YERING
Woiworung: Yereng, Yerung, Yeering or Yering; has been said to mean "scrubby land or deep pool".
William, Donald and James Ryrie gave this name to the 80,000 acres they selected on the Yarra River in 1837. William held the licence for the pastoral lease in partnership with James Graham until July 1850 although Donald Ryrie managed the station in the 1940s. Donald was responsible for planting the first vines from which the first five gallon keg was pressed in 1845. The Ryrie fortunes turned in the late 1840s and William sold the run to Paul de Castella and Adolfe Meuron in 1850. They bought the station to fatten cattle but also planted 20,000 grape-vine cuttings brought from France and by 1860 had 51 acres under vines. The homestead is believed to date from the 1860s and is known as Chateau Yering. Following the bank crash of the 1890s Paul de Castella sold Yering in 1896 to his creditors.
In 1901 Yering was purchased by Joseph Timms, a grazier from Fremantle, WA who converted the property to a dairy farm. John Sullivan, master baker of Capitol Bakeries in South Yarra, bought Yering Station in 1939. After he died in 1970 cattle grazing replaced dairying which had become less viable. John Sullivan's daughter Kathleen married Arnold Thomas in 1976 and they planned to re-introduce vineyards. The first planting commenced in 1988.
In 1995 the property was sold at auction in two lots: the Chateau Yering homestead with 103 hectares and 2.7kms of river frontage, and Yering Station vineyards and winery on 72 hectares. Chateau Yering was purchased by Len and Elly Milner who converted it into a high class country house hotel. Graeme and Doug Rathbone bought Yering Station and revitalised the vineyards and wines to world class standard.
Sources: John H. Edwards, The Ryrie family, Dulwich Hill NSW, 2007; Raymond Henderson, From Jolimont to Yering, Melbourne, 2006
