WORDS AND PHOTOS: Jarrad Delaney
A chance trip down the backroads of the Adelaide Plains has turned into an opportunity offering so much for Brenton and Cate Wildman, transforming an old barn and other old buildings into a home, as well as a venue for exhibitions, weddings and other events.
There is no telling where going off the beaten track will take you and what it will reveal, and the Wildman Farm at Korunye is proof of this.
Owned and operated by namesakes Brenton and Cate Wildman and located on Conrad Road, an unsealed dirt road, the farm has provided a home, a venue for events and a farm for alpacas, chickens … and venomous spiders!
The Wildmans’ journey with the farm began in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, September 2020. Brenton said before this they had been living in the Barossa Valley and were looking for a particular property, one they did not find until by pure chance he took a different route to work.
“I saw this place on the way to the office in Balaklava, taking a road I don’t normally take,” he said.
“We were looking for an old house, possibly a nice barn, and seeing the barn here we knew this place had potential.”
The barn was built around the 1880s and a farm house on the property is believed to have been a workers cottage at one stage, with the original homestead being further down the road on a seperate modern day property.
When they took the property on, there was a lot of work that was needed as sheep were walking through the farm house, birds were nesting in the light fittings and there were holes in the roof.
The barn would also provide surprises, as the roof-space was filled with the house’s contents, dating to about the 1970s, which included beds, ovens, vacuums and crockery stored amongst the beams with doors from the house acting as a makeshift floor/ceiling.
However the Wildmans still saw the potential in the property, putting in an offer in August of 2020, which was accepted 30 days later.
Building inspectors informed the Wildmans it could be made liveable within six months, but with Covid lockdowns and a lack of available tradies the couple carried out the work themselves over a period of 20 months.
Finally in May 2022 the house was made liveable and the Wildmans moved in, selling their property in Nuriootpa and starting a new life in Korunye. Brenton said they would get to work on the barn, but a special day for one of their children gave them a definitive timeline for completion.
“Our daughter Erika wanted to get married here, so we had to get the barn ready for that,” he said.
Fortunately the barn would be ready for the big day, and their daughter Erika was married on the lawns in front of the barn in March last year. The barn is an ecologically friendly structure, run by off-grid power, water supplied through rain tanks and septic is used in the nearby worm farm.
The aforementioned doors that were used as a makeshift floor would also be reused, including in the barn itself.
Since then the barn has served as a popular venue for events, including other weddings and art exhibitions.
“We thought of holding weddings in here (in the barn) which would be good, and we thought about holding craft classes as well as being a gallery,” Brenton said.
“(People are) always shocked to find this, because it’s out in the middle of nowhere it’s quite surprising (for them) it’s here.”
For the past two years this has included exhibitions for the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival. These exhibits have provided the Wildman family to also display their handiwork.
This includes Cate, who has been involved in creating fabric art.
“I’ve always been involved in arts and crafts, I’ve studied fashion and interior design at different times, so I’ve always had an interest in arts and crafts,” she said.
Meanwhile Brenton has displayed his skills with metalwork, with a century-old coke forge set up on the property where he has created a lot of artisan works which have also gone on display in the barn.
Brenton has described himself as a “jack of all trades”, picking things up skills along the way.
“I’ve learned a lot of different trades, I’ve learned welding, used CNC (computer numerical control) machinery and learned French polishing,” he said.
“I’m just interested in things like lost trades.”
The pair have shared their skills with others, running workshops out of the farm, which includes Brenton’s Blacksmith Experience which allows for people to learn how to work the forge, work with fire, steel and hammer, and to create something they can then take home.
Cate also runs workshops on macrame plant hangers, providing a course in the art-form of macrame, and another where people get to make their own fabric-covered coiled baskets.
It has not just been Brenton that has displayed skills with metalwork, daughter Chris works as a welder and has displayed their own creations within the gallery, including in the last two SALA exhibitions.
While there is a focus on events and the arts, there is no false advertising in the name of the property as the Wildmans also manage it as a farm. This includes their three alpacas named Winston, Henry and Leroy, five chickens and their pet dog.
But there is another lot of animals raised on the property which may make many people’s skin crawl, but are raised for a very good reason. Going back to his time living in the Barossa Valley, Brenton has been breeding redback spiders to be used in creating antivenom.
“When I first moved to Nuriootpa, I learned the venom centre needed spiders, and we would catch 5-10 and take them over,” he said.
“As a hobby I started collecting more and bringing in more than 3000 per year, and last year we did 8000.
“There’s a shelf life for antivenom and they have to produce so much each year. During Covid they ran out of antivenom, and everyone was out in their garden and they were getting bit more, so there was an incredible need for antivenom.”
While the farm is located on the backroads between Mallala and Two Wells, its location is becoming more well known thanks to promotion on social media and from within the region.
After finishing up her work in September last year, Cate has turned her attention to promoting Wildman Farm on social media and handling the bookwork, as well as event management to ensure smooth operations.
“We’re trying to get it out there, and social media shows we are getting it out there for more and more people,” Cate said.
The Wildmans have also been boosted with inclusion in a tourism map available through the Adelaide Plains Council, referred to as the ‘Creative Adelaide Plains Trail’ which highlights attractions to see, do and eat at across the region.
“If we could have people using it more, almost every week whether it’s a conference or an event, it would be good,” Brenton said.
“We’ve had people ask about yoga, or corporate team building events. We’re constantly seeing different ideas for events here, other than weddings.”
It is not just the reputation of the farm that is expanding, but the facilities as well as the Wildmans are adding on to their home, which will include a new kitchen, lounge, dining, bedroom, ensuite and main bedroom.
Creating a gem out of abandoned facilities on a dirt road at Korunye, the Wildmans have created a life for themselves and have the farm gates open to share their piece of paradise with the wider public.
People can find out more about Wildman Farm by visiting its Facebook and Instagram pages, or head to its website at wildmanfarm.com.au
