Wine continued

After 1948 the wine industry in Western Australia underwent significant changes. Due to soaring wool prices farmers in the South West and Upper Great Southern abandoned their casual grape production, while in the Swan Valley vines situated on poor or badly drained soils were also abandoned.  The export of grapes to Sri Lanka, India and Europe declined due to the phasing out of passenger ships and mail-liners from the sea-routes to Australia. But at the same time the increased popularity of table wines saw the consolidation of the Swan Valley as a centre for the local wine industry, and led to the establishment of vineyards in the southern areas of the State.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s vineyards were being established in the Lower Great Southern, around Mt Barker, Frankland and Manjimup, and in the South West, around Augusta, Margaret River and Busselton. New wine-making techniques produced in the cooler Leeuwin region a light and fresh style of wine.