CARLY Baker-Burnham’s ancestors were the first free settlers in Queensland in the early 1800s.
Johann Leopold Zillmann was a Lutheran missionary who arrived in the colony in 1838.
It is through him Mrs Baker-Burnham’s Australian ancestorial line began.
Zillmere, a suburb in Brisbane is named after him and something she is proud to be associated with.
“In 1838 my ancestors came from Germany to Australia, they were missionaries to begin with but grew food, kept animals and were primary producers,” she said.
“When the mission closed, they became farmers
“There was a group of them, about six families, and they were the first in Queensland to own land and farm it.”
She said the desire to farm had never really left the family line with her great grandparents and grandparents choosing to stay within the profession.
“I was raised partly on a farm and partly in town,” she said.
“My parents had a farm, albeit a smaller one and I learned what farm life was all about from my grandparents who were dairy farmers and made their own food, butter and bread.”
The family legacy is continued in much larger scale as the Baker-Burnham’s run 2,500 head of cattle across 20,000 acres [8,093 hectares] of land.
Their business, Bonnie Doone Naturally Organic, is staffed by an admin officer, assistant manager and machinery operator.
“My husband Grant and I work on the farm full time and during the school holidays our children help out,” she said.
The couple share children Lily (21), Ruby (19), Knox (17) and Quade (13).
The two eldest are at university in Brisbane and Armidale.
Their sons attend boarding school.
“Lily is studying agribusiness at uni,” she said.
“They all have a vision to join the business and remain connected to the land.”