1788 to 1820s Australian Grape Vine Stories; A race to the other side of the world Ambitions for a wine industry in New South Wales were caught up in the British Government’s aspirations of expanding trade routes and wealth creation. From 1788 to the 1820s, colonial wine was a cottage industry but the pioneers from Sir Joseph Banks in London to John Macarthur and nurseryman Thomas Shepherd in Sydney believed that Australia could become the France of the Southern Hemisphere. But the first years of settlement were not without political troubles and serious economic challenges.