History:
In
1981 Des and Maureen Pickstone decided they had had enough of the
hustle and bustle of city life and purchased 40 acres of virgin bush
in the Samsonvale area - now named Mt Samson, situated between Samford
and Dayboro on the north side of Brisbane, only 35 minutes drive from
the city in the Shire of Pine Rivers.
They
named the property "The Lyell" as the valley hovered over
by Mt. Lawson, Mt. Samson, and Mt. D'Aguilar looks identical to the
Lyell, a gold mining town built on a mountain side above the Buller
River on the West coast of New Zealand and pioneered by Maureen's
Great Grandfather in the 1860's.
The
Lyell Deer Farm was established with a lot of hard work and family
support. In 1984 they purchased 20 Red Deer which had been trapped
by a farmer from the feral herd in the Brisbane Valley.
Progeny
of their original herd were sold to provide more fencing for expansion.
After three years they found the land was not viable for a commercial
deer farm. Beautiful as it was with all it's character, trees, rocks,
and gullys - supplement feeding all year was too costly.
Des
and Maureen looked at the alternatives and decided to open to the
public weekends and public holidays to enable visitors to come and
learn all about the deer farming industry. Senior citizens are chartering
coaches to the farm where they can enjoy morning tea, browse through
a large range of exclusive Queensland deer leather products in the
craft shop to the sound of birdsong with glorious mountain views.
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At Present:
Currently
four species of deer are now being bred on the farm, Red, Fallow,
Chital, and Rusa. We have educational tours for primary and high
school students where they can see how the deer are being farmed
and Maureen explains the reproduction of the antler growth and the
origin, behaviour patterns, and breeding cycles of the different
species of deer being farmed throughout Australia.
Challenges along the way:
Another
challenge - Deer skins produce beautiful leather, historically used
by the North American Indians for clothing, footwear, shelter etc.
In
1991, Maureen and daughter Gina formed a partnership and trialled
a few Red deer skins at Packers Tannery at Narangba. After many
headaches and with the help of the Tannery foreman, the processing
was fine tuned. With the increasing development of the venison market,
more hides are available. In 1992-1993, 2,200 skins were processed
into fashion and upholstery leathers, products from which are being
marketed by Lyell Deer Leather into Darwin NT, Tasmania, and Victoria,
as well as Queensland. We are currently processing a minimum of
500 skins each month in various specifications.
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