Penfold, Mary
Mary Penfold (née Holt) was born 1816 in England, the daughter and only child of physician Dr Julius Holt and his wife.
Mary had a privileged upbringing and received every advantage in her education. In 1835, at the age of 19, she married Christopher Rawson Penfold, a medical student. By 1840, Christopher was practising medicine in Brighton, and the family had grown to include their daughter, Georgina (McIntyre n.d.).
Mary Penfold circa 1869 | State Library of South Australia | B22970
On 18 June 1844, Mary Penfold arrived in the fledgling colony of South Australia aboard the Taglioni, having emigrated from England with her husband, their young daughter, Georgina, aged four and Ellen Timbrell. Their voyage aboard the barque Taglioni marked the beginning of a new chapter in the early history of the settlement (McIntyre n.d.).
The family’s luggage reportedly included a small collection of grapevine cuttings from the wine-growing districts of France, including French variety grenache, wrapped in canvas (McIntyre n.d.). Dr Penfold believed wine was a useful medicament, especially for the treatment of anaemia (McDonald 1974).
Soon after arriving in Adelaide, the Penfolds purchased a 500-acre (202 hectare) property in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges at Magill (Makgill). The property came with outbuildings and established crops. It was here that Mary, Ellen and other employees planted the vine cuttings (McIntyre n.d.).
Grange Cottage Magill | Australian National University
Dr Penfold set up his practice on the eastern outskirts of Adelaide, South Australia, and initially, Penfolds produced fortified wines in the style of sherry and port for Dr Penfold's patients. As demand for the wines increased, the winery was expanded and was officially established in 1844. In addition to sherry and port, the Penfolds discovered that clarets and rieslings were both easy to produce and popular. As the demand for Christopher's medical services increased, Mary devoted more time to managing the farm, the cultivation of the vines and blending grapes for the wine (Australian Women’s History Forum 2010).
Christopher died in 1870 at the age of 59. With the Grange vineyard having extended to over 60 acres of grape varieties including grenache, verdelho, mataro (mourvedre), frontignac and pedro ximenez, Mary continued the business (Australian Women’s History Forum 2010). In 1874 it was reported that “Mrs Penfold makes but four varieties of wine, namely, sweet and dry red, and sweet and dry white. The work is done under Mrs Penfold's personal direction, not in conformity to any fixed or definite rule, but according to her judgement and taste. There are now in the cellars about 20,000 gallons of wine of an age which is ready for market, but the total stock is close upon 90,000 gallons” ('Fifty Years Ago', 1924). The article also indicates the "large market for her wines in Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand and even India”.
The drive and entrepreneurship Mary exhibited was notable, as by 1881 there were 107,000 gallons of wine in stock at her Magill cellar, while the total stock of wine in South Australia was 312,000 gallons (Mary Penfold was inspiration 1978). When Mary Penfold retired in 1884, aged 68, the winery owned about a third of South Australia's wine stores.
After Mary retired, her daughter Georgina and son-in-law Thomas Hyland took over control of the business.
It was reported that Mary Penfold died in 1895 in Brighton, Victoria, at the home of her daughter, Georgina, and son-in-law Thomas Francis Hyland, with whom she had lived in the last few years of her life ('The Yacht Nyroca', 1896). Mary Penfold's body was transported back to Adelaide to be buried at St George's Cemetery in Magill, near her former home of The Grange, the original site of Penfolds vineyard (St George’s Historical Group 2023).
Mary Penfold’s headstone at St. George’s Cemetery in 2018.
Photo by Di Booker, Campbelltown Library Digital Diggers.
References
Australian Women’s History Forum (2 March 2010) Mary Penfold, Australian Women’s History Forum, accessed 13 May 2025.
Booker, D (2018) Mary Penfold’s headstone at St. George’s cemetery [photograph].
Burns Philp and Company Limited (1941) Grange Cottage, Magill [photograph], Open Research Repository, Australian National University, accessed 13 May 2025.
'Fifty Years Ago' (1924) The Register (Adelaide, SA: 1901 - 1929), 13 June, p. 9. Accessed 13 May 2025.
McDonald, D. I. (1974) Christopher Rawson Penfold (1811–1870), Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 13 May 2025.
'Mary Penfold was inspiration' (1978) The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926 - 1995), 20 July, p. 22. , viewed 14 May 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110898113
McIntyre, J (n.d.) Mary Penfold (1816–1895), Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 13 May 2025.
Mrs C. R. Penfold (1869) Mrs C.R. Penfold B22970 [photograph], Collections, State Library of South Australia, accessed 13 May 2025.
St George’s Historical Group (2023) Self-Guided Interpretive Cemetery Tour 1848 to Today (pamphlet). St. George’s Anglican Church. Magill.
'The Yacht Nyroca' (1896) The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA: 1867 - 1922), 3 January, p. 2, accessed 13 May 2025.