About us
Burnt out, starting again: our family's regenerative farm at Tower Hill
Before pigs, William ran a commercial beekeeping business in Gippsland. When it folded, we were burnt out and ready for a fresh start, so in August 2019 we moved to a tired old dairy farm at Tower Hill. Four months later, the Fingal fire came through.
We're a family farming at Tower Hill and looking after the Fingal Post Office.
Who we are
We're a family farm on Tower Hill Road, up in the Fingal Valley in north-east Tasmania. We bought the place in 2019 and soon learned we'd landed somewhere with a lot of history. Tower Hill was once a little settlement of about eight families, with its own State school from about 1910. Locals remember a blacksmith and a telegraph office too. The Speers family worked this land for generations, from at least the early 1900s (family history says the late 1800s), and our farmhouse is said to have been brought over from Mathinna by horse and dray in the early 1900s.
We're not related to the old Tower Hill families, but we see ourselves as custodians of their story. We want to respect it and share what we learn. One day we'd love to build a few guest cabins here, subject to council approval, so you can come and see the valley for yourself.
We're William, Jessica, Maria and Michael, trading as Primal Pastures (Pig Creek Homestead Pty Ltd, ABN 94 635 523 385). William runs the farm at Tower Hill as GM and Farm Manager, and the family also looks after the Fingal Post Office.
Meet the Family
William
GM and Farm Manager
William runs the day-to-day on the farm: the pigs, the pasture, the fences and everything in between. He's the one you'll talk to about meat orders, bookings and how the farm is coming along.
Get in touch through our contact form.
Maria
Director and Fingal Post Office Licensee
Maria is a retired theatre nurse and aged care nurse, and from 1993 to 1997 she managed a gold refinery in Kalgoorlie. These days she is the licensee of Fingal Post Office.
Michael
Retired
Michael is from Illinois, USA, and moved to Australia after marrying Maria in July 2011. He is retired, but still assists and keeps an eye on the farm while William is away. He feeds the goats, chickens, guinea fowl and geese, opens the pens each morning, closes them at night and collects the eggs. In winter he keeps our off-grid combustion stove going, which keeps the farmhouse warm and heats our hot water.
Jessica
Jessica married William on 18 September 2026. She's from Bacolod City in Negros, the Philippines, and she is still getting used to the change of climate Tasmania offers.
Who we work with
We work alongside local businesses and people who share our way of farming. Meet our partners at Waubs Harbour Whisky, or find out how you could share the farm with us.
How it started
We took on a tired old Tower Hill dairy farm, worn down by years of plantation, and set out to bring it back as a working regenerative farm across about 900 acres. We own our Pig Creek farm and lease Fonthill Farm next door (more about the farm). There's history everywhere out here, from the original settlers' hut to the old dairy where we still milk our Jersey cows for our own use.
Before pigs, William was a commercial beekeeper in Gippsland, right up until we moved here in 2019.
William has worked as a commercial beekeeper on the mainland, and we plan to set up hives here at Tower Hill, ideally with a beekeeper partner on site. See the beekeeper opportunity.
Starting again after the fires
On 30 December 2019, only a few months after we moved in, the Fingal fire burnt three quarters of our boundary fencing, and the local fire brigades saved our farm house. Read the full story of the 2019 fire in our Tower Hill history.
What we believe
Out on pasture
Animals should live outdoors, on pasture, doing what comes naturally.
Healthy land
Good food comes from healthy land.
Backing small towns
Small towns need people who back them. That's why we stepped in to save the Fingal Post Office in 2025.
In the news
Our story has been covered by The Australian Women's Weekly, Country Style, ABC News, ABC Radio's The World Today, ABC Hobart Mornings, The Examiner, Pulse Tasmania and Tasmanian Country.
"They've really saved our bacon."
More from the farm
