Connections The Hamiltons
“A story that started long before me is still going. You grow up inside it without quite realising. One day it is your turn to mind it. Then it will not be.”
The Hamilton story spans over 185 years — from smuggling Bordeaux across the English Channel to pioneering grape cultivation in Australia since 1837. Hugh Hamilton, the Black Sheep of the fifth generation, always marched to his own drum. “Although it may not be the most financially rewarding game, it is rewarding in another sense in the way you live your life. Winemaking has given me so much pleasure,” he says.
For Hugh, what matters most is simple:
Integrity — looking after other people. If you've helped someone else along the way, doing right by people.
Now, sixth generation Hamilton, Mary, has taken creative control, shaking things up while honouring the thread woven by generations past. “I think we are really lucky that we have this long legacy. We know a little bit about our forebears and our stories and have an appreciation for what it took for them to come to South Australia,” she reflects. “I have a great appreciation for their journey out here.”
What connects them to South Australia? “You know it first by the light. Then the gum trees. The dry air. The way the seasons insist on themselves. Our first vines went into this ground in 1837. They held. We stayed.”
With her children Stella and Will beside them, four generations stand together on the same land their ancestors worked nearly two centuries ago. How do they stay connected to what matters most? “By paying attention. By returning to the vineyard. By staying.”