Bob Magnus

Bob Magnus planted his apple orchard in southern Tasmania in the early 1980s and has since rescued over 300 varieties that might otherwise not exist.

"We've got apples here that come from Roman times. Once they've gone, they're gone. They're unique," he said.

These days, while sharing his knowledge of grafting with as many people as he can, Mr Magnus has passed on the business side of apples to his children.

Mr Magnus and his family arrived in Tasmania to grow apples in the dying days of the state's international apple market, an industry that inspired the name The Apple Isle.

Bob Magnus is teaching younger generations how to graft apples

In the 1970s the State Government had implemented a tree-pull scheme. "Virtually before our very eyes, in the first few years of coming to Tasmania that whole industry collapsed," said Mr Magnus. 

"When you drive around here, you'll see big pear trees that are 50, 60, 70 years old. They didn't get paid to pull the pears out, so they didn't pull them out."

Bob Magnus teaches people how to graft fruit trees from his home in Woodbridge

Mr Magnus lamented the limited selection of apples on offer in the nation's supermarkets. "There are Granny Smiths and two or three red ones on the shelves," he said.

"Apples of today are so homogenous that the public don't even realise there are different varieties. According to the online Tasmanian History Companion, the first apple in Tasmania was planted by William Bligh on Bruny Island in 1788.