General News
30 November, 2022
The new stew pot
A NEW generation of living Loddon volunteer treasures saw the first batch of eucalyptus oil come from a new stew pot at Wedderburn’s Hard Hill Reserve. The town’s tourist committee had raised funds for the third pot on site through its annual...
A NEW generation of living Loddon volunteer treasures saw the first batch of eucalyptus oil come from a new stew pot at Wedderburn’s Hard Hill Reserve.
The town’s tourist committee had raised funds for the third pot on site through its annual detector jambouree.
Robbie Collins, who had worked the original Hard Hill stew pot before its was moved to the tourist reserve from Woolshed Flat, had the honour of unveiling the new pot.
His daughter and president of Wedderburn Tourism, Robyn Vella, then put the pot into action with other volunteers.
Robyn and Loddon Shire’s Cr Gavan Holt spoke of the vital role played by volunteers in the history of the reserve.
They recalled the drive of Arthur Martin in establishing the reserve as a tourist attraction in the 1970s and 1980s, Arthur, who died in 1988, was named a Victorian Living Treasure along with another Wedderbunian, Lindsay Holt, by the then Victorian Tourism Commission in 1986.
“Wedderburn Tourism is a strong team,” Robyn said.
“And eucalyptus (oil) is part of Wedderburn’s heritage and culture.”
Cr Holt said: “Volunteers are the glue holding our communities together. Our communities would not work without volunteers”
Peter Norman also spoke of the role Arthur and the tourism committee had played in driving tourism for the town over the last 50 years.
He recalled early gold dig festivals, the first on the site of Wedderburn’s original gold discovery in 1852 before being shifted to Hard Hill - named because miners came in from the side, the surface too hard to dig..
Peter said the tourism committee developed the reserve with the historic gold crushing battery and replica puddler and there had been plans for a holiday camp in the 1970s.
And he said Arthur Martin was a real character who also drove the town’s folk festival and the local entry in Melbourne’s Moomba parades that won five Lord Mayor’s prizes for best country float.
Robyn said the new stew pot would produce eucalyptus oil to be sold in local businesses and at Hard Hill Reserve to visiting tour groups.
“We started this project during COVID ... more than 12 months ago,” she said.
The greatest challenge had been to find a factory with capacity to roll the steel pot.
Geoff Burnside, of Wedderburn’s Turf Engineering, connected the committee with an Echuca company. Turf Engineering constructed the fire box chimney.
Robyn said a 6x4 trailer of eucalyptus leaves filled the new pot, taking up to five hours to stew up to six litres of the town’s famous Blue Mallee oil.