At Woolmer Estate, near Longford, Thomas Archer was producing and exporting wool and wheat before Melbourne was even thought of. At 26, in 1817 he was granted 800 acres, and a number of convicts. He built a rather grand homestead and began a dynasty. There followed five more Thomases, the last one dying childless in 1995. The final Thomas bequeathed this remarkable estate to the nation. We toured the old house and its successive extensions and outbuildings and huge rose gardens. Had Devonshire tea overlooking the Macquarie River and mused on the lives that had been led here, from the enslaved to the gentrified.
No doubt the first Thomas Archer chose his land for the soil and the rainfall. It was like Hertford, where he was born. This area still has hedgerows of hawthorn with bright berries, something you never see on the mainland. Areas in this part of Tasmania have red basalt soils, over a metre of rain yearly and grow things like poppies, potatoes, carrots and dairy cattle. Our friends Sandra and Chris in Scottsdale live on just such a piece of Camelot Land. He grows fruit and vegetables, she grows flowers and they both cook. Their garden flows down the hill onto pasture and beyond it to Mt Stranach. The view from our bedroom window was so uplifting, we nearly burst into a verse from The Sound of Music. Chris and I went to school together and caught up at a recent reunion.
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