In times of economic pressure, as we are experiencing now, Louisa Dunn notices an increased enthusiasm among customers for the potatoes grown on her family farm.
Her husband’s family has grown potatoes on the farm in North Blackwood, about an hour’s drive north-west of Melbourne, since 1865.
Dunn said Victorians were turning to potatoes to ease the cost of living because they were relatively cheap and can be cooked in myriad ways.
“There’s more demand,” she said. “A good potato goes a long way because you don’t need many to make a meal.”
There are thousands of potato varieties around the world. The Dunns grow about 25 of them, including Dutch Creams, Kipflers, King Edwards and Kennebecs. They also produce lesser-known varieties such as the ancient Peruvian Andean Sunrise and Pink Fir Apple.
The Dunns sell their potatoes through Georgie’s Harvest at South Melbourne Market, Ruby Goose in Trentham and Spud Sisters, who attend farmers’ markets, as well as supplying to Prahran Market. The Dunns also provide potatoes to be made into chips.
The greater Trentham area, which includes Blackwood, is a highly productive potato-growing region with its rich volcanic soil and reliable rain. Farmers are now in the midst of the harvest.
Dunn said her business was selling into a more sophisticated market in which chefs and consumers explore different potato varieties and ask which ones are best for particular dishes.
Beyond the economic and agricultural contribution, the potato industry has left an architectural legacy across the landscape in Trentham and surrounds.
So-called spud huts are scattered throughout the region. They are mostly wooden and metal structures that housed itinerant workers decades ago.
The Trentham and District Historical Society has compiled a list of more than 80 spud huts, but many no longer remain. Some of those still sitting on farms have been well-preserved, while others fell into disrepair.
Elizabeth Toomey’s grandfather bought land in the area and settled in 1868. He came from Ireland, and Toomey, a committee member of the historical society, said Irish farmers could tell the soil was good for growing potatoes by looking at the tall, straight and dense trees, which indicated good root systems.
Many farmers built spud huts to accommodate seasonal workers. Toomey said some spud diggers were former soldiers who had served in World War I and were single men who were drifters.
“They were wonderful characters, funny, sad, interesting, with great stories to tell, and they certainly added a flavour to the district,” she said. “Most spud diggers came and went seasonally.”
The spud huts, typically built between the late 1800s and mid-1900s, were mostly weatherboard.
The historical society is running tours of the spud huts next month as part of the Great Trentham Spudfest. The festival runs over two days and celebrates the region’s potato industry and history.
Hepburn Shire Council has included six itinerant diggers’ huts in a heritage overlay throughout the Trentham and neighbouring Little Hampton districts.
The overlay provides heritage protection, which means council approval is required to alter or paint the buildings or change the land immediately around them.
Hepburn Shire development and community director Ron Torres said the huts helped tell the story of the region’s history and agricultural identity.
“These weren’t large companies farming the land,” he said. “They were entrepreneurs and people putting their life savings on the line to try and make a living.”
The council’s statement of significance said while the huts were basic, they became iconic markers across the rural landscape.
The heritage-protected huts comprised a single room with one window, fireplace and chimney and corrugated metal roofs. Many were about three by two metres in size.
“There is a high potential for the building structures to yield further information about the story of itinerant agricultural workers in the district,” the council’s statement said.
Torres said applying heritage protection to private buildings often resulted in a backlash from property owners because they would be restricted in what they could do with structures on their own land. But he said none of the owners of the spud huts opposed the heritage overlay.
“Spud hut protection received no objections from the community,” he said.
But Toomey said the historical society wants more of the remaining huts granted heritage protection.
“It’s a part of history that should be protected, but very often we aren’t conscious enough of that until it’s too late,” she said.
They want to protect the legacy of the remaining huts, which provided an austere sort of comfort to the workers who harvested the ultimate comfort food.
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Benjamin Preiss is The Age’s regional editor. He was previously state rounds reporter and has also covered education for The Age.Connect via X or email.