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Allan Maruff

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Dr Allan Maruff
Born(1911-02-14)14 February 1911
Ferozepore, India
Died19 July 1979(1979-07-19) (aged 68)
Brisbane, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Calcutta
Occupation(s)Doctor
Tea-grower
Known forFounder of Nerada Tea
Spouse
Dorothy Haenon
(m. 1936)

Allan Peter Maruff MRCS (14 February 1911 – 19 July 1979) was an Indian-Australian medical practitioner and businessman. He was a pioneer of the tea-growing industry in Australia, as founder of Nerada Tea.

Early life

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Maruff was born on 14 February 1911 in Ferozepore, Punjab Province, India. He was the son of Margaret Amy (née William) and Frederick William Maruff, an assistant civil surgeon.[1] According to Maruff's daughter, the origins of his parents were uncertain and "might have been Armenian, Georgian, Turkish or Pakistani".[2]

Maruff was raised at an orphanage in Calcutta following the deaths of his parents.[2] He studied and in 1935 joined the Indian Medical Department as an assistant-surgeon. He served as a medical officer in the British Indian Army during World War II.[1]

Medical career and public life

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In 1946, following the end of the war, Maruff moved to England to complete further medical training, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians.[1] In 1949 he and two other British doctors were recruited by the Australian government to work in the Territory of New Guinea, where there was a shortage of medical professionals.[3] He later moved to Queensland, initially working in Richmond and in 1952 taking up an appointment as medical superintendent of the district hospital at Tully.[4] He settled in Innisfail in 1954.[1]

Maruff was president of the Innisfail branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served on the Johnstone Shire Council from 1976 to 1979.[1]

Teagrowing

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In 1959, Maruff purchased a block of land at Nerada, Queensland, in order to establish a tea plantation.[1] His interest in the area was inspired by his wife, who compared the landscape to the Indian tea-growing region of Assam.[5] He planted 15,000 seedlings in 1960, which were eliminated in a drought, then after irrigating the property successfully replanted a drought-resistant strain. By 1968 the property of 100 acres (40 ha) supporting 2.5 million trees.[1]

Maruff went into partnership with Burns Philp in 1970, establishing Nerada Tea Estates Pty Ltd. The company built a factory at Nerada with an "innovative monorail system for conveying bins of green leaf to the withering-troughs".[1] Their venture made Nerada the first commercially successful tea plantation in Australia.[6] In 1973, the plantation and factory were sold to Tea Estates of Australia which continued to sell the tea under the Nerada brand.[1] By 1976, Maruff had plans to establish a further tea plantation near Nambour, with plans to also establish a pepper plantation nearby.[7]

Personal life

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In 1936, Maruff married Dorothy Enid Haenon at St Francis Xavier's Church, Calcutta.[1] His wife was the daughter of a German man employed by the East India Company and a Burmese mother.[2] The couple had five children together;[1] his daughter Maggie married federal politician John Dawkins.[2]

Maruff died in Brisbane on 19 July 1979, aged 68, of cirrhosis of the liver. He was interred at the Pinnaroo Cemetery.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l May, Dawn (2000). "Allan Peter Maruff (1911–1979)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 15. Melbourne University Press.
  2. ^ a b c d Rice, Zoe (2 November 2020). "'You don't advocate for change without copping flak.'". SA Life. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Ex-Service Doctors for New Guinea". Cootamundra Herald. 19 April 1949.
  4. ^ "New Tully Medical Officer". Cairns Post. 28 March 1952.
  5. ^ Wheatley, David (17 January 1968). "In North Queensland they'll be saying: 'have another cup of Australian tea'". The Australian Women's Weekly.
  6. ^ Whitington, Don (15 August 1969). "Electioneering and a cup of tea". The Australian Jewish News.
  7. ^ "New tea industry planned". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. 7 May 1976.