When Lauren Brisbane jumps into her car and drives the 15 minutes to work, she knows that it will be a fulfilling day. Lauren’s workplace is a little different to most – it’s a 407-hectare parcel of land, perched alongside Bells Creek Road.
Bordered by scrub, the Glasshouse Mountains provide a pretty backdrop for the farmland, which the Brisbane family has leased for a little over a decade. Her ‘colleagues’ – all 120 of them – are a unique bunch; gentle and good communicators, who greet Lauren with a “cuddle and a kiss”.
They also happen to be camels.
Welcome to QCamel, the world’s first and only organic camel dairy farm. What started as a way to help Australia’s struggling agriculture industry has become a thriving business that seamlessly blends farming techniques, production, wellness and tourism.
Surprisingly, Lauren and husband Peter had no prior farming experience. Before children, Lauren worked in tourism and public relations and even ran a fashion company in London. Peter works in mining.
“When my husband got into mining, we relocated to central Queensland,” she tells salt.
“I worked for an agriculture surveyor and with people who cattle farmed. I slowly got into agriculture and I loved it.
“My happy place is being on a property. If I’m talking about plants, animals and growth, I’m happy.”
During their time out west, the couple witnessed firsthand the devastating droughts and the impact on Australian farmers.
“It was horrific. We just watched a lot of people go under, and then there was the inevitable, people taking their own lives,” Lauren says.
“They were going through drought, the banks knocking on the door. Second, third, fourth, fifth-generation cattle farmers – everything was dying. I thought, ‘There has to be some way to keep this [farming] alive’. We can’t lose all this information and experience.”
Driven by social responsibility, Lauren began searching for a drought-resilient industry. This is when she discovered the positives of camel farming.
Never one to do things by halves, she completed a two-year, self-funded study on the development of the camel industry within Queensland.
Working alongside a Department of Primary Industries officer, Lauren learnt how to work within government requirements and how to develop a “very wild industry”. In her research, she unearthed the benefits of farming camels, their connection to the land and also that camel milk is considered a high-end health product.
And so, the family relocated to the Sunshine Coast and QCamel was born.
“When I was writing the study, I said to my husband, ‘Mind if I buy a couple of camels?’,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve always been a left-of-centre person, so he rolled his eyes and said, ‘Do we have to?’… now I have 120 [camels].”
Today, the dairy provides organic camel milk to various local health food stores and select independent grocers. They supply into Brisbane, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. QCamel also produces a skincare line.
Nurturing the land and animals, educating the community and maintaining high-quality organic products are Lauren’s priorities.
“I wanted to get that organic status. I don’t believe in spraying and using chemicals. From the word go, I was also using organic practices to heal the camels, really good basic homeopathy. We also got our own growers to grow organic feed for us.”
Lauren says she has a good understanding of the relationship between the land and the climate, and has learnt that camels can tell growers “amazing things”. The way they graze, breed and act helps predict the weather and subsequently, the best period for planting. The camels also nurture the soil, benefiting other stock and crops.
“We spend time training them to be a complementary animal for farmers. We work with those farmers to improve their land. Educating and helping people is an easy thing to do.”
In addition to the farming aspects, QCamel also contributes to the region’s tourism industry through its Camel Cuddles farm tours.
“People come to see us, get up close, have a cuddle and learn what we do,” Lauren says. “We teach people that you can have a production animal, but you don’t have to change who they are. I have researched, studied and watched their intelligence. Camels are lovely creatures.”
That seamless connection between farming and tourism is a burgeoning industry here on the Sunshine Coast. The Food and Agribusiness Network has more than 400 members from across the food value chain of Gympie, Noosa, the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay – a footprint that is recognised nationally and globally as a leading Australian food cluster.
And, according to Visit Sunshine Coast, the region’s volcanic-rich soil and quality water are a calling card for more than 900 producers and makers.
From the award-winning Maleny Dairies to Maleny Cheese, Buderim Ginger and the sustainable Falls Farm, agritourism is budding.
Up in the hinterland, on the outskirts of Witta, sits another wonderful contributor to Australia’s eastern coast and beyond.
On the surface, Wittacork Dairy Cottages appears to simply be a popular country getaway for tourists. With four timber cottages (including the original farmhouse), baby farm animal feeding and gator rides for the kids, it has become one of southeast Queensland’s most sought-after farm stays.
But dig a little deeper and you’ll discover a rich history that stretches back more than 70 years.
Home to the Cork family, it is a modern working dairy farm set on 283 hectares, including 60 hectares of lush rainforest. More than 120 cows dot the rolling green hills that overlook Lake Baroon.
Each morning and afternoon, Dan Cork and farmhand Kevin get to work, supplying Maleny Dairies with high-quality, fat-rich milk. Dan is part of a new generation of farmers – raised on the land but drawn to a career elsewhere before finding their way back.
His wife Meg says Dan grew up on the farm, which was originally owned by his grandad, who then handed the property over to Dan’s parents, Rob and Anne, about 40 years ago.
It was always Dan’s intention to move back to the property to raise his family and manage the dairy.
“I’m a teacher and Dan is an avocado supply manager,” Meg adds. “The family has been dairying for a long time.
“We took it on, thinking that his parents would finally be able to leave the property and be able to travel, but it was 2020 and COVID backfired on everyone. We became so busy with the cottages that we needed the four of us running it.”
With Dan’s background in agricultural science, he has been able to improve the pastures further and introduce a larger focus on regenerative farming. While Dan oversees the dairy, Meg tends to the cottages and guests.
“My in-laws started the farm stay 25 years ago when the dairy regulations happened. They chose to diversify then and it was good they did. The cottages got them through some tough years,” she says.
“It has always been a popular farm stay. People keep coming back. Every family that visits gets food to feed the goats and the pigs. They go through the dairy and watch the milking, collect eggs and bottle feed a calf. It is really about that connection and learning.
“People are interested in making sure their children understand where their food comes from. There is always a lot of excitement, too.”
FOOD & FARMING
Interested in learning more about the Sunshine Coast’s food bowl? Visit Sunshine Coast’s Sunshine Pantry shares some of the region’s best paddock-to-plate, produce, farm stays and experiences. Visit: visitsunshinecoast.com/qld-sunshine-pantry.
For more about QCamel’s tours, visit qcamel.com.au.
To book a stay at Wittacork, go to wittacork.com.au.