Sometimes places become etched in your bones and flow in your blood. You leave. You return, and when you do your feet seem more firmly planted on the earth. Victoria’s Western District is one such place – at least for me. Having spent a large part of my childhood along its coast when finally I clutched my first driver’s licence and a set of car keys, the Western District with its miles of roads, wide horizons, rolling landscape and magnificent skies introduced me to independence, but it tied me indelibly to this southern space of earth.
T.S. Eliot once wrote that, “The end of all exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”. I am not sure that I will ever ‘know’ this place, but, after years away, returning to a small farm, the beauty and the variety of the Western District still never cease to amaze and astonish.
Unsurprisingly, the pace of life here, as everywhere, has quickened but the atmosphere has more of a buzz. You can still find the rhythm of regular farm life with all its ups and downs. Some of the original large properties still exist, as do many soldier settlement farms. Many are run by descendants of the original farms, some have changed hands, and, further division of farmland has also attracted newcomers to the District. In the last few decades, farm diversification and an increase in the range of farming activities, have given the Western District its current buzz of activity. While the traditional sheep, cattle and dairy remain, Western District farming now includes grains, grapes, other horticulture, alpacas, ostriches, rare breed pigs, goats and poultry. Add to this the fishing and aquaculture along the coast, wineries, bakers, and a range of smaller, specialist producers of both traditional and new products, and you have a truly exhilarating mix.
Of eating in restaurants, a Michelin Guide inspector advised, “The stars are never on the walls. The stars are in the plate”. He was right, but there are real stars much further down the food chain: the stars behind the ingredients. They are the farmers, producers, the food co-ops and companies of all sizes. What a surprise to find so many stars on my doorstep in Victoria’s Western District and the stories, along with their work and produce, most certainly shine.
If you, or someone you know, has a story to tell about Western District produce please let me know at this email address: westerndistrictproducevictoria@gmail.com.
Yours in discovery, travel and eating around Victoria’s Western District.
Kerryn Holberton