Scandinavians had been emigrating to the Australian colonies aboard British vessels in small numbers since the early 1800s. During the nineteenth Century in particular, the Scandinavian region was underdeveloped and overpopulated, making the colonies an attractive prospect for ambitious individuals (Lyng 1927:69-70). The discovery of gold in the mid-nineteenth Century led to a dramatic incline in migration to goldfields Australia-wide, with the Queensland Government advertising heavily in Scandinavian countries between 1870 and 1890, offering free passage to suitable immigrants. At this time similar programs were in place in the United States and New Zealand, as colonial powers sought to entice agricultural labourers to develop their fledgling economies (Lyng 1927:69-70). It is notable that Carl Axel elected to take unassisted passage to Melbourne rather than take up assisted migration to Queensland, most likely due to the more suitable climate of the southern colony for the agricultural enterprise he intended (Emerald Museum collection, Nobelius family records VEMU24.2).

Having been trained in his father’s profession of horticulture, Carl obtained work at the nationally renowned Toorak nurseries of Taylor & Sangster upon his arrival in Melbourne (Weatherley & Gordon 1999:42). South Yarra nurseryman Joseph Harris later employed him and became one of the key distributors of Nobelius Nursery produce. In 1877 at the age of 25, Carl married Emily Jane Brightwell, a 19-year-old domestic worker of South Yarra whose parents were gold rush migrants of Ballarat, Victoria (Emerald Museum collection, Nobelius family records VEMU139).

By 1892 Carl’s Gembrook Nurseries was sufficiently established for him, his wife and their children to relocate permanently to a modest family home in Emerald (Graeme Butler & Associates 1996:75-77). As the nursery continued to prosper, the family moved to a sixteen-roomed Victorian mansion called Carramar where over the years they entertained important guests including Dame Nellie Melba and Governor of Victoria, Sir Reginald Talbot (The Age 1982:33). Carramar retains several fruit and ornamental trees planted by Nobelius and much of its original architectural features (Graeme Butler & Associates 1996:16-19).

Between 1879 and 1897 Carl and Emily had eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. Their five sons were trained in horticulture and their three daughters assisted with secretarial work in the nursery office, making it very much a family enterprise (Jenkinson 2002:4). As well as being a highly successful businessman, Carl was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Emerald in 1901 (Emerald Museum collection VEMU384.6). He was a delegate to the first interstate conference of nurserymen in 1898 that resulted in the implementation of the Vegetation Diseases Act in every State (Weatherley & Gordon 1999:42). Carl was also one of several prominent horticulturalists who formed the Nurserymen and Seedmen’s Association of Victoria and remained actively involved in the organisation until his death in 1921 (The Australasian 1919:23).