CHDC 2024 Farm to Fine Dining

2024 Farm to Fine Dining Central Highlands Development Corporation Ninth Annual Central Highlands Regional Produce Showcase

Designed by Executive Chef Jake Nicolson in collaboration with CHDC, this menu features produce sourced from the Central Highlands (as highlighted).

Menu CANAPÉS

Fair Dinkum Fresh Cured Leg Ham and Gruyère Croquette Tomato and Basil Tartlet Devilled Egg and Smoked Salmon Pearls Paired w 2023 Voyager Estate Sparkling Chenin Blanc, Margaret River, WA

ENTRÉE Native Basil crusted, saddle of Aussie White Lamb from Fair Dinkum Fresh, oven dried Cherry Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Balsamic Mulberries Paired w 2023 Murdoch Hill Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, SA

MAIN COURSE Wood roasted AACo. Eye Fillet, Blackwater High layered Pumpkin Gratin (Reconciliation Project), Like Mum Used to Make Peach Mustard and wilted English Spinach Paired w 2023 Kaesler Reach for the Sky Shiraz, Barossa Valley, SA

DESSERT New Dawn Honey Mousse Trifle, Costa Mandarin Jelly, Coconut Sponge Cake and Like Mum Used to Make Peanut Brittle Paired w 2023 Margan Botrytis Semillon Hunter Valley, NSW

FRESH

Fair Dinkum Fresh

Owner Jason O’Loughlin has been a butcher for 39 years and has worked all around Australia. Jason had for a long time dreamt of opening a fresh food outlet encompassing fresh wholesome product.

Fair Dinkum Meats started life by re-opening the closed butcher’s shop on Eclipse Street in Springsure, the owners’ desire was to be at the heart of a community in which they both worked and lived. Success led to a second store being opened in Blackwater, further extending their retail presence, and in May 2017, work began on opening a flagship store in Emerald.

Fair Dinkum Fresh has been a culmination of years of hard work and determination to enhance the customers experience and provide a good product at reasonable prices.

Locally owned and operated, Fair Dinkum Fresh incorporates fresh fruit and vegetables with a large butcher shop, designed to facilitate training and product development.

Both Jason and Tracey work well as a team and both have the passion to work towards their goals within business and the community. Jason has worked in a variety of different locations, giving him a variety of experiences necessary to be able to cater for all their customers’ and staff’s requirements.

FAIRDINKUMMEATS.COM.AU FAIRDINKUMMEATS

Real Food, Real People, Real Fresh.

Jason O’Loughlin, Owner Fair Dinkum Fresh

Blackwater State High School

Over the past four years, Blackwater State High School has been building its agricultural program. Students in grades 8, 10, 11, and 12 experience various aspects of the agricultural industry through curriculum subjects.

Grade 8 students explore cotton and design bags, while Year 10 students design and build native gardens, watering systems, and chicken tractors, learning about native plants, irrigation, and chicken husbandry.

In senior grades, 11 and 12 students studying Agricultural Practices explore regenerative agriculture, sheep and alpaca husbandry, fencing, orchards, and aquaculture.

This year, we developed a program for disengaged Year 7 Indigenous boys, teaching them to halter-train alpacas and develop bonds with the animals. The program aimed to teach responsibility and non-violence, improving relationships with teachers and peers. The boys showcased their work at the Rockhampton Show in June, with improved school attendance noted.

Additionally, Jellinbah Mining donated $40,000 for shade stables, and a school upgrade grant allowed for the purchase of a shed. Looking ahead, we aim to strengthen connections with the Central Highlands Region industry and CQ University Agriculture.

BLACKWATERSHS.EQ.EDU.AU BLACKWATERSHS The agriculture experience at BSHS has been incredibly rewarding. Students are learning collaboration, communication, and hands-on skills that will benefit them for life. Outdoor learning enhances their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Watching their growth in these areas is inspiring and highlights the value of experiential learning.

Elizabeth Smith, Agricultural Teacher - Blackwater State High School

AACo Wagyu

Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) is Australia’s oldest continuously operating company and its largest cattle and beef producer.

Celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2024, AACo manages 450,000 head of cattle across 6.5 million hectares of land in Queensland and Northern Territory. Its vertically integrated supply chain comprises 30 stations, farms and feedlots, including the Goonoo property south of Emerald.

AACo specialises in premium wagyu beef, exporting to high-end restaurants and gourmet marketplaces in 16 major markets around the world.

AACO.COM.AU AUSTAGCO

The Central Highlands is essential to AACo and we’ve shown our commitment to the region by significantly expanding and increasing capacity at our Goonoo Feedlot.

The property sits in the centre of our value chain, as the linking piece between the farms and properties where our cattle are born and raised, and the fine dining where our premium beef ends up around the world.

David Harris, Managing Director & CEO

CHDC Board

CR GAI SYPHER

CR RACHAEL CRUWYS

CR KAREN NEWMAN

Chair

Deputy Chair

Director

CR JOSEPH BURNS

CIARÁN HALLINAN

BRONWYN ROBERTS

Alternate Director

Independent Director

Independent Director

Snapshot

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS MAJOR PROJECTS REGISTER

$5

7

BILLION TOTAL VALUE

PROJECTS COMPLETED IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS

9

14

FUNDED PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

41

TOTAL MAJOR PROJECTS

NEW PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

Like Mum Used to Make

Like Mum Used to Make (LMUTM) is a small family owned and run artisan food business specialising in gourmet handmade foods. All our handcrafted products are made in small batches offering the very best in quality and taste.

Our range includes sauces, relishes, preserves and mustards as well as several unique handmade savory biscuits. We have not forgotten the all-important sweet tooth; offering rocky road, nougat and a range of biscotti and biscuits.

In mid-2020 we delved into the tantalising world of smoked meats and have created a range of hand-crafted BBQ rubs and seasonings, putting a special zing in your meat, and tempting the inner carnivore in us all.

LMUTM also offers a professional catering service for small, medium, or large groups including corporate clients. We individually customise every event and menu to your specific occasion. We work closely with you to select your menu to ensure your event is memorable.

LIKEMUMUSEDTOMAKE.COM.AU LIKEMUMUSEDTOMAKE

Our small family-owned business brings you the finest in quality and taste. We are incredibly passionate about providing quality handcrafted artisan products to suit every meal and to tantalise your tastebuds! Experience the warmth of nostalgia in every bite! We love that our customers keep coming back time and again, whether they be local or from afar.

Sally Burnard & Edwina Litchfield - Like Mum Used to Make

New Dawn Honey

In September 2019, we decided to give bee-keeping a go and put a hive in the backyard in Emerald. We found a bee-keeping mentor, who warned us how addictive bees and bee-keeping can be. After a year, we were able to harvest our first honey.

Bouyed by this success, we decided to get a second hive. Eventually, we had more honey that we, our families, friends and neighbours could eat.

We decided to sell some honey on social media. Word started to spread about our honey hobby. A friend had bought a property just out of town and had bees in a tree next to their new house. We rescued the bees as the tree was being cut down. That friend now lets us keep hives on her land.

After catching some swarms and growing our hive numbers, we are now selling our local, raw honey around Emerald.

CAPRICORNHONEYEMERALDQLD

This experience has shown us how important bees are to the environment and our agricultural productivity.

“Bee talk” seems to find its way into so many of our conversations and we love to spread the message of how amazing bees are. We are excited to expand the number of hives and our business.

Shawn Michelmore, New Dawn Honey

Costa

Costa is Australia’s leading grower, packer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables and the largest citrus grower in Australia.

We grow a delicious variety of oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tangelos, mandarins, and persimmons, supplying Australian and international customers under the Vitor and 2.P.H. brands. Our mission is to be Australia’s citrus industry leader in scale, quality, innovation, genetics, and service. Our citrus fruit is grown in Emerald in Central Queensland, as well as in the Riverland district in South Australia and the Sunraysia region in Victoria.

At Costa, we are continuously working on finding sustainable ways to produce fresh, healthy food available for everyone by developing a systematic and tailored Sustainable Commercial Farming strategy to progressively improve the yield and quality of our healthy and nutritious produce whilst reducing our environmental impact.

COSTAGROUP.COM.AU COSTAGROUPHOLDINGS

For us, it’s about drawing on our roots and staying true to our values as we deal with the challenges of our time and adapt to a new future of farming. It’s about learning to work together in changing climates and ensuring we keep producing food that’s fresh, affordable, and nutritious. We’re on a mission to celebrate well grown while setting the standard in sustainable commercial farming. It’s all part of sharing healthy food on a scale that’s large enough to nourish Australia and beyond. Together we’re growing a future of real food.

Costa Group

Beverages BEER

Corona Asahi

4 Pines Pacific Ale Peroni 3.5

SPARKLING 2023 Voyager Estate Sparkling Chenin Blanc, Margaret River, WA

WHITE 2023 Murdoch Hill Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, SA 2023 Margan Botrytis Semillon Hunter Valley, NSW 2022 Ravensworth Sangiovese, Hilltops / Canberra District, NSW 2022 Montevecchio Moscato, Heathcote, VIC

RED 2023 Kaesler Reach for the Sky Shiraz, Barossa Valley, SA

ASSORTMENT OF SOFT DRINKS & SPARKLING WATER TEA & COFFEE

In Memoriam LIZ ALEXANDER

Liz was CHDC’s first Agribusiness Development Coordinator from 2016 to 2020 and was an integral part of the team who founded Farm to Fine Dining.

She was extremely capable, knowledgeable, and motivated, and a huge advocate of the Central Highlands, the region’s agriculture industry and its people.

Liz’s energy and passion for her work was infectious but she was also kind, generous and great fun. Liz, thankyou for your tireless work, love for our region and friendship.

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 76 Egerton Street Emerald Q 4720

T +61 7 4982 4386 E enquiries@chdc.com.au W chdc.com.au centralqueenslandhighlands.com.au