Company Profile

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BUSINESS PROFILE:

	Principals & Family History
	Location & Geology
	Current Business
	Corporate Plan
	Markets
	Background
	Tourism

PRINCIPALS:

The business is owned and managed by Paul and Bronwen Roberts-Thomson. The family first settled on Table Cape in 1910.

More detailed farm and family history is available on the following links:

The farms beginning - Major Alexander Roberts-Thomson 1910 - 1935

The next generation - Eric & Bill Roberts-Thomson 1936 - 1980

A change in direction - Paul & Bronwen Roberts-Thomson 1981+

 

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LOCATION:

Table Cape Farm.  Table Cape is an extinct volcanic vent dominating the coastline close to the town of Wynyard in N.W. Tasmania, Australia.    The property is 90 ha and extends to the 180 metre cliffs of Table Cape.   It surrounds the Table Cape lighthouse.

Click here for more detailed information on the Geology of Table Cape

View Larger Map

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CURRENT BUSINESS:

Bulb production:

·        15ha of tulips

·        .25 ha miniature daffodils

·        4 ha Dutch Iris

·        7 ha Oriental liliums

Flower Production:

·        4000m2 plastic cover

·        almost year round flower production in tulips

·        seasonal flower production in lilies and iris

·        field picked flowers in spring

·        dominantly domestic market sale

            Potted bulbs also produced in winter and spring

Mail Order and Tourism

·        3.5 week tourism season each spring

·        Farm Visitor Interpretation Centre

·        Australia-wide mail order

·        Farm Gate Shop

Additional farm area is devoted to the production of poppies, pyrethrum, onions, carrots and stud Poll Dorset sheep. Click here for more information on our Farming Activities

 

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CORPORATE PLAN:

The business aims to be a supplier to Australian and export markets of top quality bulb and bulb flower products.   The dominant crops are tulips and lilies.

Emphasis is heavily on quality production and fits well with the "Quality products from Tasmania" image. We have a rather unique Management Structure and Values which we uphold.

MARKETS:

Bulbs are sold throughout Australia to cut flower producers, parks and gardens and mail order companies.   Additionally, Van Diemen Quality Bulbs has its own mail order business.

In recent years the business has exported in the order of 1 million bulbs per year to Holland and the UK.

Flowers are sold throughout Australia, dominantly into the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide markets.

The attached world map gives an outline of Where our Products are Sent.

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BACKGROUND

DEVELOPMENT OF VAN DIEMEN QUALITY BULBS:

The property has been in the family for 3 generations and has in the past been dominantly involved in vegetable production and stud Dorset sheep.  In this latter pursuit the property has achieved a considerable reputation over the past 40 years.

Bulb production represents a re-orientation of the specialist production side of our business from stud sheep, in recognition of the productive potential of the unique soils and temperate climate of N.W. Tasmania.

This business was begun in 1984 with the express purpose of becoming a top quality tulip bulb producer for the Australian and possibly export markets.    It started with 1000 tulip bulbs imported under the (then) current 1000 bulb quarantine limit. 

After 3 years of trials the business imported 20,000 tulips in 1987 and 7 tonnes of nerine bulbs (an autumn flowering bulb).   This container was the first container-full of bulbs to enter Australia.   Concurrently with commercialisation of the bulb venture, Paul and Bronwen spent 6 weeks intensively studying the Dutch bulb industry.

Since then, the business has continued to expand through production and import and this year has a total of approximately 27 ha of bulbs - 15 ha tulips, 5 ha dutch iris, .25 ha of miniature daffodils and 7 ha of lilies.

The total farming operation creates 9 full time jobs and as well as a large amount of seasonal work.   The tulip bulb harvest alone will employ approximately 30 people for one month.   The annual full time equivalent workforce is approximately 20.

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TOURISM:

Initially due to public demand, the farm is becoming a major tourist attraction in the tulip season which runs from the end of September to mid October.  The beauty of the blooms, the broad bands of colour traversing the fields and the scenic location makes the farm a photographer's delight in spring.

Visitors to the farm have the opportunity to wander among hectares of tulips amid the spectacular N.W. Tasmanian scenery.

The local community organised the inaugural Wynyard Tulip Festival in 1991 which attracted several thousand people to the area during the second weekend of October.   This event is now a major attraction on the Tasmanian tourist calendar.  The farm tourism performs an important role as both an icon of the area and an example of rural tourism.

In 2006 the business opened it's Farm Interpretation & Visitor Centre along side a farm gate shop. This is open every week day and on weekends when visitor numbers make it viable.

The farm is only 5 minutes drive from the Burnie/Wynyard airport which has a number of daily one hour flights to and from Melbourne, by car it it one hour from Devonport (airport, Spirit of Tasmania), two hours from Launceston and four hours from Hobart.

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