In a time where the world is slowly waking up to the importance of sustainability on all sorts of levels, it was an ideal opportunity to showcase Wooleen Station as the backdrop for our winter collection. Wooleen has been primarily destocked since 2007 and has far less cattle and far more native flora and fauna than your regular Australian station. David and Frances Pollock are passionate land warriors who have undertaken a conscious reverse to rehabilitate 153000 hectares of some of the oldest land in the world.

These environmental heroes crossed paths 15 years ago while Frances was looking for an adventure filled working holiday in the Australian outback. It was here she discovered this unconventional cattleman turned passionate land care advocate and quickly realised Wooleen Station was too hard to walk away from.

Not even the critters of the outback could scare Frances away and she proved her toughness on more than one occasion. During her first two weeks at the station, she managed to get bitten by a red back, a centipede and a scorpion. David finds this highly amusing, considering he hasn’t been bitten by any of these over his lifetime on the station!

After de-stocking in the hope to rehabilitate the land Frances and David had to think outside the box quickly to develop another income stream. Frances' passion in tourism turned the stations charming homestead into the third party in this love story. Now every year over a thousand guests are drawn to this thriving eco-tourism business and the passion of the Pollocks.

On arrival I think the most captivating aspect is that in amongst the red dirt, stand these tall gum trees and impressive palm trees that create a beautiful oasis in the red desert. In the centre of the gardens is an Australian style homestead that was built in 1918 and it sits grandly surrounded by colonial verandas.
There have been a few additions and extensions over its lifetime, which add to the character and the charm. The seven spacious Edwardian-Style bedrooms and three luxurious bathrooms accommodated the ten of us comfortably. The crispy linen, fluffy doonas and soft pillows felt like a big hug after a long day of shooting in the outback.

Frances and David go out of their way to ensure a very personalised and intimate experience.
When staying at the homestead, breakfast and lunch are more of a casual affair and you may even be lucky enough to share it with the resident magpie Squirt.

Dinner at the homestead is very special, the original long homestead table is set in the formal dining room, lit by candlelight you will be treated to a spectacular home cooked meal that will be accompanied by an array of produce from the homestead’s veggie patch and the engaging company of the couple.

The mealtimes are shared around the table with your fellow guests and the food is delicious and plentiful. So much so, we asked them how they managed to stay slim after all the eating and drinking with guests every night!

Especially the delicious sticky date pudding that we have all agreed to be the best that we have ever tasted! We asked Jane, the Wooleen Chef for the delicious recipe and we would love to share it with you all.

When staying at Wooleen you are encouraged to slow down and reconnect, so that you leave feeling fresh and inspired. As one of the many experiences at Wooleen, David runs a guided eco-sunset tour and along the way he has many interesting stories and tales to share.

He is a gentle but passionate land warrior and the tour is focused on the Pollocks true commitment to the land and understanding the possibilities for the future. David drives you all over the property and one of the stops will be the nationally important wetland Wooleen Lake, where he provides amazing insight to the flora and fauna and why this area is particularly important to Wooleen’s survival.

During our stay we visited some of the oldest rocks in the world and learnt about the local aboriginal heritage, ecology, and colonial history. The stunning Budara Rock is a very important landmark for the Wajarri People and David has a warm connection with the locals. This tour really illuminates some of the major issues that are being faced by pastoralists and how Dave and Frances have implemented a huge rehabilitation programme to begin the process and save this sacred land.

As the sun sets over the stunning landscape, with a glass in hand Dave and Frances shared stories from past custodians of the land and the impact that their change will have on the future. You will be overwhelmed with the history and passion they hold for the land, it’s an experience like no other.

A big thank you to the Pollocks for hosting us – it was truly a memorable experience!

The vast landscape Wooleen Station sits on has many magical things to offer, and we think you’ll be very surprised with this one. The Pollocks have inspired many, including Bass & Flinders distillery with their hard work, determination, and courage.

In their celebration of Wooleen they wanted to create a unique native gin made from hand-picked botanicals sourced at the station. The Gin is handcrafted with incredible handpicked natives straight from the station, however, there is one small special creature residing on Wooleen that is a known indigenous food resource, that Bass & Flinders use as a star ingredient: the Native gravel ant. Ants?! I hear you say, yes Australian ants. they are that resourceful at Wooleen that they even have discovered a way to use them.

 The ants themselves are highly social (kind of like our amazing team at Humidity) they communicate with each other with the help of some incredible pheromones, chemicals that convey specific messages, which include colony identification and imminent danger. This is why the little buggers smell so much when you squish them.

Fun fact, did you know that not everyone can smell it? The ant smell requires a recessive allele in order for someone to detect it. In other words, it's a genetic ability like the ability to roll your tongue. 
If you don't know, then you probably can’t.

 Back to the pheromones, the interesting thing is that the chemical nature of these pheromones can be influenced by the ant’s diet. When collecting the plant based botanicals these are chosen to compliment the pheromones, which are released by the ants during the distillation process and when combined they produce a true unique gin, the “Angry Ants” gin. If you’re game and want to try something truly outback - grab a glass, slice of lemon and some cold tonic water add your Angry Ant Gin and away you go, it’s a little taste of Wooleen right in your glass.