Assid Abraham Corban | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 25 August 1864 |
| Died | 2 December 1941 (aged 77) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Wine-maker |
| Known for | Corbans Wines |
Assid Abraham Corban was a New Zealand pedlar, importer, viticulturist and wine-maker. One of the earliest Lebanese settlers in New Zealand, he founded Corbans, now one of New Zealand's oldest and largest wineries. [1]
Assid Abraham Corban was the third child to Maronite Christians Abraham Hannah Corban, a vigneron, and Helene Hannah Corban. Assid Corban grew up in Shweir, Lebanon which was a predominantly Christian community. [2] In 1890, both of Corban's parents died. This prompted Corban to leave Lebanon to seek a better life. [1]
In 1892, Corban migrated to New Zealand via Egypt and Melbourne, drawn by the opportunities presented by the New Zealand gold rush. Corban learnt English through an Arabic-English phrasebook. Corban established himself as a haberdasher owning a store in Waihi, then Thames. [3] [4] In 1895, he rented a shop on Queen Street in Auckland, which he opened with his cousins, Elias and Job Corban. That same year, Corban became a naturalized British citizen and arranged for his wife and children to join him; they arrived in 1897. [5]
Corban's acquisition of a 10-acre block in Henderson for £320 marked the beginning of Corbans Wines. The land, formerly scrub-covered gumland, was named Mt Lebanon Vineyards, and the business was established under the name A.A. Corban. The first Corban vineyard was experimental, containing varieties like Syrah, Meunier, Cabernet Sauvignon and Black Hamburgh. [6] However, it would be three to four years before the vineyards yielded enough grapes to produce wine in commercial quantities. Thus, the Corbans supplemented their income by selling butter, honey, fruit, vegetables and eggs from their orchards. [6] The viticulturalist, Romeo Bragato, referred to the vineyard as 'the model vineyard of New Zealand, and an object lesson to [winegrowers].' [1]
Throughout the 1900s, Assid expanded his vineyards. A three-level wine cellar was added in 1907, and in 1909, Assid bought a 20-acre property where he planted 5-acres of grapes. The temperance movement was an obstacle to Assad's business ventures, with Henderson becoming dry in 1909. [1] To avoid restrictions, Corban opened a depot in wet territory to sell wine. [7] He opened a wine depot in Auckland city, and later built a 17-room homestead on Great North Road. By the end of the 1930s, his winery became known as A. A. Corban and Sons Limited. Corban's wines received numerous accolades. A.A. Corban and Sons won first prize for its unsweetened red wine at the 1910 Henderson show. During the Auckland Exhibition, the company won gold medals for its sherry and port. By the 1930s, Corban's had become one of the largest wineries in New Zealand. [1]
Assid Corban married Najibie Tanyus Ataia in 1888, a daughter of a well-respected Shwier family. They had ten children. [8]
Corban never retired. He died following complications from a stroke, aged 1941, survived by Najibie and their nine of their ten children. His remains were initially held at his homestead, where long lines of mourners streamed past the open casket. [9] He was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in a mausoleum that was built one year after his death, due to labour and materials shortages caused by World War II. His tomb was broken into in the early 1990s. [10] In 1997, Corban was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. [11]
One of Corban's descendants, Assid Khaleel Corban, became a West Auckland local-body politician and rose to become the mayor of Waitakere City. [12]
Waitakere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitakere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was amalgamated with the other authorities of the Auckland Region to form the current Auckland Council.
Henderson is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of Auckland city centre, and two kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Whau River, a southwestern arm of the Waitematā Harbour.
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Corbans Wines was one of New Zealand's oldest wineries, established in 1902 by Assid Abraham Corban, a Lebanese immigrant who had arrived in New Zealand ten years earlier. Corbans Wines grew to become the second largest producer of wine in New Zealand, until they were purchased by their largest competitor Montana Wines in 2000. Following several takeovers of Montana by Allied Domecq and then Pernod Ricard, the Corbans brand was spun off in 2011 and is now owned by Lion.
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Don Buck was a Portuguese immigrant in New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was known for working newly released prisoners as gum diggers and trading the gum for a profit.
Assid Khaleel Corban was a New Zealand local-body politician and company director. He was the first Mayor of Waitakere City and previously Mayor of the Henderson Borough Council.
Henry Walker Crabb, also known as H. W. Crabb, Hiram Walker Crabb or Hamilton Walker Crabb, was an American wine cultivator, considered one of the pioneers of the development of the Napa Valley as a wine region. In the 1880s, his vine collection was one of the largest in the world.
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Lebanese New Zealanders refers to citizens or permanent residents of New Zealand of Lebanese ancestry. The community is diverse, having a large Christian religious base, being mostly Maronite Catholics and Greek Orthodox, while also having a small Muslim group of both the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam.
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Corban Estate Arts Centre is an arts precinct in West Auckland, New Zealand. Established in 2002 at the site of the Mt Lebanon Vineyard and Winery, the arts centre provides creative production, theatre and gallery space to New Zealand artists.
West Auckland is one of the major geographical areas of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Much of the area is dominated by the Waitākere Ranges, the eastern slopes of the Miocene era Waitākere volcano which was upraised from the ocean floor, and now one of the largest regional parks in New Zealand. The metropolitan area of West Auckland developed between the Waitākere Ranges to the west and the upper reaches of the Waitematā Harbour to the east. It covers areas such as Glen Eden, Henderson, Massey and New Lynn.
The Ōpanuku Stream, formerly known as the Henderson Stream, is a stream of the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows east from its source the Waitākere Ranges through the Henderson Valley, then north-east through West Auckland before entering into the Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek, which flows into the western the Waitematā Harbour. The stream passes through the rural locality of Henderson Valley and the West Auckland suburbs of Western Heights and Henderson. Since the mid-2000s it has been forested with native flora.
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