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Hi, Rusty!
I had it in my head that Granny Smith apples were mainly from South Africa.
I didn't know that they originated in Australia.
I am learning anew all the time!
Who is Tom Petty?
Should I know of him?
And did you hear that Laura Robson was caught up in the machine -gunning at the music festival?
I was reading about an interview with her, in the News.
Laura was in Los Vegas, taking part in a tennis tournament.
She fortunately wasn't hurt in the shooting.
What a sorry business.
It has gone very chilly here....we have closed the downstairs' windows and put the heating on!
How is it now at your end?

Hello, Elle!
There may well be Granny Smith apples from South Africa, but they were created (if that's the right word!) in Australia.
They have a Granny Smith Festival there every year.
No, there is no reason you should know Tom Petty.
He was a well known rock singer and musician, though, with his band The Heartbreakers.
Actually I got the News on RTE, but now reports say he is still alive, but on life support.
So, sorry if my News is wrong!
Yes, I read about Laura Robson earlier.
It is a dreadful tragedy in Las Vegas. Just awful.
It is OK here.
I put heating on for half an hour when I rose this morning.
I meant to say, I saw some lovely photos of Dani King that Trotty posted on Twitter.
Dani got married on Saturday and Trotty was a bridesmaid!

I believe the Granny Smith apple was a seedling the lady found rather than created (she had an orchard) but, of course, once you have a winner you have to propagate it, usually by grafting it onto a rootstock. Takes a long time.
My favourite book on that sort of subject is "For Love of a Rose" by Antonia Ridge, all about the Peace rose which my father used to grow. Unlike his other great favourite "Souvenir de Jacques Verchuren" (a wonderful copper colour) you can still buy them.

Rosalind
I'm not sure, but I think you may be thinking of the Bramley (sometimes still known as the "Bramley seedling").

Maria Ann Smith propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. (according to my father-in-law's gardening encyclopedia)

This is what Wikipedia says

The first 'Bramley's Seedling' tree grew from pips planted by Mary Ann Brailsford when she was a young girl in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK in 1809.[3] The tree in the garden was later included in the purchase of the cottage by a local butcher, Matthew Bramley in 1846. In 1856, a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apples. Bramley agreed but insisted that the apples should bear his name.

Was Mary Ann Smith her married name, perhaps?

Maria Smith was much later in 1868

Oh, you're talking about the Granny Smith - crossed wires!

Both ladies had their chance seedlings :)

Yes, it was Australian. Wiki again

The 'Granny Smith' is a tip-bearing apple cultivar, which originated in Australia in 1868.[1] It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M. domestica as the polleniser. The fruit has hard, light green skin and a crisp, juicy flesh.