Field Tours

There are two field tours to choose from on Thursday 17 September 2009. Tours will depart Sanctuary Golf Resort, Bunbury at 8.30am. All field tours cost $99 per delegate.

1. EMS in Agriculture: Highlights of Bridgetown

Tour Leader: Kathe Purvis

8:30am - Depart Sanctuary Golf Resort, Bunbury

10:00am - Tortoiseshell Farm, Eco-Tourism and Wildlife Conservation

Sheila Howat and Sean Grant have spent thirty years building their 40ha Bridgetown property from undeveloped land into the thriving environment it is today, including bed and breakfast accommodation, bush retreat and a hobby farm. Tortoiseshell Farm is also a refuge for a wide variety of orphaned or injured native birds and animals in need of care and rehabilitation as Sheila is the local Land for Wildlife Officer. Tortoiseshell Farm is one of many BestFarms EMS properties in the area.

11:00am - Drover’s Rest Enterprises, Organic Commercial Berry Farm

This enterprise supplies Western Australia with delicious organic frozen berries and sells their certified organic, award winning, fruit snacks, trade named KidSnaK, Australia wide. All products are manufactured in their dedicated certified organic factory on the farm using produce from local organic growers plus their own.  Drover's rest runs a BestFarms EMS.

1:00pm - Dalgarup Brook Aquaculture, Marron Farm and Hand Built Fish Ladder

This 40ha property includes 3.5ha of ponds and dams for aquaculture. The owner (Albert Klaasson) has a plan to improve the water quality of the Dalgarup Brook as it passes through his property by converting some of the existing nutrients into food for his marron and extracting the rest through a series of wetlands and bio-filters before the water leaves his property. He is creating a fish ladder to help the aquatic fauna and has a waterwheel that will generate up to 30kW of power to pump the water around the aquaculture ponds.

2:00pm - Jenkins Agroforestry: Commercial Tree and Sheep Farm

David and Dianne began planting eucalypts 20-years ago in a unique farm forestry layout which was designed to maintain their sheep grazing enterprise. Learn how their successful and profitable tree farming venture has helped reduce the saline water table.

3:30pm - Arrive Sanctuary Golf Resort, Bunbury    

2. EMS in Industry: Discover Greenbushes

Tour Leader: Greg Hales

8.30am - Depart Sanctuary Golf Resort, Bunbury

9:30am - Yarri Springs, Organic Permaculture and Organic Bamboo Production

A small holding developed using Permaculture principles, producing organic fruit, nuts and bamboo for sale.

10:45am - Greenbushes Discovery Centre

A focal point for the town, the centre incorporates interactive displays and games for visitors to explore the town’s mining and milling history from 1888 to the present day. Explore the “Discovery Forest and Timber Display” to learn about forest ecology, bush tucker and the sustainable forest and plantation industries. Descend into the replica underground mine and learn about the life of an underground miner. Get a birds-eye-view of the current mining operations from the public and internal lookouts and take a short walk on a section of the Mining Heritage Walk Trail.

12:30pm - Talison’s Mine Greenbushes (ISO14001)

Explore past and present mining practices at this world class mining deposit which contains the oldest mineral leases issued in Western Australia (1888). The tour will include an opportunity to see industry recycling and waste management strategies, rehabilitation/revegetation areas and current mining and processing operations at the Greenbushes Mine which produces tantalum, lithium and tin minerals. The Greenbushes Mine received the State’s highest environmental award for industry – The 2007 Golden Gecko Award – for its mine site rehabilitation programmes and community partnerships to develop a series of walk trails through former mining areas and forest.

3:15pm - Bonking Frog Wines

With petulant skins prone to splitting, unreliable fruit set, a tendency to sunburn yet a dislike of too much shade, merlot probably does deserve its reputation for being difficult to grow. But the end result is so worth the trouble! Bonking Frog Wines planted 3,500 Schwartzman rootstock vines in 1996 with all these challenges in mind. With their backs still aching, the merlot grafting took place in the field a year later. As the vineyard is owners Julie & Phil Hutton’s home, they spent a lot more time than most tending to the vines, ensuring they gave them the best possible start. In the heart of the new and exciting Geographe Wine Region, in the south-west corner of Western Australia, the vineyard is ideally placed along the Preston River and within range of sweeping coastal breezes. Bonking Frogs Wines use BestFarms Environmental Management Systems to monitor the soil, water, biodiversity and climate. It’s all part of their long-term vision for a sustainable vineyard.

4:30pm - Arrive Sanctuary Golf Resort, Bunbury

General Information

• Field tours are dependent on numbers and you may be asked to move to another field trip.
• Local conditions may affect travel times and site visits.
• Field tour participants will be required to oblige by the OH&S requirements for all sites included in the tours. The EMS Association retains the right to remove anyone from a tour.