Editing Hunter Region (section)

== History ==
For over 30,000 years [[Aboriginal Australian]]s inhabited the land that is now known as the Hunter Valley wine region. Along with the [[Worimi people|Worimi]] to the north and the [[Awabakal people|Awabakal]] to the south, the [[Wonnarua]] people developed a trading route connecting the Coquun (Hunter) Valley to the harbour now known as [[Port Jackson|Sydney harbour]].<ref name="Hunter Valley Wine Country">"Hunter Valley Wine Country." ''[http://www.winecountry.com.au Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101033506/http://www.winecountry.com.au/ |date=1 January 2011 }}'' 8 May 2010</ref>
[[File:Captain John Shortland.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.71|Lieutenant [[John Shortland]] was the first European to survey the [[Hunter River (New South Wales)|Hunter River]] in 1797.]]
The wine-making history of Hunter Valley begins with the European settlement of the [[Sydney]] and the [[New South Wales]] region of Australia in the late 18th century as a penal colony of the British Empire. The Hunter River itself was discovered, by accident, in 1797 by British Lieutenant [[John Shortland]] as he searched for escaped convicts. The region soon became a valuable source for timber and coal that fuelled the steamship trade coming out of Sydney.<ref name="Hunter Valley Wine Country"/>

Land prospector John Howe cut a path through the Australian wilderness from Sydney up to the overland area in what is now known as the (Lower) Hunter Valley proper in 1820. Today, the modern [[Putty Road]] between the cities of [[Windsor, New South Wales|Windsor]] and [[Singleton, New South Wales|Singleton]] follows Howe's exact path and is a major thoroughfare for wine tourists coming into the Hunter Valley from Sydney.<ref name="Hunter Valley Wine Country"/> As previous plantings in the coastal areas around Sydney succumbed to the humidity and wetness, and plantings to the west were limited by spring frost damage, northern reaches leading to the Hunter became, almost by default, the wine region of the new colony.<ref name="Halliday, 2001">Halliday, James. "''[http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/region_in_focus/hunter_valley/articles/id4216.jsp Regional Spotlight – Hunter Valley.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229142450/http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/region_in_focus/hunter_valley/articles/id4216.jsp |date=29 February 2012 }}''" Wine Pros. 29 October 2001. Web. 25 May 2010.</ref>

The expansive growth of the Hunter Valley wine industry in the mid to late [[19th century]] arose from its monopoly position in the lucrative Sydney market. The provincial government of New South Wales had enacted regulations that placed prohibitive duties on wines from other areas such as Victoria and South Australia. Following [[World War I]], many returning Australian veterans were given land grants in the Hunter Valley. This temporarily produced an up-tick in plantings but the global [[Great Depression]] as well as a series of devastating hail storms between 1929 and 1930 caused many growers to abandon their vineyards.<ref name="Wine Diva">"''[http://www.winediva.com.au/regions/hunter-valley.asp Hunter Valley – Australian Wine Regions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221030250/http://www.winediva.com.au/regions/hunter-valley.asp |date=21 February 2011 }}"'' Wine Diva Australia." Wine Diva. 1 June 2010</ref>
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