The glass negative image of Duntryleague shows a vineyard growing where the golf course now sits.

Historian Liz Edwards, who is preparing a book on the life of the James Dalton, who had Duntryleague built from 1876-1880, said the photograph was taken about 1900-1910.

The photograph, found in a box of photos owned by a distant Dalton family relative in Queensland a few weeks ago, shows Mr Dalton’s daughter Rose and two other women posing for the photo at the edge of the vineyard roughly where the green on the ninth fairway is today.

Ms Edwards said the gardens around Duntryleague would have been started before the house was completed.

She said the vineyard, one of the first in Orange, covered about two acres.

Ms Edwards said the French-born gatekeeper at the time, Leon Ravot, made wine from the grapes.

“They had a vineyard, they had an orchard, they grew vegetables and berries,” she said.

“There was so much, they didn’t need it all. The family would allow people from the village to come up on the weekends and collect a basket of fruit and vegetables which was really nice,” she said.

Ms Edwards said it was unknown when the vineyard was let go.

“James died in 1919. It wouldn’t have survived long after that, if it was still going then,” she said.

The property was bought by the Orange Golf Club in 1935 and golf balls quickly replaced grapes.

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