Koo-Wee-Rup

On our way back from Rocky Creek on our way to Melbourne we stopped at the Koo Wee Rup Observation platform. There is a great view.

The sign nearby tells some history of the area.

KOO WEE RUP Asparagus Country

The black fertile soil and the climate make Koo Wee Rup an ideal Asparagus growing area. First grown here in the early 1900's catering to the domestic and canning markets, today approximately 1600 hectares are under production in the Koo Wee Rup/Dalmore district. This accounts for 70% of Australia's total asparagus crop, with 50% exported fresh to Japan and other Asian markets.

Harvest season is mainly in spring from August to December with some summer harvesting until March. The industry employs a large number of people in the paddock and in the sheds.

The unusual spectacle of asparagus spears sprouting from the bare soll in paddocks can be seen along the Koo Wee Rup to Pakenham road during harvesting season.

The Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp area was originally occupied by Aboriginals of the Bunurong Tribe. Their land is thought to have included the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Bay northward to the Dandenong Ranges, westward to Mordialloc and eastwards to the Tarwin River. They traded and intermarried with the neighbouring Wurrundjeri tribe.

The life of the Bunurong people was dictated by the sea- sons. In the summer months they lived in coastal camps where they ate fish, birds' eggs, shell fish, collected bulbs and foliage and hunted game such as kangaroo and possum. Possum skins were used to make rugs and cloaks. In the colder months they moved inland to the hills where it was warmer and they would survive by hunting and eating seasonal foods such as mushrooms and wild honey.

There are accounts that the Aboriginal people traversed the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp by a series of beacon lights, though the early European settlers found the Swamp an impen- etrable barrier to settlement. There are Aboriginal legends regarding monsters found in the Swamp - the bunyip and the too-roo-dun were monstrous swamp dwelling creatures with a harsh call. The arrival of the Europeans in the 1830s heralded the beginning of changes to the traditional Bunurong way of life.

They were dispossessed of their traditional land and lost access to their food sources and hunting grounds. The Aboriginal population was decimated by the introduction of new diseases.Read more