Description

The generosity of migrants towards Australia as their new home has been documented throughout post-contact history in Melbourne. In the case of Westgarthtown, what we see is a little-known story of German and Wendish immigrants establishing dairy farms 14 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD and helping preserve a region now known to residents as Thomastown, but historically referred to as Germantown or Westgarthtown after William Westgarth.

Milk and Honey: How German Dairy Farms Sustained Melbourne is a program that shares how the Ziebell family, their peers and descendants shaped the dairy industry in Melbourne, helped feed the Plenty Valley and provide a unique gathering place amongst suburban Melbourne's north.

Thanks to the foresight of the Ziebell and Schultz families amidst a later twentieth-century housing boom, and their open mindedness to allow a farmhouse become public property, thousands of visitors can access the beautiful bluestone home, heritage garden and associated spaces including the 3.6-acre Westgarthtown Reserve.

This unique precinct attracts new waves of migrant families who continue to move into Thomastown, Lalor and neighbouring suburbs. Despite the modest lifestyle of Westgarthtown’s original German families, their generosity and resilient spirit has furnished us with intriguing riches and a staple food culture.

What's On

The three-day program will include open access for visitors to Ziebell's Farmhouse, smokehouse, gardens and Westgarthtown Reserve.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, enjoy group tours conducted by Ziebell and Westgarthtown descendants with a focus on dairy farm activities, produce and German food culture. Visitors will have the opportunity to read and taste some recipes from the Maria Karsten, née Ziebell (1823-1919) German recipe book.

Learn more about the dairy farm's significance as a place of plentitude, food production, medicinal plants, produce and dozens of flowering plants. There will also be demonstrations on making butter and information on smoking sausages and bottling fruit, with an emphasis on how Westgarthtown farms generously fed Melbourne.

Children's Activities

There will be free children's activities on Saturday and Sunday including the chance to make playdough cookies and dairy cow magnets; a garden trail to find plants that provide food and medicine; and planting seeds propagated from the heritage garden in small pots.