Quamby Farm

Ant’s Halls Gap House is part of Quamby Farm, established by Ant’s grandfather early last century and now home to a fourth generation of the Mair family.  The farm once covered most of the valley floor and has produced market garden crops, fat lambs, wool and beef cattle.  Now home to Ant, Melissa, Sarah and Jessica the property is ten years into an improvement program to increase sustainability and productivity.

These works have seen two sustainable houses built, 12 000 native trees and shrubs planted for habitat and stock protection as well as a 5 megalitre wetland established.  The plantings were carried out in 2008 with the support of an Envirofund grant, neighbours and Project Platypus, a local Landcare umbrella group.

Dozens of fruit and nut trees, extensive vegetable gardens, a flock of Dorper sheep, a few fattening cows, chook runs and berry plantings mean that we produce most of our own food now.  

One of our latest projects has been to establish a food forest below Ant's Halls Gap House so that guests can soon forage and pick seasonal fruit, nuts, berries and vegetables.

Community Water Grant

The wetland was established in 2009 with the support of a Federal government Community Water Grant to catch, store and biologically treat stormwater runoff from the slopes and urban areas of Halls Gap.  A smaller, existing wetland will act as a source of propagation material for the new wetland.