A 200 Year View

Helm View is a 500 hectare sheep and beef farm beneath Mt. Dundas in western Victoria. It is owned by the Sirrowee Foundation and managed by Bruce and Lyn Milne. The Milne family have farmed this land since the 1940’s. By the early 1980’s the land was degraded, stark and bare. There was severe dieback of red gums with dead tree carcasses being a visual feature of the property. Seven percent of the property was affected by salinity.

In 1983 Helm View was selected to be one of fifteen Potter Demonstration Farms in western Victoria. Under the Potter Farmland Plan, the Milne family developed a whole farm plan, a survey of the property from aerial photographs which examined the land from an agricultural and ecological standpoint. The plan addressed the problems of salinity and dying trees and reflected the ecological reality of the land. The Milnes took a fresh look at their farm. Fields were re-fenced according to contours and grazing patterns; saline and badly eroded areas were fenced, sowed with native vegetation and allowed to regenerate; shelter belts, vegetation clumps and individual trees were planted as revegetation, windbreaks, shelter for animals and wood supply. The cost of implementing the changes was shared by the Milnes and the Potter Foundation. Although the property is still predominantly sheep and cattle, the owners have recently has diversified into worm farming and are utilising the large quantities of dead red gum trees on the property. This is kiln dried and milled for furniture production.

The environment of the farm has changed greatly. The Milnes have created wetlands, planted more than 60,000 trees, revegetated approximately 25 % of their property with native vegetation and refenced the farm. The farm is now more sustainable- environmentally and economically.

Involvement in the Potter farmland scheme was the impetus for profound change in the lives of Lyn and Bruce Milne. They began questioning their own values and those of European agricultural practice. They have become concerned about issues such as unequal distribution of wealth and food in the world, declining community solidarity and infrastructure and the emphasis on monocultures in farming.

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Bruce Milne, Manager of Helm View