Thomas Hardy arrived on the shores of South Australia in 1850, from Devon England as a 20-year-old. He went to work for pioneer vigneron, also from Devon, John Reynell at Reynella just south of Adelaide. In 1851 he joined the gold rush to Victoria and although finding no gold his entrepreneurial flair led him to drive herds of cattle from south of Adelaide to feed the hungry miners. Over 18 months he made a small fortune and in 1853 bought land at Bankside on the banks of the Torrens River near Adelaide, married his cousin Johanna and began his own wine enterprise. By 1894 Thomas Hardy was Australia's largest wine producer.
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