1855 to 1960s Australian Grape Vine Stories; Grand dreams and boom-bust-boom Fortunes were mixed after the great promise of the 1860s and early 1870s. Many of Australia’s greatest 19th Century vineyards were planted during this time. Economic, social and agricultural challenges hampered progress. The arrival of Phylloxera in Victoria in 1875 was met with a scorched earth policy. But South Australia’s quarantine laws protected the vast plantings of grape vines especially around Adelaide, McLaren Vale, Barossa and the Clare Valleys. Australian Burgundy boomed in the 1880s and 1890s. After the Second World War plant breeding programmes were introduced to improve colonial vinestock material, while only a trickle of new clones and selections were permitted into Australia.