It was probably Australia’s first herb farm: The Wilderness. Established circa 1939 by two women, Winifred Watsford and Helene Paterson. Miss Watsford, a school science teacher, had long been a keen gardener. Miss Paterson, a fellow teacher and now her partner, shared that passion.

Before large-scale cultivation and retail, herbs were grown in individual backyards and commercially-sold seeds were usually imported.

In a magazine the Misses Paterson and Watsford read about a herb farm near Sevenoaks in Kent run by women, and began a correspondence with its owner. In 1938 they travelled to England where they worked on the Kent farm through the different seasons, preparing and planting cuttings, harvesting lavender, drying and preparing the various herbs for use. And experimenting with them in the kitchen.

A year later the couple, their luggage full of assorted packets of seed, returned to Australia. (Back then biosecurity was obviously a more relaxed affair.)

With the know-how they’d acquired in England they transformed six and a half acres of virgin bushland on a hillside at Warrandyte near Melbourne into the first herb farm of its kind in Australia.

This story brings together many of my ongoing interests—botany, matters culinary, queer histories and more. I’ve gathered a fair amount of preliminary research material about these two women, their social circles, and their herb farm. Exactly what I’ll end up writing about them and whether it’ll be for the page or stage or even audio or something else … well, I’m still mulling over the possibilities.