STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

Christine Rawson-Harris was selected to travel to Korea from her hometown in Salzburg Austria, “I was selected to open a hotel over there. And then I met this young Australian gentleman, well he’s long gone now, but he slipped me over here to Victoria actually,” explains Christine, her Austrian accent riddled in an Aussie twang. “You know people come to Australia to go to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane? Well, I came straight to a farm in Spring Hill. And I totally loved it.”

Although Christine grew up in the city of Salzburg, her heart had always pined for her uncle's farm in rural Austria. “I think he was my big hero. He was my big inspiration. He grew his own corn. He had his own cows. His own horses, chickens, his own pigs. My aunt had a massive veggie garden. So, they were very much self-sufficient. Ever since I was a little kid, I said ‘one day I want to be living the same way!”

While on a trip to Tasmania with her sweetheart, Finn Jensen of Autumn Joy Nursery, Christine heard her calling. Finn wanted to go to Tasmania to look at some nurseries to find rare plants. “And so, we went on a trip there and I said, ‘Well, why don't we pop into the Tasmanian Saffron farm.” After a half-hour chat, Christine became fascinated by the pretty bulb with purple flowers.

"My sweetheart has 16 acres and when we came back, I said to him one day, ‘Sweetheart, your plans with the Japanese garden...I think they have to be postponed!’ and he asked, ‘why?’ I said, ‘sorry the field is claimed, I think that’s where I want to plant my saffron!’ So his idea of a Japanese garden vanished.”

It was over 8 years ago that Christine conceived her plan for Trentham Fields, cultivating the rich, fertile soils of Trentham to grow Saffron. One of the earliest inscriptions of saffron can be traced back to the Bible’s Song of Solomon, roughly 3,000 years ago. In ancient Greece and Rome, the herb was used as a royal dye and thrown in baths and halls to add a sweet aroma to the air. Saffron was such an important herb for ancient civilisations that the hetaerae, professional Grecian performers akin to geishas, adopted it as their signature flower.

“It was a very interesting process because it has so much versatility. Saffron is being used in medicinal research, they’re trying to see what else you can use this plant for like Macular degeneration, high blood pressure, as an antidepressant, anti-inflammatory. It’s a very interesting plant.” explains Christine, her voice trembling in excitement. “It's used in alternative medicine, one of my friends practices myotherapy and I actually just delivered some saffron to her today - she makes tinctures. There’s a guy in Brisbane who makes ice-cream from it, and some of the best chefs in our region use it in their cooking as well. There’s a lady in Castlemaine, she would like to extract some oil from the petals to see if there’s a possibility to make a perfume essence from it.”

Imagining the Autumn bloom, “And the flower itself is just so beautiful,” quips Christine. “If I go out weeding, especially now, when the field is surrounded by those beautiful Autumn coloured trees. To me the field is like my sanctuary...the weeding doesn’t matter because you're surrounded by the birds, the trees, and nature. I just love working with Mother Nature to grow something I can call my own.”

Trentham Fields christine@trenthamfields.com.au trenthamfields.com.au