Garden of Adin

Just recently Adin Sonter's brick home in Brickwharf Rd, Woy Woy, was demolished.

Who was Adin Sonter? He was one of the most successful businessmen of Woy Woy.

Adin came to Woy Woy in the 1930s and leased 20 acres from the Cox Estate at Woy Woy.

From a very shaky start, and a lot of hard work clearing the land, he then planted crops of flowering bulbs.

By 1948, he had developed a state-of-the-art packing shed, walls of sweet peas and had grown just about every flowering bulb you could think of, including gladioli, hyacinths, ixias, freesias and sparaxis.

Carnation blooms of 1100 a day for a six-week period were grown.

He despatched over 40,000 bunches of flowers over the same time frame.

Adin supplied Coles with flowers as well as the other major stores and florists.

Over 27 people were employed by Adin Sonter during the boom period.

Later on, because of health reasons, Adin retired and sold the estate to Petersen Constructions.

The company developed the area as a housing estate in the 1960s.

The called the estate The Garden of Adin and the street entrance to it Sonter Ave.

Keith Whitfield, Woy Woy