When you think of the origins of spreadable butter, turf, packet pancake mix and IVF, do you think of Werribee?
The products are some of the every day items we might use that had their genesis at the Werribee State Research Farm.
Jan Goates knows this because her father worked on the farm in the dairy institute.
But that’s not all.
“There was a lot of research into cereals and grains, fruit flavoured yoghurt, then you’ve got your fruit cheeses, another thing would be powdered milk,” she said.
“They may not have directly come from the farm straight to the supermarket shelf, but they certainly had that initial research and trialing.”
The research on the farm was predominantly around improving agriculture and animal welfare.
“They were researching improvement in food products, later on it was food processing, so that you can go to your supermarket and get your long life things,” Ms Goates said.
“There was a village on the farm, in those days they provided housing for the workers, I grew up there until I was about 16-years or so.”
Ms Goates said many of the people who originally worked on the farm, including her father, would have “gone to god”.
“We’re trying to capture people now before it’s lost forever to record their memories, and it’ll be the memories of the science that was done, the research that was done, the social life and the way the lived life back in the day,” she said.
The project, which consists of finding people who once lived or worked on the farm, is spearheaded by Dr Monika Schott who recently also completed a PhD and novel about Werribee’s Metropolitan Sewerage Farm.
“Those people who worked and lived on the farm are now spread far and wide. The wealth of knowledge they possess about this remarkable institution is a heritage treasure yet to be seriously recorded in any fashion, even anecdotally,” DrSchott said.
Details: www.facebook.com/StateResearchFarmProject.
