Joseph Gilbert

Who was Joseph Gilbert?

Joseph Gilbert was a pastoralist and winemaker in South Australia from 1839 until his death.

Gilbert was born in Puckshipton, Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey. The second of four sons, his father was Joseph Gilbert and his mother, Jane. He studied at Marlborough College in Wiltshire and learnt about vine-growing and wine-making on the European mainland.

He migrated to South Australia in 1839 on the Buckinghamshire and immediately erected his prefabricated two-roomed Manning portable cottage on an Adelaide allotment. He acquired a property on the South Para River and stocked it with sheep purchased from Van Diemen's Land. He later moved his flock to a selection near Lyndoch, which he named "Pewsey Vale" and developed into an ideal country home.

In 1847 he established Pewsey Vale winery in Eden Valley, South Australia, the same year Jacob's Creek winery was established in the neighbouring Barossa Valley, with substantial cellars, and Pewsey Vale clarets, burgundies and hocks achieved considerable success.

He married Anna Browne in 1848. Her brothers Dr. William James Browne and Dr. John Harris Browne made a wedding present of the property "Wongalere" near Williamstown.