Robert (Bob) Fielding
Fielding, RobertUUUU
Books, Manuscripts
Find it!
Interview recorded with Robert Fielding, 3 and 10 April 2008 at Emu PlainsSession 1: 21 tracks, 61:16 mins -- Session 2: 18 tracks, 53:54 mins
Main title:
Robert (Bob) Fielding / interviewed by Geraldine Cook for the History of Penrith Project
Author:
Imprint:
Penrith NSW : Penrith City Library, 2008
Collation:
2 audio cds : 1 cdrom (interviews in .wma ; photographs in .jpg)
Contents:
Interview recorded with Robert (Bob) Fielding, farmer at Kingswood and businessman, concerning his life growing up at Kurnel and then on a farm at Kingswood, which is now the University of Western Sydney site (old Nepean College of Advanced Education) - Kurnel growing up, Kurnel school life - Wal Fielding, his brother was a greenkeeper and established the Bexley Golf Course - Wal and father, Robert purchased an established farm at Kingswood on Oconnell Street - Describes Kingswood in the 1940s and 1950s - Tolhurst family - Attending Kingswood school and school life - High school at Penrith High, migrants and Aboriginal children from Mulgoa at high school - Farm life - National Service - Nepean Rowing Club and rowing as a sport - St Marys Council - Belles of St Marys womens football team - purchased far from Harry Woolman - had established fruit trees (peaches) and grapes - lost the fruit trees, grew pumpkins and squashes, mushrooms and Black Muscat grapes - Farm resumed by the State Planning Authority - Kemp, Hollier and Bush were neighbours - the two homes on the property are still in use by the university - Italian and greek families bought their grapes - Joined the Junior Farmers - One project in 1949 was to plant the trees out the front of Penrith High School, still there - Kingswood Distillery - Epstein family came from Europe in 1930s and established the distillery - Frank Epstein and his brothers in law, Harry and Larry Fuller ran the distillery - they had 7 pot stills and in 1947 and 1948 won best rum at the Sydney Royal Easter Show - tow rums Endeavour Rum and Garden Island Rum - also made all the spirits for Helena Rubenstein's cosmetics - also made gin - Fed the pigs with the waste from the distillery - Fielding's farm grew table grapes and were believed to have been served to Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Australia in the 1950s - after the farm Bob established Nepean Waste Services, being a private contractor to Penrith Council befre selling to Rethmans - member of the Nepean District Historical Society - interested in bottle collecting - bottle makers in Penrith Bronger, Coombs and O'Brien - Kingswood Drive-In - Describes the town of Penrith - talks about Caddens Road and its namesake.-------Transcription regarding the Kingswood Distillery:Oh yes, there was a distillery. The Kingswood distillery. And this was actually hand built by the family that came out. They came out from middle Europe at the beginning of the 30s. And they could see things were toughening up over there and they thought it was time to get out.So, they chose Kingswood, and the Kingswood distillery came to existence, and it was run by Frankie Epstein. He was the distiller and his brother in law’s Harry and Larry Fulop were his partners, but they were the salespeople. And it was a particularly good product. They had seven pot stills, which was the top product that they use for doing whisky in Scotland or the early ones.And it made a particularly good spirit, well for instance, in 1947-48 he won the championship best rum at the Royal show in Sydney.And he had two rums, one was the endeavour rum and the other one was (garden island), and it was good quality stuff. They also made gin. They made all the spirits for Helena Rubinstein’s cosmetics and that was a big process.The basic mixture was 40 bags of barley to 1000 gallons. And this was fermented and stirred and so I was I was quite into this, was quite interesting actually.The waste they produced was what we fed our pigs with, and we produced up to 200 bacon pigs a year. And this was all fed on the Kingswood distillery waste. We brought them up to the bacon size because there wasn’t over fattening food. And when I went to the Flemington Market for sales these pigs, they were always desired by the bacon people because they weren’t like (black fires), they weren’t over fat. And they were just ideal for making bacon with.Did you say they use some of your grapes for?Oh, yes here somewhere.
Dewey class:
994.41
Language:
English
Subject:
Community life -- Penrith Region (N.S.W.) -- Oral historiesFielding, Robert (Bob) -- Oral historiesFarms -- Kingswood (N.S.W.) -- Oral historiesKingswood Distillery (NSW) -- Oral historiesFielding Family (Kingswood, NSW, History)Junior Farmers (Organisation) -- Kingswood (NSW) -- Oral historiesNineteen fifties -- Kingswood (NSW) -- Oral historiesKINGSWOOD (NSW) -- HistoryKingswood (NSW) -- Oral histories
BRN:
131185
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research | Local AV | 994.41 HIS | Not for loan (Set: 10 Feb 2016) |