Petty's Orchard in Templestowe, Victoria, Australia, is one of Melbourne’s oldest commercial orchards. It has the largest collection of heritage apple varieties on mainland Australia, including more than two hundred varieties of old and rare apples.
In 1853 Thomas Petty arrived in Australia from England and selected land in the Doncaster and Templestowe area. It was Thomas Pettys' grandson, Thomas Henry, who, in 1911, first bought the property that is located at Homestead Road, nestled along the Yarra River.
Thomas Henry was the first of three generations of Pettys to work the Homestead Road orchard. The Petty Family managed the orchard until Parks Victoria purchased the property in 1981.
The orchards that once covered the Doncaster and Templestowe area are fast disappearing. The Heritage Fruits Society manages and maintains the heritage fruit collection in Petty's Orchard. The society is part of a worldwide network which is conserving antique apple varieties and protecting them from extinction.
Petty's Orchard occupies 44 hectares of land. It uniquely encompasses two hectares of an antique apple orchard, known as the 'Demonstration Orchard', which is maintained by volunteers; 25 hectares of commercial orchard; wetlands and bird hide. The remaining area includes the wetlands, fruit and nut arboretum, Yarra River and surroundings.
Musician Tom Petty visited the orchard during a visit in 1986 while on the True Confessions Tour with Bob Dylan. Inspired by what he saw, Petty obtained some cuttings from the orchard and purchased some land upon returning to the US with a clear intention of it being a central point for scientific medical research into apples and other pome fruits phytochemical benefits. Petty’s fascination with apples, which is tied into his interests with rock and roll, dates back to his childhood years when he met Elvis Presley at age 10 while on the set of the 1960 film Follow That Dream. In-between scenes Elvis would perform songs he was writing at the time; it was Stuck on You (which opened ‘You can shake an apple off an apple tree’), released the following year, that Petty witnessed and sparked his love. Since establishing itself after the success of fruit based trial work into the nutritional impacts on Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , Petty's US based Orchard is on the precipice of next generation of pome based medical treatments and is looking at expanding into citrus based trials due to a large grant of money from Southern California.