During the Christmas break my family and I were fortunate enough to have a week’s holiday at Kirra. I surfed here in my uni days, and while the ocean still mesmerises me, I did have half an eye on the gardens around the place. Or should I say the near total dearth of gardens. The hotel we stayed at had a reasonable, if resort-ish landscape full of the usual suspects (palm trees and cordylines looking desperate for a drink), but beyond that, I was surprised by how few coast-dwellers keep a proper domestic garden. Maybe they’re all too busy surfing and fishing.
To satisfy my horticultural urges for the week, we had to look further afield, to the hinterland. On the blowiest day in years we took an afternoon drive down to Cudgen, where my Mum’s brother has a small farm producing fruit, vegies and gob-smacking heliconias for the cut flower trade. To my considerable benefit, Uncle Bruce also works as a horticultural consultant at Tropical Fruit World, just down the road at nearby Duranbah.
Formerly known as the Big Avocado, Tropical Fruit World was once a 10-acre research station operated for 30 years by the NSW Department of Agriculture. Like many others of its kind, however, the station was sold off in the late sixties, after which time the land was used as a small crop farm growing sweet potatoes, beans and tomatoes, and later, for grazing cattle. Local couple Bob and Val Brinsmead purchased the property in 1972, where they raised their young family amid idyllic surrounds.
Bob Brinsmead still lives on the farm and is as colourful as the fruit he grows in its orchards. A former banana grower, theological writer, philosopher and Tweed Shire councillor, Bob is nothing if not a visionary. He saw the potential for creating an internationally known destination from a steep, run-down property in the once economically depressed Tweed, and thanks to decades of hard graft, Tropical Fruit World remains the region’s top tourist attraction.
The 100-acre plus farm maintains the largest collection of subtropical and tropical fruiting plants in Australia. More than 500 individual varieties are grown on the property’s terraced slopes, ranging from ubiquitous favourites like oranges and passionfruit, to never-heard-of rarities like ndea and mamoncillo. Every continent on earth (bar Antarctica) is represented in the collection, including our own. A bush tucker collection contains 60-odd species, which thrive alongside the exotics in the farm’s rich volcanic soil.
The plants are grouped roughly according to their place of origin, species and habitat. Tomato relatives such as naranjilla are found in the Inca Garden, jujubes in the Chinese Garden, and coconuts in the South Pacific Garden. There’s a total of 14 individually themed gardens, including a Home Garden, which contains a collection of plants ideal for people wanting something exotic, yet ornamental, for the backyard. Visitors to the farm have the opportunity to taste fruit in the Miracle Fruit Show and value-added products as well as many varieties of fresh fruit are available for purchase from the farm’s market.
In my view, properties such as Tropical fruit World are vitally important. Governments across Australia continue to abandon agricultural research stations and the collections of plants contained therein often fall foul to a dozer blade. Privately owned and not-for-profit farms are an important means of maintaining horticultural diversity, living libraries of genetic material, much like a seed bank that might come in very handy in an uncertain future.
Then there’s the research aspect. During my guided tour, Uncle Bruce told me that the farm still operates largely as a research station, and is constantly trialling new varieties, and experimenting with new ways of farming. Water conservation and sustainable farming practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and soil building are current pre-occupations at Tropical Fruit World.
Don’t be put off by the name Tropical Fruit World. A visit to the farm will prove surprisingly relevant for gardeners from Toowoomba, Highfields, Hampton and Ravensbourne. These districts share similar growing conditions with the Cudgen plateau, including red volcanic soils, a warm temperate to subtropical climate and relatively high rainfall. Many of the plants grown at the farm will happily grow in gardens along the range and some are even suited to conditions out on the Downs.
Check out their website www.tropicalfruitworld.com.au, and next time you’re holidaying down at the coast, my suggestion is to drop by the farm to pick up some produce or take a safari. It’s likely to prove a very fruitful experience.
First published in the Toowoomba Chronicle 26th January 2013. Photo by Alan Levin via flickr.
