Gum Creek Marron: Kangaroo Island

For Daniel Turner, a fourth generation Kangaroo Island farmer, life on the land is all about adapting to change. He still runs sheep on his Cygnet River property just as his father did and his grandfather before him. But mixed farming here is a bit more varied than it once was, as Daniel moves from traditional livestock to something a little more prehistoric. "Now there should be a mixture of marron and yabbies in this pond." marron was introduced to the waterways of Kangaroo Island from Western Australia twenty three years ago and since then it's never looked back. "They've got about one hundred and twenty registered marron growers on Kangaroo Island. Now a lot of these guys or shall I say a percentage of those guys have creeks or rivers running through their property so they are actually selling what are wild marron and they can make quite good money out of it." Daniel's move into aquaculture nearly a decade ago is typical of the changes made by many Island farmers following the collapse in the wool price. From the one pond many years ago he's now dug one hundred and twenty ponds and plans to more than double that number over an area of two hundred acres. And Daniel has cast the net far and wide in the search for the right ecological balance and now fills his ponds with trout which eat the algae and aquatic insects which prey on juvenile marron. While they're not pretty at thirty five dollars a kilogram they're worth nurturing for both the domestic and export markets. "The beauty of the product is that it stays alive for twelve to fourteen days in a cool environment so if we put some marron - let's say in your refrigerator - they will live for twelve to fourteen days with hardly any weight loss. So with that capability, we can ship it anywhere in the world alive and producing the product seven days a week." The Gum Creek Marron Farm uses a range of foods including wheat, barley, the occasional feed of potato and pumpkin and organic matter such as reeds and bark. Located on Gum Creek Road about eleven kilometres from Cygnet River the farm conducts hourly tours after midday. You can also purchase a meal of marron or yabbie or both at the cafe which is open seven days a week. For more information you can email: info@postcards.sa.com.au