History
Above: Ron Nobelius at Cherrydale orchard in Merricks
Puffing Billy And An Orchard Named ‘Cherrydale’ By Ilma Hackett - Balnarring and District Historical Society
P
uffing Billy and Cherrydale; there is seemingly little to link the iconic railway line in the Dandenongs with a cherry orchard in Merricks But one name is common to both – Nobelius. ‘Cherrydale’ is established
Most people knew Ron Nobelius as “Nobby”. In 1938, accompanied by his wife Amy and their three young daughters, he had come to Merricks to take up the position of manager of ‘Cherrydale’. This was an orchard on the north-west corner of the Bittern-Dromana and Balnarring roads and, as the name implies, it grew cherries. However, apples, pears and peaches were also grown for local markets and part of the property was used
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for grazing dairy cattle. The owner, G.W. Peart was a Bairnsdale horticulturalist who had a deep knowledge of fruit culture. He had bought the property in 1929 and established an orchard. In the 1930s he planted cherries on forty acres and a mixture of fruit trees on another fifteen acres. He sought a manager to run the orchard and took on Ron Nobelius. In 1947, nine years after Nobby was hired, Peart sold his Merricks property on, what the newspapers called, “most liberal terms”, to two of the men who worked for him. One was Henry Johns who acquired about 140 acres; the other was Nobby, whose 120-acres share of the land included the cherry orchard. During the period that they lived at ‘Cherrydale’, the Nobelius family became well-known members of the surrounding community.