Camel Queens

In our first episode, we hang out with camels at Australia’s largest camel milk farm! 

We meet Toni Hall, cameleer and livestock manager, and Emily Riggans, tourism manager for Summer Land Camels, and their favourite camels including Lionel (Ritchie), Evie and Mr T. 

Find out why camels are not just spitty, grumpy ships of the desert, but a sustainable allergy-friendly alternative to dairy. 

Brought to you by The Queensland Writers Centre and supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

Produced by F&K Media.

Transcript

Telling Our Stories to the World is a series from the Queensland Writers Center. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast was made. Welcome to the first season of Telling Our Stories to the World, a new podcast series where real Australians tell the incredible stories of their everyday lives.

In this season, we are meeting Queens of the Land. It's all about women carving out their best life on the land. I'm Jane Hultgren, a writer and teacher based in Dalby on The Darling Downs. And I'm Helen Roche, a writer and project officer with the Queensland Writer Center. And we have a great season for you coming up.

We've been getting about riding on tractors. Hold onto your fanny. I'm excited. Go faster! Go fast! Falling in love. I get a bit teary when I talk about it 'cause it was just so special. And meeting some fantastic women living on the land. But first we're going to try something new. Jane, what's the weirdest milk you've ever drunk?

My own! Have you ever tried camel's milk? No, I have not. Did you know you can make vodka from camels milk? Uh. Oh, I did not. Can you actually? Yeah, absolutely. You can make vodka from camel's milk. Yep. You can. Wow. So today we're going to the biggest camel milk farm in Australia with Emily and Toni. And they love their camels.

He gets special food, he gets supplements, he gets, um, a joint supplement because he’s got a bit of arthritis. Oh golly. And the other day he was really sore, so I put the massage machine on him. They're well looked after they're, I strapped it on him. Yeah, I think she, as you see his condition, I'll show you what he looked like when we got him from the wild.

I have a photo. Yeah, because I don't think your cousins in Winton are getting a, uh, massage machine on you. My favorite person was Toni, the camel lady. I arrived. She was really. Grumpy. I dunno what I'm here for. I look after the camels. I, I, I've, I haven't got very long and like she hung around for the whole two hours.

She had the best stories. Aw. Paint a picture for of Toni for me. Like how old? Uh, Toni's probably 60. She wore her good pants, which she was really grumpy about. Oh. She didn't wanna wear her good pants today. She didn't, didn't wanna wear her good pants today. You made her wear her good pants. Yeah, she looked like a farmer.

That was what he looked like when he come in from the wild. Oh my goodness. Mm. Skinny. You can see bone. Oh, he would've been loving that grass. Oh, look at now. He's fine. Now. He's a good, yeah. Jane. Yeah. When you think of camels, what do you think? Uh, Arabian Knights, I think. I think camels. I think that's that first Sex in the City movie, you know?

Well, that's it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's Lawrence of Arabia walking across the desert. Yeah. Sarah Jessica Parker. And as Emily explains. When you get told that the camels are grumpy, they spit and they have a hump. There you go. Yep. Which is not true at all. Apart from the hump, the grumpy spitty ones are the staff members.

Me? You've said that before. Haven't you have that? That's my thing. You, you want grumpy spitty humpy. That's me. Um, but you know, if you stick a, a bottle of camel's milk or camel cheese or camel salami on the shelf at Coles and Woolies for a dollar. And people don't know what it is or why. No, that's true.

It's fair. They're not gonna buy it. No. You need to share the story. You need to introduce 'em to the animals and the fact that we can, we can open up and do that paddock to plate. Yeah. Journey with people, you know. We only eat the naughty ones. We only eat the naughty ones. 'cause they're the yummy ones, aren't they?

Herky, burkey, herky. We’re never going to eat you. No. You know when, when we sort of started, it was a very, very small industry and now we're just opening and opening and opening. Of course, we've had to put more and more products in place. So having the cheese, the vodka, the skincare. Yeah, the vodka's interesting. I've never heard of camel vodka.

The vodka is very interesting. So having all of those other products, you know, products has helped get milk out and you know, with the meat as well, the salami and the jerky, it sort of, you know, yeah. Lasts a little longer. Now, I know this is a silly question. No silly question. Camel, what does it taste like?

Comparably? Is it a strong meat? No. So. Mm-hmm. A lot of people sort of com. Compare it to beef, they sort of describe it as a sweet beef. Mm-hmm. Or otherwise, somewhere between beef and lamb. Do you slow-cook it? Do you, you can. You can do anything. So if you've got steak or sausages, just the same as any other.

Mm-hmm. Pork sausage, steak, it's gamey at all. It's not, no, it's not distinct. So I sort of say when we do our farm tours, I sort of say if we did a sausage sizzle and we'd tell you where the sausages came from, you really would not know. Helen, did you sample the camel? Yep. Okay. Absolutely. We sat down and we had a platter of cheese and labina and yogurt and milk and salami.

And I did actually buy a bottle of vodka, I have to say. And it was yum. Was it? Yeah. Wow. That is amazing. Ugh. So many. So it tastes normal. Yeah. Like you don't, have you ever eaten kangaroo? Yeah. It, it's not gamey at all. Yeah. It tastes like know how, like kangaroo. Yeah. That's a good idea. Yeah, we should. And then you're like, I always, I buy it and then cook it and then I'm like, like it's yuck.

But camel's though, camel is not like that at all. Taste. And it's a heart healthy meat. There's less fat, less cholesterol in camel than there's in beef. Yep. Yep. There's high levels of Omega. So, and of course all of these things that it can produce. It's the most sustainable animal that we have, pretty much without sort of going into our native animals, obviously.

Yeah. That we have in Australia because it's, again, purpose-built for the conditions of drought conditions. Yep. And they've got leather that you can use. They've got the meat, they've got the dairy, so there's no waste from the animals. There's, there's really not that much waste. They're great weed eaters.

Oh, so they're big goats. So you've got paddock on paddock and paddock and they'll basically, um, you know, clear out your paddocks before you, why haven't we all got camels? Exactly. Because the only thing we know about them is they grumpy, they spit and they have a hump. Okay, well I will be changing that.

Absolutely. So when they first started at Summerland Camels, no one was buying milk because no one had heard of camel milk. No, it was a weird concept. So they had to start getting creative. Um, and then we make the feta in here, so persian fetta, um, which is marinated in garlic, black pepper. And it's one of the reasons I work here.

It's awesome. And then we do gelato. Oh, gotta have some gelato. So gelato day on the farm is a fantastic day because course quality control, it's very important. Yeah. Well she is. So we all get, all get to have gelato for lunch on those days, which is nice. What flavors? Uh, so we do simple vanilla and chocolate.

Nice. But we also do a salted caramel. We've got a macadamia and lemon myrtle. Oh. Uh, we've got a coconut and finger lime that, those two flavors, um, we actually made for one of the royal shows. Um, using local produce. So would you eat camel gelato, Jane? Shit yeah, I would. I'm just like so disappointed.

You're not bringing in any of these camel goods right now? I would, but also, yes. If I was in the freezer section of a large supermarket and I was looking at gelato and there was like a camel gelato, I would be like. What the, and I would not just purchase without. I need to know about it. And that's what this is all about for them, it's about getting the knowledge out there about camel so that people will choose camel.

Emily took me into the cafe, and it's not just all camel chinos, they have all of the good stuff in there. When you are making cheese, you're wanting that curd, and the whey is the waste product of cheese making. So what can you do with whey protein powders from whey? Nutritional supplements. There's a few very clever farmers that made gin and vodka.

So as soon as we found that out, we knew what we were gonna do with the whey. Yes. Um, so we start that fermentation process here on the farm. It goes down to iba, it's gin distillery, which is local to us. They triple distill it, bring it back. It tastes just like vodka. Any other vodka you've had, it tastes absolutely no different.

But I bought the one that had honey in it, so it was. Yeah, I could have just sipped on it without anything else. We've got a home delivery service. We can get fresh milk, cheese, meat, skincare, whatever you want, straight to your front door. But if you're further afield. Now if you’re in Mount Isa, it's a little hard to get fresh milk to you.

So we've got the powder and we can post powder Australia wide. So it's good for allergies, good for allergies, so I can't tolerate cow's milk. So cow's milk will basically sit in my stomach, make me extremely nauseous. Which then makes me grumpy. Uh, my sister's intolerant. She gets very mucusy sinusy with cows milk, postnasal drip.

We are intolerant, but you have then people on the other end of the scale with anaphylactic allergies to cows milk. So cafe started in 2016. You only had camel's milk. There was no cow's milk 'cause one of the girls that work with us had an anaphylactic allergy to cow's milk. Mm-hmm. If we had cow's milk in the kitchen, she got hit by a drop on the skin.

She would've needed her EpiPen and an ambulance. Wow. We had a, a lovely family came through a few weekends ago and when I told that story on the tour. This lovely little girl jumped up and down, said, that's me. I have anaphylactic allergy to cow's milk. Mum and dad had the EpiPen with them in the backpack, and when we came back, they skin-tested the camel's milk.

She didn't react. They tested it around her mouth. She didn't react. She had the little 30 mil taster of of camel's milk. She didn't react. She had her first ice cream. She had one of our gelatos first ice cream she's having for five, six years. So, you know. That is life-changing. Absolutely. A family that has growing kids and hasn't been able to have any dairy in the house.

That gives all this stress life because you know, not only are we changing the lives of these beautiful animals, we are changing the lives of the Australian public, and that's why we're here and that's what we want to try and do. Aw. It's just beautiful. It's a game-changer, isn't it? Yeah. It's like it's life-changing for people with allergies.

Absolutely. Yeah, it is. It blew my mind when they told me, and it's not just that, wait, there's more. Okay. These are feral animals. Yeah, right. They're wild feral, and they are under the feral animal management plan being culled, and unfortunately when you cull an animal, it's usually wasted. It, it hits the ground and that's it.

Yeah. So by bringing them in, utilizing them as that resource, so the, the wall, the leather RM Williams used to make camel leather boots. Mm-hmm. Really popular sold very well. Uh, it's more durable than cow's leather. So if you're looking for durability, but soft, um, leather, we've got camels. It is a very heart-healthy meat.

Three times more vitamin C in camel's milk compared to cow. So rate for your skin, your immune system. High levels of iron as well, about 10 times more iron than cow's milk has. You've got pre and probiotics, so really good for your, for your gut. Antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal properties. You've got anti-inflammatory properties.

They're looking at skin conditions. So eczema, uh, psoriasis. Dermatitis. So just so many different things that we can sort of. Use these guys for, and of course, purpose-built for the conditions that we face. Before I went out there, I knew nothing about camels either. I left as passionate as these women almost.

It's not almond milk, it's not soy milk. It's it's milk. Because it's milk. Yeah. Yeah. And it tastes like milk paddock to plate. And you use the whole Yeah. You the whole, yeah. I also wanna know when they say. Caught out in the wild. Like what? What? Like where are these camels roaming in the wild. That's what I keep thinking about.

Like and middle of Australia. These animals were introduced into Australia to help back in the day to do the exploration. And then once we discovered cars and trains, they were just left. They're the ships of the desert. They're purpose-built for transport out there. So they're trade routes that were once walked by these guys are now essentially what is still used as the road network out in Central Australia. They can carry about up to 70% of their body weight. Wow. Um, but you can hook them up to wagons like you can with horses. Yeah. And you can get them to poles, so telegraph poles and railway tracks. So Darwin, down to Adelaide, all that network of telecommunication and, and railway was all originally put in place with these guys.

Wow. Um, and of course when we bought the camel in. It was a big influx of different cultures because of course the camelers came with them. Yeah. Um, and then we sort of hit World War I and World War II we were in places like North Africa and the Middle East, and the horses weren't really coping with the conditions very well, but those countries, of course, had camels.

So we created the Australian Camel Corp in 1916. Wow. Then we started actually charging them into battle. So adult camels can get up to 65 kilometers an hour. Soldier on the gun on the back of each one, about 50, 60 of them all in a row. Oh, so they're pretty, pretty impressive when they're coming towards you.

They would be, oh wow. What the, yeah, I know. Yeah. Crazy. It's so interesting. Doesn't make, isn't it? When you find all this out? I had no clue. And it's really interesting. This is the nursery. This is where the new baby is. Yeah. Yeah. Probably still down the paddock. So that takes us to 10 in here now. 10. Hey, mamas and Bubba.

Hey babies.

They look like little llamas when they're tiny, don't they? And they're so, they're so curious. Like they, they really wanna come up and, you know, and they're like, well, I'm not sure what a very cool job. And with the little ones as well, you can see the the ranging color a lot and fluffy. Some are fluffy and some are, so some, see, this one's got a lovely beard, whereas that one that's just walked past, she's got lovely shoulder.

So do you shave them? No. No. So that when comes summer they'll shed, so they'll start shedding naturally. So, um, you don't need to sort of shear them like you do with sheep. When it sheds, can you use that or you can. So all your big fashion houses around the world, they have got standing yearly orders for camel's wool, do they? So it's second only in quality to an alpackers wool. And the gap at the moment between your order and delivery date, if you are Gucci or Prada, is about four and a half years. Oh my God. Well I love that. Mm, it's very sustainable animals. It is. How many employees we're sitting at? Around 28, 30 looking after the 300 camels plus three.

Three 80. Three 80 camels. Three eighty one. As of this morning with babies. Yeah, that is a very, very big job. It is. So this is the new one here? Yep. Baby. Born the morning I arrived. So cute. Jellybean you coming up to say hi or not. She's like, no, there's food here. These are, I like to pull these like the eighties ones because with that fur, it looks like that shoulder pad.

Like, yes, I'm an eighties lady. You know, in just a half an hour you can see they've all got personalities, can't you? Just being, you go, ugh. People always ask, how can you tell them apart and well, they all look different. Yeah. And they all have their own personality. They They absolutely do. And they're all so curious.

So they're, their intellectual problem-solving capacity is about the same as an eight to 9-year-old child. Wow. Which means, of course, the mischief capacity is as well. She's fifteen. Evie? Yeah. Oh, I think Evie's smarter than most of us, to be perfectly honest. Which one's Evie? She is one of the riders, so we use her for training, but she's learned to undo, not That's clever.

She undo every other camel. She undo Gates. Ninja Camel. She is. So we only use her for training now. We don't do rides. She's too crafty. She's had enough, she just sits down. She's not, I'm not doing this anymore. She's our, she's our director of public relations now. And this is the dairy. This is the dairy, but camels are quite different from other dairy animals.

Because you need to have your baby with your mother. Camels only produce milk if they're actively feeding a calf. So they're, it's pretty much like, you know, us, we only make milk as, as humans. Yep. If we are actively feeding a baby. So one of the things that I found really interesting was that I did not see a man the whole day I was there.

It was only women running the dairy, running the farm, running the nursery. It was all women matriarchal camel society. That's. Interesting. Is that 'cause girls are better workers or, I reckon I think girls are better with the come. Okay. Yeah. I think we, we sort of, we have more patience I think. Mm-hmm. We have a, a softer voice as well.

You know, we have, well sometimes you get firm with 'em, like I lost my shit at some of them Absolutely. When they've been naughty. But you know, our body language is a little calmer in general. I think they pick up scent as well, so pheromone versus testosterone. Yep. With the boys. Yeah. 'cause it's funny 'cause I can move Mr.

T, no dramas. Yeah. But the boys struggle moving him. Yeah. I can move him by myself. Mm. And the boys struggle moving. Yeah. Mm. It's a matriarchal society, so the, the girls are in charge and then to get them back up, it's just up. Oh, good boy. Very impressive. Lionel. He used to like just bellow the whole time.

All you could hear was Lionel, he did that the other on Saturday. Saturday he just, there you go. Saturday, he just sung the whole day. Lionel guy Sounds like a Gregorian chant. Just gonna have a little kiss over here. Aw. They are just lovely. Mm. They really are lovely. Mm. They really are. They're just gorgeous, gorgeous animals.

Do they ever eat Lionel? Do they? No. They go, no, they don't. Because I was just listening like that love and respect and all the things that they have for the camels that then like surely there's not Lionel Salami 'cause No, not Lionel Salami. Yeah, they don't eat the ones that they've named. So now that you've heard all about it, Jane, how do you feel about camels now?

I literally want to go there now. I wanna take the kids there. I wanna camp there. I wanna be one with the camels. I wanna ride them. Wanna eat them. I just want camels in my life. I need them. Is it open like all the time? Do you know? Yeah, it's just down in the Scenic Rim. It's free. Like you can just go and look at the camels.

But you can pay and have rides or have coffee in the, you can take a picnic. They've got barbecues there. Is it pretty? It's really pretty. 'cause you are looking up to the mountains from where you are. How good. I think it's a really great day out. Summer Land Camels heading there. Yep. Yeah, Google, Summer Land Camels.

I had no idea that I was actually gonna walk away loving the camels as much as I did. I really felt very strongly. And if I see camel milk now, I will attempt to buy it and I might even get the family some vodka for Christmas. Ah, cool. Next week on Queens of the Land, we are meeting a watermelon farmer who has survived floods, drought, going broke and still finds a silver lining.

There's nothing you can do about it. Shake yourself off, get going. You are listening to Queens of the Land, a season of the Telling Our Stories to the World Podcast, brought to you by the Queensland Writers Center and supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Produced by F+K Media.