1820s to 1855 Australian Grape Vine Stories; Convictions and transportation There were many new importations of vitis vinifera during the 1820s to 1855. The most famous was the remarkable collection of grape vines imported into New South Wales by James Busby in 1832. William Macarthur of Camden Nurseries becomes a highly influential figure supplying many of Australia’s earliest pioneers with vine stock material for planting in the Australian colonies. This was also the dawn of the steam age, the beginning of the gold rush (1851) and the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1855).