History Mystery Monday: Who was “Davey the Basket-Man”?

“Davey the Basket-Man” was the nickname given to an early market-gardener from Keilor; his real name was David Milburn, but he became known as the basket-man because he sold his fruit, vegies and butter by the roadside to diggers on their way to the goldfields.

“Davey” invented an irrigation system, and was in fact the first person to use irrigation in Victoria.

He arrived in Victoria, from Yorkshire in England, in 1853, lured by the goldrush. Not having made his fortune on the goldfields he came to Keilor in 1857, initially employed by William Taylor at Overnewton. That same year, 1857, he developed a hand pump to draw water from the Salt Water River (now the Maribyrnong). By 1860 Milburn had 165 acres of market gardens and fruit orchards!

The family market gardening business, G.S.Milburn and Sons, continued in Keilor for 146 years, until the December 1999 retirement of two of Davey the Basket-Man’s great-grandsons.

Learn more about Davey from the Keilor Historical Society: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~khis/market_garden.html

David Milburn's former homestead, c.1998. From the Victorian Heritage Database

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