Ace History Desk – This green apple is one of Australia’s most famous exports — and it’s all thanks to the propagating prowess of a grandmother who saw potential in a seedling that sprouted in her Sydney backyard.
The woman behind the Granny Smith apple, Maria Ann Smith, was an English emigrant who ventured to NSW with her husband and surviving children for an agricultural life in the 1800s.
The journey led them to purchase a block of farmland in Eastwood, in Sydney’s northern suburbs, where they became orchardists.
“Most of that area was farmland until it was swallowed up by encroaching suburbia and urban growth,” said Janice Eastment, former president of Ryde District Historical Society.
It’s here that the first Granny Smith apple was propagated.
The legend says that Smith had discarded a crab apple purchased from a local fruit market on the banks of the creek on her farm.
Eventually, an apple tree began to grow in the very spot, thanks to a “chance seedling in Granny Smith’s backyard,” the NSW Department of Primary Industries said.
Daniel Tan from the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences said the exact parentage of this apple was unknown, though there was a widely accepted theory.
“It is thought to have resulted from a chance hybridisation between the domesticated apple, Malus domestica, and crab apple, Malus sylvestris,” he said.
The Granny Smith apple is believed to have derived from a chance hybridisation. (ABC News: Isabella Ross)normal
“It originated from a natural seedling rather than a deliberate cross.”
Professor Tan, who is a nearby resident, said it wasn’t until hearing of City of Ryde’s Granny Smith Festival that he came to understand the fruit’s origin story.
Ms. Eastment said her local group had done tours with international visitors keen to visit Granny Smith’s gravesite in Ryde.
“In the last month, we’ve shown two groups who were absolutely stunned when they found Granny Smith’s headstone. They said, ‘they’re my favourite apples!’
“It gives you a bit of sense of place and belonging. Granny Smith is also a story of migration and opportunity — most Australians have that sort of story in their background.”
The Granny Smith Festival has been running for 40 years now in celebration of the green apple. (Supplied: City of Ryde Libraries)normal
Smith died in her early 70s. She never saw her apple become a commercial variety in her lifetime.
“She only discovered the apple in 1868, and she died in 1870. The first significant cultivations of the apple had been by members of her family,” Ms. Eastment said.
It was thanks to the work of local orchardists who exhibited the apple as ‘Smith’s seedling’ at agricultural shows that led to its eventual popularity and recognition.
By 1895, a fruit expert employed by the NSW Department of Agriculture named the Granny Smith apple as a suitable variety for export.
Today, the Granny Smith apple is one of Australia’s predominant commercial varieties, and it has strong popularity overseas, too.
Today around Eastwood, many public areas have nods to its apple past. (ABC News: Monish Nand)normal
Interestingly, Granny Smith is part of the extended family tree of Pink Lady and Jazz apples, Professor Tan noted.
“The bright green skin of the Granny Smith apple is due to the presence of chlorophyll, and lack of anthocyanins that give red apples the red colour,” he said.
“It’s got a bit of legacy, the history and lady behind this apple.”
City of Ryde will be celebrating 40 years of the Granny Smith Festival on October 18. (Supplied: City of Ryde Libraries)normal
City of Ryde Mayor Trenton Brown had a “very dear friend” in a relative of Granny Smith, Daphne Spurway, who passed away in 2022.
“It was interesting to explore her connection and become more familiar with the Granny Smith story and what it means to so many generations,” he said.
The festival is now entering its 40th year, with about 100,000 people in attendance annually.
“The local business chamber has always been strongly involved in wanting to preserve the name of Granny Smith and celebrate her achievements,” Cr Brown said.
“It’s quite a big deal for our community. It’s good to keep the story alive and preserve our heritage.”
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