975
4	Business receipts	1 File	1960-1961
4	Accounts presented (incomplete)	4 Carbon books	1960-1963
4	Account Books – Employee Wages	3 Books	01/07/1961-30/06/1965
4	Business receipts, Invoices	1 File	1963-1964
5	Account Books – Employee Wages	5 Books	01/07/1965-30/06/1975
5	Accounts presented	2 Books	01/07/1968-30/06/1975
5	Pine Grove Correspondence	1 Ring bound folder	1968-1975
6	Account Books – Employee Wages	4 Books	01/07/1975-30/06/1977, 01/07/1977-30/06/1979, 01/07/1979-30/06/1981, 01/07/1981-30/06/1983
6	Accounts – Invoices (hostels and Messes – submitted for goods)	1 Folder	08/12/1978-11/10/1985
6	Correspondence and account statements	1 Ring bound folder	1982-1985
7	Accounts - Expenditure	3 Books	07/07/1975-16/01/1986
8	Alphabetic listing of invoices sent to organisations for goods supplied	1 Ring bound folder	1980-1985
8	Accounts presented	1 Book	03/04/1981-08/07/1985
8	Account Books – Employee Wages	2 Books	01/07/1983-06/09/1985
8	Pine Grove Correspondence	1 Ring bound folder	1985-1986
9	Farming Photograph 1 - Max Hill inspecting a small crop of 4,000 cabbages nearing maturity	1 Framed photograph (26cm x 21.5cm)	December 1987
9	Farming Photographs 2 -15: Photograph 2 – Farm workers planting out cabbage seedlings in rows 70 cm apart with plans 50cm apart. The woman is dropping the plants in position and the man planting in the freshly ploughed soil. 3,000 cabbages are planted inside three hours. They are irrigated. Failure rate is less than 1%. The man and woman planting are migrant casuals. The man on the Tractor is an Englishman who was a permanent farmhand. Photograph taken early 1960s. Photograph 3 – An overview of section of farm with river outlined by willows in the background. Photograph taken late 1950s. Photograph 4 – Harvesting potatoes. Staff of eight. Potatoes are into jute sacks which contain 140lbs, taken to shed, tipped onto grading table and prepared for sale. The staff would dog, bag and grade about 75 bags a day weighing about 6 tons. Photograph taken late 1960s. Photograph 5 – Mechanical potato digger at work in a heavy crop which would yield about 12 tons per acre. Photograph taken late 1960s. Photograph 6 – Pine Grove’s Molonglo river flats in total flood during 1950s. Amongst other things, there was a crop of cauliflower ready to harvest, not a sign of it is visible. Photograph taken 1954. Photograph 7 – Pine Grove’s Molonglo river flats during 1954 flood. To break it’s banks, at this point, the Molonglo river has to rise 21 feet. Photograph taken 1954. Photograph 8 – An overview of the mighty Molonglo river in flood taken from Mount Pleasant. Photograph taken 1954. Photograph 9 – A team of women workers seeking to restore crop after the flood waters have receded. Photograph taken 1954. Photograph 10 – A mature crop of lettuce the day after a hail storm. Lettuce was a large summer crop. 8,000 to 10,000 cases were harvested annually. Photograph taken late 1950s. Photograph 11 – Assorted vegetables including lettuce, looking towards Duntroon. Photograph taken late 1950s. Photograph 12 – Ian Hill inspecting a mature crop of Fordhook Giant silver beet. Photograph taken late 1970s. Photograph 13 – Ian Hill standing in a cauliflower crop. Photograph taken late 1970s. Photograph 14 – Ian Hill surrounded by a lush growth of cabbage on the river flats. Photograph taken late 1970s. Photograph 15 – Willow trees providing a backdrop to vegetables including carrots and cauliflower. Photograph taken late 1970s.	1 folder containing 14 photographs (10cm x 15cm)	circa 1950-1970
9	Then and Now by Max Hill – a comparison of vegetable farming life and work in Canberra in the 1930s with life 50 years later.	1 Plastic sleeve	2015
9	Early life of Max - address by Max hill at the ACT Heritage Library, Woden, 18/02/2003	1 Plastic sleeve	2003
9	The Back Door by Max Hill– memories of a supplier of fresh food to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia	1 Plastic sleeve	circa 2000-2015
8	Canberra Pioneer Reuben Hill and the evolution of the business widely known as R Hill & Son by Max Hill	1 Plastic sleeve	01/01/2003