Published Resources Details
Broadcast News Item
- Title
- New owners of heritage Chelsea Farm in Baulkham Hills seek to unearth property's history
- In
- ABC News: History
- Imprint
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia, 20 June 2026
- Url
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-20/history-behind-chelsea-farm-orange-orchard-baulkham-hills/106676700
- Format
- HTML
- Contains
- Image
- Abstract
From the Granny Smith apple in Eastwood to the orange orchards in Baulkham Hills, Sydney's backyards raised some of the earliest successful fruit trees in the new colony.
[Image] A black and white drawing of an old white man with side burns and a fancy suit. George Suttor was a botanist and farmer. (Supplied: Australian National Botanic Gardens)
From the early 1800s, the Hills Shire was a major citrus producing region. In Baulkham Hills, in 1801, British settler George Suttor and his family from Chelsea, London began clearing a parcel of land and went on to build a home and plant orange trees. The property later became known as Chelsea Farm.
Haining Lenane, a local history officer from the Hills Shire Council, said Suttor's oranges were sold for two shillings and sixpence per dozen at the market by 1807. "Suttor was the first to produce fruit for commercial sale," she said.