Big Day with the Longford Club...

We had a big day with the Longford Rotary Club yesterday. I'll keep the commentary to a minimum since the photos do most of the talking. Fell free to ask questions on the blog or in messages (or when we return home). We will answer them when we find time to get online.

9:00 am – 10:30 am Brickendon Colonial Farm Village

Brickendon

Special thanks to Richard Archer for the personal tour and education. Richard's family has owned and operated the  Brickendon farm for over 170 year. Brickendon is situated near historic Longford township and was recently named as a world heritage site. The estate offers a glimpse of colonial Tasmania, Richard did a superb job describing the early colonization of the area and the links to the convict consignment system.

Brickendon Colonial Farm Village and World Heritage Site.
This home was built prior to 1829...I think.

According to Richard and his website, "Brickendon runs approximately fifteen hundred cross-bred sheep which are shorn during the months of June, October, December and February."

Sheep on Brickendon Farm

10:45 am – 12 noon Sevrup Fish Farm at Cressy [www.petuna.com]

Sevrup Fish Farm

Outdoor ponds at Sevrup. These are the small ones!

 Thanks to Shaun Slevec for the guided tour and an extra measure of gratitude for answering a lot of questions for a nerdy science guy. Sevrup raises Ocean Trout, Atlantic Salmon, and Saltwater Charr at their aquaculture sea farms. They control the vast majority of the production process, which begins in Cressy; including harvesting eggs and sperm from the brood stock, fertilization, incubation, selection, sorting, transition from fresh to salt water, transport to the sea cages, and ultimately to market for consumption. The crew at Sevrup produce approximately 2.5 million fish for market annually. Bill, NOW can I discuss what it meant when Shaun said the eggs were triploid? PLEASSSSSSE!

Sevrup's Cressy facility

Woolmers

The view from Woolmers...

Excuse me while I post a picture of the lamb shank and potatoes they served for lunch at Woolmers; another World Heritage site that adjoins the Brickendon property.

Yum!

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Cressy District High School 

Cressy District High School

Thanks are due to Annette Hollingsworth and her able Assistant Principal Janaha. They were wonderful hosts for my first vocational day and took some time to talk with the group about their school, it's vision, and the Australian educational system. It's obvious they are both very passionate about the surrounding community and the role the school plays in helping develop the children that live in and around the area. More details about the vocational days when we get home...

3:15 pm – 4:15 pm Tasmanian Devil program, Cressy Research Station

Taz

For those that are unaware, the iconic Tasmanian devil is in great peril of extinction in the wild. The Tasmanian devil’s status was formally upgraded to ‘endangered’ under Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, in May 2008. The folks at Cressy Wildlife center and the DPIW are trying to solve the mystery of DFTD (Devil Facial Tumor Disease) that was identified in 1996. 

Lone Ranger, our camera friendly Tassie devil for the day.

Interestingly, the devil's history seems to parallel that of the black footed ferret in the U.S. Can anyone tell me what caused the initial decline of the ferrets in our home nation? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?