Farina’s underground bakery volunteers reunite each year to serve up profits

The sun is hours away from rising in the South Australian outback, and retiree Kerry Storer is wrapped up in blankets to stave off the bitingly cold winter air.

It’s 3.30 in the morning. His alarm cuts through the night, signalling the start of what will be a hectic 14-hour shift.

For many, the thought of crawling out of bed so early would seem an unwelcome challenge.

And if you’d spent your working life waking up before dawn, continuing such early starts wouldn’t top most retirees’ to-do lists.

But that’s exactly what former professional baker Kerry, who can’t shake his love of making breads, pies and pastries, has been doing for the past 15 years.

Kerry’s love of baking in wood-fired ovens began when he started his career at 18 in Hamilton, in south-west Victoria.

Since 2011, that passion has driven him to make an annual trek of more than 1,000 kilometres, crossing the border into South Australia, to spend two months of the year in the tiny township of Farina.

Why? 

Because Farina’s famous underground bakery — thought to be Australia’s most remote subterranean one — uses traditional wood-fired ovens. 

It takes roughly a week to carefully bring the historic underground wood-fired ovens up to temperature.

To avoid damaging the aging ovens, the heat needs to be gradually increased.

After reaching the optimum temperature, volunteers keep the fires lit and stoked for the entire eight-week season. 

“I’ve always had a passion for baking bread products in a wood-fired oven. It’s just so different to the conventional ovens today,” he said.

When an Adelaide baking supply company asked if he was interested in coming out of retirement, putting on his apron again, and volunteering at an outback bakery, Kerry couldn’t resist.

Farina, which is Italian for flour, is 600km north of Adelaide.

The town was officially abandoned in the 1980s, but for two months a year — June and July — a team of retirees descends into the underground bakery to get the fires burning and the mixers churning.

Despite there being well over a baker’s dozen of volunteers, many don’t come with a wealth of baking experience.

But Kerry soon whips the fellow retirees into a well-oiled baking team, with part of the cooking taking place “upstairs” in the kitchen behind the cafe.

Like Kerry, they are all volunteers and the profits from the goods they make for Farina’s bakery cafe fund preservation efforts of the early-settler buildings that dot the region.

“We have people come from Western Australia to volunteer here,” he said.

“Every fortnight, if people put down that they would like to be a baker’s assistant, we bring them in and we give them work experience.

Farina’s origin story

Farina began as Government Gums and was initially the head of South Australia’s Northern Railway line.

At its peak, the town had nearly 600 residents, two hotels, a school, a church, two breweries and a fully operational bakery.

But the town declined through the early to mid-20th century before being officially abandoned in the 1980s.

But in 2009, the Farina Restoration Group was born.

The group’s treasurer, John Tuckwell, first heard about the project to preserve the town’s historic buildings nine years ago at the Adelaide caravan and camping show.

“We didn’t know much about [Farina at the time], but we love the outback, and we like camping, so we put the two together, and we’ve always been here every year since,” he said.

The restoration project initially had some government grant support, but John said it was now totally reliant on the bakery.

“Our head baker, Kerry, is able to turn out some magnificent stuff with the support of all of his staff and all of the volunteers.”

What started as a marquee selling a few scones from the front of the ovens in 2011 has grown into a must-visit cafe and a remote tourism hotspot during winter.

‘Bloody unreal’

Volunteers and punters alike travel from across Australia to experience the unique bakery and learn about the town’s history.

Travellers like Wade Spark, who was on his way to the Finke Desert Race, said stopping in at Farina was a must.

“It is my first time … we camped here last night, and the campground was bloody unreal.

“If you can get up here and come and experience it and see all the work that the volunteers do, come up here and do it.”

As for Kerry, he’s stoked that his commitment to quality has helped put Farina back on the map.

“Everything’s got to be spot on here,” he said.

“As they all know, my level is very high.

“If I wouldn’t buy a product and eat it, how do I expect somebody else to buy [it].”

Though it’s a hefty trek and a lot of work, the volunteers say they come back for the camaraderie.

“If you’re young at heart and would like to have a go, get onto our webpage and we’d love to have you come up here.”