Notable South Australians/Henry Sewell
Henry Sewell,
FOUNDER and proprietor of the Payneham nursery gardens, is a native of Thame, Oxfordshire, where, under the tutorship of his father, he acquired the rudiments of gardening. As a young man he came to South Australia about twenty years since, and having first experienced an introductory "roughing," settled down under Mr. F. T. C. Driffield, of North Adelaide, then a prominent amateur exponent of the art of plant cultivation. As the single-handed caretaker of a truly multum in parvo establishment, and under the guidance of an experienced, practical-minded, enthusiastic and ingenious employer, Mr. Sewell became an expert professional and thorough business-going colonist. A strong desire to master as fully as possible the knowledge requisite to qualify him for an important undertaking led to a change, and the Botanic Gardens became the scene of Mr. Sewell's labours. It will be readily understood how important a step this was by all who have had the opportunity of laboring with Dr. Schomburgk, or of seeing the universally admired garden to which he has so devotedly attached himself, and with which his name is indissolubly connected. Here Mr. Sewell made the best use of his time; the botanical side of horticulture became a new and fascinating study; and the field an ample one. When he had matured his plans he removed to Payneham, and converted a worn-out paddock into a bright and smiling garden replete, as it now is, with one of the best collections in any private place on the Continent. The necessity of a public nursery garden was almost unknown a few years ago, but gardening has taken wonderful strides, and the great convenience and direct benefit which these nurseries have been to the colony are freely recognised. The very high compliment which Mr. G. A. Sala, the eminent journalist, pays to S. A. gardens and to the extraordinary variety and beauty of their contents is to a great extent due to the spirited enterprise of nurserymen who have spared neither expense nor ingenuity in adding anything likely to be in the most remote degree horticulturally valuable or botanically interesting. When Mr. Sewell started nursery work nearly every pound spent in this way went to Melbourne or Sydney, and Adelaide could only boast of such new plants as came through the Botanic Gardens. Now we introduce more than our share, and not only supply our own wants, but those of our neighbours. Mr. Sewell has introduced from Europe and elsewhere some of the finest fruits and flowers beside adding many new vegetables to our list in his capacity as a seedsman. He has long taken an active part in the management of our chief horticultural societies and been a judge of products at shows all over the colony. He was one of the original members of the Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society and is still a member of the succession to that body, the S. A. Gardeners' Society. As a member of the Acclimatisation and Zoological Society he is both active and enthusiastic. Although he was for some time a member of the Council of the district in which he resides, he has not deemed it desirable to withdraw to any great extent his personal supervision from business to attend to purely public matters.