Our Soul Place
By Helen Ward
“You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person.” Alec Waugh, Hot Countries.
Which is exactly what we did back in 1994. Husband Ian and I traded city living for a rural lifestyle in West Gippsland. “Timbercombe Willows” as it was known then was a rundown 19 hectare property located north of the Princess Highway.
Situated in a gently undulating area our home rests on the hillside with immediate views over two picturesque dams and a vista of the Koo Wee Rup swamp and beyond to the Peninsula. The property is unique in that whilst it is mainly cleared, it comprises approximately five hectares of native bush adjacent to the northern boundary, which is a public bush reserve. There are scattered native trees and some willows around the two dams (hence the original name), which further add to its beauty.
Upon inspection it was the breathtaking views and location that won our hearts. We looked beyond the neglect and disrepair and focused on the unique characteristics of the landscape and visualised the possibilities that this magnificent property offered.
Twelve years later, “Tarrawingee Park” has been transformed into what is affectionately known as “our special place”. It has been a labour of love involving hard physical work and considerable financial input.
It is a reflection of who and what we are. It’s a symbol of what we believe in which is the ability to live on and farm the land in harmony with the environment.
Thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning emu, Tarrawingee was an obvious choice of name for our home. Ian had spent many a happy time as a child on a farm in Tarrawingee, and history suggests that Aborigines moved through the region many years ago.
Tarrawingee Park is an important place; a place we love to share with friends and family, a place that is home to our “kids” the two Golden Labradors, three horses, two alpacas, Leroy the Angus bull and his herd of “girls”.
But the notion of “place” goes beyond the fence boundaries. It’s about belonging to a community; it’s about having a sense of identity and common purpose within a group and being bound together by common experiences and beliefs.
A wonderful example of “common purpose” has been our involvement with Landcare. For a number of years we have been active members of a small group who have worked tirelessly to educate and demonstrate to landholders the benefits of environmental protection and revegetation. So involved were we at one point that I did a stint as President.
Through Landcare you get to meet the locals. You get to see their “special place” and to share a common interest and a common goal. Through our Landcare group we have not only met some new and interesting locals and even established some friendships, but I feel really positive about the legacy we will leave behind for the future not only because of the enormous improvements we have made to our patch but about the contribution we have made to the local environment and community.
On our property alone about 2000 trees have been replanted, waterways have been fenced off, shelterbelts developed and wildlife corridors established and extended. In fact as I write this story we have submitted another application with our local Landcare group to complete a shelterbelt and wildlife corridor planting that will involve another 600 trees.
The extensive vegetation and abundance of water makes Tarrawingee Park a haven for birds. On any one day you can see those delightful Blue Wrens fossicking around on the ground stirring up insects. In contrast to that if you then look up to the sky you may get lucky and witness the most magnificent sight; two or sometimes three to wedge tail eagles that grace us with their presence from time to time.
But the wildlife is not limited to the feathered variety. We also have resident wombats, echidnas, roos, wallabies, and a range of other rodents that either live with or visit us.
Tarrawingee Park was always a piece of paradise. We have simply enhanced it by building on its qualities and natural features. We are proud, sensitive and loving custodians of a place that we envisage enjoying for many years to come.
“All that most of us can know about any place, or portion of space, that we pass through is that it stirs in us some emotion or other, which we have no means of comparing closely with any emotion in any one else. The moment that we attempt to describe it, we offer something which may be descriptive of it, but is more certainly descriptive of ourselves.” C. E. Montague, The Right Place.
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Helen Ward
Ph 03 59 428 520; email
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