Camels a breed apart
Tourist venture grows
TASMANIA’S very own camel flock – that’s right, we’ve got one – may only have been here less than a decade, but already it is adapting to a climate the polar opposite of its typical desert home.
So says Ros Wallace who, alongside husband Jeff and their pet camels, moved to St Marys estate Fairview eight years ago, now known as St Marys Camel Farm, from Victoria “in the hopes of retiring”.
Since 1981, the pair have owned a tourism company that takes people with special needs on “genuine” holidays, such as to Central Australia and Broome’s Cable Beach, and it is in places like that the Wallaces first encountered camels.
“Our (clients) loved animals and always did the camel rides, and we fell in love with the camels,” Ros said.
“We brought some to Victoria, but didn’t start breeding until we came to Tasmania and thought there was an opportunity to see if we could do a cold-climate (flock).”
The pair now have five camels, a bull, a pregnant cow, and three calves who are unrelated to the bull.
A fascinating thing is happening with the most recent calf, Ros said.
“Camels are known to be able to evolve within a short time, they only need about two or three generations. So instead of moulting at the beginning of summer, the youngest, a third-generation calf born here, is not moulting anymore,” she said.
During Covid, the Wallaces began investing in Fairview to share their love of camels with the rest of Tasmania.
As a result, St Marys Camel Farm opened to the public on December 11, 2021.
The farm now has a museum, shop, a fairy park for kids, camel interactions and, three weeks ago, opened a new cafe serving hot and cold drinks, scones and ploughman’s platters to farmgoers.
It also has a liquor licence, with the Wallaces planning to host catered functions such as rustic farm weddings.
The pair plan to grow their flock, harvesting the wool to manufacture into fire-resistant ponchos (wool is a natural fire retardant) for local cockeys and “renting” out the camels to landholders as they “eat all the gorse (weed)”.