When newly-arrived Scottish doctor James Murdoch was granted land along the Coal River in 1822, he named the property after his Kinross-Shire home, Craigow-by-Milnathort.
James was an enthusiastic and innovative farmer — he planted fruit trees and barley, grazed cattle and sheep and even experimented with poppies, preparing medical opium from his crop.
Later generations of the Murdoch clan developed Craigow into a thriving country estate — the largest apricot orchards in Tasmania once grew here.
Craigow seems to attract doctors with energy and innovative ideas. In 1989, Criagow’s owner Dr Barry Edwards and his family planted vines on the sunny slopes overlooking the Coal River, harvesting their first vintage in 1993.
