Big Spring Mount is owned and operated by Colin and Lorena Flack.
The Original Big Spring Mount Factory |
In the 1920's Lorena's Great Grandfather David Arthur Winfield was a horticulturalist exporting Granny Smith Apples to London and marketing his fruit and vegetables to the local Green Grocers. David became a good friend with many of them, in particular Mr Herb Miller of Horsham. In the late 1920's land was being opened up for freehold and Mr Miller had the opportunity to purchase 1500 acres of bush land along with a great deal of mountainous rock in the bargain (the area known as Hawkers Gully). During the winter of 1929 Mr Miller invited David Winfield to have a look over his property, of course the property in question was a picture of beauty at this time of year. Native Thryptomene Calycina flourished almost throughout the whole of the property. Great Grandfather having a keen eye for a good thing saw the Thryptomene in full bloom, suggested they harvest a load of this particular flower and run it down to the Melbourne Market. Where 12 bunches fetched a then handsome 2 schillings and 6 pence (2/6) with demand for further supplies beyond expectations. This prompted David to purchase a block of land in 1932, about 1 mile from the Millers and transfer his market garden enterprise. Here he conducted trials of Thryptomene under a cultivated regime to overcome the quality variations brought about by bush grown products. Lorena's Great Grandfather was the first person to grow Thryptomene Calycina under cultivation. The initial planted area was approximately 2 acres.
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In the early 1950's Lorena's Grandfather took over the business and by the mid 1950's, around 50 acres of Thryptomene was being grown under cultivation.
In 1962, Lorena's parents Geoff and Lynette Winfield purchased the property that had produced the very first bunch of Thryptomene that was sold in the Melbourne Market in 1929. The property at that time was owned by Mr Herb Miller and until Geoff and Lynette purchased the property all the Thryptomene had been exclusively bush picked.
This was the beginning of what is now known as Big Spring Mount Pty Ltd T/A G W & L R Winfield Enterprises. Big Spring Mount today purchases product from 20 growers under contract with almost 700 acre's (280 hectares) of Cut Flowers under cultivation.
Geoff and Lynette Winfield retired after 40 years of extensive development and marketing of Thryptomene and creating Big Spring Mount as it is now known. With this Colin and Lorena Flack were given the opportunity to purchase Big Spring Mount and carry on the marketing and development of existing and new markets where possible.
Thryptomene Calycina is the main product sold still today. Several cultivars of Thryptomene Calycina have been introduced by Big Spring Mount since 1980. These include Early flowering from February, late flowering in September-October, Natural Pink and Special White (Princess). The normal flowering time for Thryptomene Calycina is between June and September, with seasonal variation occurring with extreme weather conditions. |
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Many variations of Geraldton Wax (Chamalaucium uncinatum) are also grown consisting of pinks, purples and whites with large to mini flowering varieties available from September til December. We have also introduced Systemic Dying of all these varieties.
Our Current Big Spring Mount Factory |
In recent years we have expanded heavily into other lines of Australian Natives from Boronia (Megastigma, Lutea, Heterophillia and now Jaded), Scholtzia, Hypocalamas, Verticordia, Leptospermum (19 varieties), Rice flower (7 varieties), Agonis, Kangaroo Paw. We are currently developing up to 15 varieties of flowering Eucalyptus ranging from Caesia (silver princess), Tetragona through to the Forrestiana. Along with our extensive range of Australian Natives we also are developing some international products such as Erica Bacaans, Genista Monosperma and Ornithagalums.
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In 1984 Big Spring Mount exported the first shipment of Thryptomene to America. Today, 90% of all flowers produced are sold through a number of exporters to the USA, Europe, Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Canada. Approximately 280 tonnes of flowers go to the USA alone each year directly from Big Spring Mount. Our annual production is approximately 750,000 bunches of cut flowers.
In 1998 Big Spring Mount developed a Quality Assurance Manual relating directly to all procedures carried out in production, harvesting and processing of all products. This is set under the guidelines of ISO9002 and audited by NCS International Pty Ltd.
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