The iconic Port Willunga Jetty - By the 1860's Port Willunga was the second largest port in South Australia and was used primarily to transport large amounts of grain and slate. Known by some as the 'coast of sorrow's, the site of Port Willunga has become famous for its notorious shipwrecks, the most legendary and well known being of the Star of Greece, the Ida (which can sometimes be seen at low tide in winter) and the Tempest, which in 1914 tore a hole in the middle of the jetty.
Port Willunga and the Kaurna people - Port Willunga has always been a significant site for the Kaurna Aboriginal people as the land and waterways not only provided them with nourishment but carried spiritual beliefs and dreaming stories. The aboriginal dreaming specific to Port Willunga described the ancestral warrior and law-giver Tjilbruke, who had stopped to mourn the death of his beloved nephew, as he carried his body along the coast to Cape Jervis. It tells that Tjilbruke wept tears along the shore, creating freshwater springs. The remains of these freshwater springs can still be found today along the Port Willunga shoreline.
Today Port Willunga beach is a popular walking, swimming, fishing, diving and surfing site, and a place of many happy family holidays. The shell of the old jetty remains, looking like giant burt matchsticks, has formed the inspiration for the Port Willunga Fine Foods logo.
Founder Trish White - Port Willunga Fine Food's master gardener, cook and founder, grew up in New Zealand in a family dedicated to growing their own foods and hunter gathering with the season.
My childhood was spent fishing off the local swing bridge crossing the river with its huge mudflats, which at low tide exposed crabs for us to chase. Or fishing for flounders at high tide with a flashligt providing fresh sweet fish to the table, we collected pipis for bait and tuatua, periwinkles and muscles for eating, all shellfish and all the yummier for the searching. Ducks, quails and rabbits were a natural part of our diet, hunting trips providing that special time in the bush. Seasonally we picked wild blackberries, plums, crab apples, walnuts, tamarillos, gooseberries and mushrooms, roaming over vast distances and proudly coming home with buckets full. Feijoa was a particular favourite and is one of Port Willunga Fine Food products that we love to share with other family tables. We pickled and bottled, made wine and other beverages, stored walnuts and caught whitebait. Our orchard was a constant source of fruit, plums, nectarines, apricots and peaches and artichokes grown in the chook run. Baking was common place with many tins filled with biscuits, slices and loaves.
The love story - I was first introduced to Port Willunga in the late 1970's by my future husband Andrew. We met at University, where Andrew wasted no time introducing me to his beloved Port Willunga where we eventually settled in. Late 1999/early 2000 I established Regional Basket with my friend Lizzie Strachan, sharing wonderful ideas and sending South Australian produce from small producers to all corners of the world. Over time the love of sourcing and cooking beautiful food won me over, and I realised it was time to start my own food label. Andrew suggested the name and Port Willugna Fine Foods and a name was born.
Family - As well as my team of fantasic local staff and family helpers, discovering and sharing delicious treats is very much a family affair. Andrew is hands on helping with the apron washing and makes up the boxes. He's become quite the expert and although he loves to offer advice, he is gently persuaded from not doing so xo Hannah has been the chief art designer with her talented hand, all the fruits and nuts have been drawn by her, we love her talent and positive cheery input. Her husband Bryce - Port Willunga Fine Foods poster boy he likes to wear PWFF t-shirts when he can't find anything else clean to wear. Eve and Della "grand children" - taste testers Little Eve and Della are our smallest taste-testers, loving the sun-dried apple and pear for now. Just wait until they find the toffee... Patrick is a pistachio packaging ninja. But like so many of you, Patrick loves pistachios, so it's best to keep a box aside. Sam reckons he did his fair share in his student days, taping hundreds of boxes together, he says the screech of the box tape machine outside his bedroom door scarred him for life! And he won't stop telling it...I love ya Sam x