ODE TO THE OYSTER
At what point does one decide to grow molluscs? For Shane Buckley, it all started a decade ago with golf, beer and giggles.
Then a paramedic, he was living in Bermagui on the NSW South Coast when he happened into his future. “I used to play golf with a fellow called Don, who played lots of golf and drank lots of beer and giggled all the time. He was an oyster farmer and I said, ‘Donnie, if a farm ever comes up, let me know, because I want to do what you’re doing — you’re having too much of a good time!’ A farm came up, he told me and I bought it!”
The farm was on Wapengo estuary, an area Buckley had fished in and knew well, but he knew nothing about growing oysters. It was a decision driven by his gut — in more ways than one. “I was introduced to oysters as a child, my grandfather eating
