30-07-2025
Scenic Rim's Summer Land farm aims to make camel meat, milk mainstream
Across remote Australia, hundreds of thousands of wild camels are considered feral pests, with many shot and left to rot.
But in South East Queensland's Scenic Rim, they're being milked to make "camelccinos", lattes, gelato, and even vodka.
It's all part of farmer Paul Martin's attempt to help Australians re-imagine the camel as a sustainable livestock animal.
His ultimate plan is to build an entirely new industry from the ground up.
But to do that, he said, he must first challenge Australia's "cultural issue with camels".
"There are a few reasons why people are stand-offish around eating camel — but it's changing," Mr Martin said.
Historically, Australian palates have preferred beef, lamb and pork over game meats, but that has not deterred Mr Martin.
"Success in this operation is basically getting camel milk and meat mainstream," he said.
Camels were introduced to Australia 180 years ago for use by explorers traversing unforgiving landscapes, and as a means of transporting goods over barren inland regions.
But as cars and trucks took over, Mr Martin said camels were "labelled feral, turned loose and forgotten".
Mr Martin's farm — Summer Land — has grown into a major tourist attraction at the Scenic Rim over the past decade.
Visitors can feed camels, take selfies with them, and ride them.
It's also an opportunity for them to learn about camel-based skincare products, feta and milk, as well as Summer Land's gelato and vodka.
"Camel skincare is good for eczema, milk's good for dairy intolerance, I've just had a bad day, so I'll drink the vodka — there's something for everyone," Mr Martin said.
But the fastest-growing opportunity may be camel meat.
Estimates of Australia's wild camel population range from 300,000 to 1 million.
"They're still being culled in large numbers," Summer Land tourism manager Emily Riggans said.
Summer Land offers camel meat pies, rolls, burgers and curries — items it hopes will start popping up on mainstream menus.
But that involves changing customers' views on camel meat.
"If I did a [camel] sausage sizzle and didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't know," Ms Riggans said.
Ms Riggans said Summer Land had found reliable markets among north African and Arab communities in south-east Queensland "who already know camel, they grew up with it".
They also supply restaurants and halal butchers in Brisbane and Sydney.
But getting camel accepted as a Sunday roast option is another challenge.
Chef Heath Betts has spent years turning exotic meats — including crocodile, buffalo and camel — into farmers market favourites.
He said the more people tried camel meat, the more popular it would become.
His market stalls in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast sell about 200 kilograms of camel meat each month.
To convert customers from beef to camel, Mr Betts said he explained the taste ("not as gamey as people think") and the best way to cook it ("just like beef").
"They'll try it, then try all the other products as well," he said.
But turning camel into a standard protein alternative for customers isn't simple.
Mr Betts said that could make camel meat more expensive to sell.
But there are also environmental hurdles.
Advocacy group the Invasive Species Council warns that commercialising a declared pest makes it harder to control their populations.
"We've seen it with deer and goats — they're treated as resources, and the populations have increased," said Dr Carol Booth, policy director at the council.
Australia ended its culling program in 2013, and with estimates of up to 1 million camels running wild, their environmental impact is significant.
The council estimates that without sustained intervention, pest camel populations will double every eight to 10 years.
The animals trample native vegetation, damage water sources, compete with livestock and degrade infrastructure.
"It might sound like a win-win, make money and solve a problem, but in reality, it's not based on biology and it's not effective population control."
While the Invasive Species Council remains sceptical about commercial camel farming as a strategy to control feral populations, it acknowledges sourcing some wild animals to build breeding herds could be feasible, with strict safeguards.
"If it was just taking a certain number of camels to use as breeding stock, that would [make] absolutely no difference to the population," Dr Booth said
"[But] it wouldn't do any harm either."
Back on the farm, between sharing samples of camel milk vodka and guiding visitors on a farm tour, Ms Riggans remains optimistic, despite the challenges.
"If you think too much about it, it's daunting, but day to day, it's exciting," she said.
But from paddock to plate, almost every link needed to create a new livestock chain — supply, transport, processing — has to be built from scratch.
"It's not about building a camel farm, it's about building an industry," Mr Martin said.
