Calson Park Alpacas

Calson Park is located at Melton South, in Melbourne’s West about 40 Kilometres West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

This small 9 acre property was never meant to farm alpacas, however when Glyn and I were introduced to alpacas for the first time in 2001 (initially to purchase fibre for my hand-spinning), we fell in love with alpacas and decided to purchase 4 pregnant coloured females, 1 working stud and 1 potential stud male “Purrumbete Rigoletto” (now 1 of our 3 working studs).

We then were so excited about our decision to breed alpacas, that we added 2 blacks, 2 whites, 2 rose greys and before we knew it, our herd had grown to 35+ because our babies had had babies and so on.

We purchased our property in 2002 and have had a drop of over 60 cria since 2002 some 6 years ago (now November 2008).

Our mentors are Gino and Libera Baglieri, who have since retired from breeding alpacas as they are in their early and mid 70′s.  We have learnt an incredible amount from the Baglieris and now offer our clients the same free service. Without our mentors, we would not be where we are today with the amount of knowledge that we have gained and we can’t thank them enough.

Glyn and I are of middle age.  Glyn works full-time off the farm and together we run Calson Park Alpacas; the name derived from the first 3 letters of my maiden name CAL….leja and the last 3 letter of my married name Wil…..SON.

3 years ago, I extended the business to include “Spin City Alpaca” which is the textile side of the business. We are a true cottage industry; from breeding alpacas, to the production of finished goods.  Visit spincityalpaca.com to view the products in the shop. Products include bedding, such as quilts/duvets, under blankets/underlays, (in size single, double, queen and king size), pillows, infant bedding such as baby cocoons and quilts. All are made from Calson Park Alpacas fine fibre and manufactured in Victoria, Australia. All our products carry the Spin City Alpaca label and care instructions.

Also for purchase is hand spun and commercially spun yarn, hand-crafted leather halters; made from Australian leather and brass, hand-crafted wooden yarn swifts, and hand-made in Peru – imported alpaca garments. In an endeavour to bring these beautiful garments to the general public at affordable prices, I decided to import and offer the garments at “Importers Wholesale Prices”. There are no jumpers, over $90.00 AU.  Garments include, jumpers, cardigans, vests, (size small, medium, large, XL, XXL, XXXL and XXXXL), gloves, socks, hats, beanies, scarves and some novelty items.

A major part of the business includes hand-crafted garments made by me – Mary-Rose which are crocheted. The yarn used for these garments is 100% alpaca and hand spun. Hand knits are being introduced.  Also nuno-felted scarves and wraps.

Credit card facility is available if anyone wishing to purchase by credit or FPOS.

Spin City Alpaca participates in the annual “It’s Art – Wear it” exhibition, held at the Louie Joel Art and Community Centre – Altona, Victoria, Australia. The Photo Gallery on our web-site calsonpark.com has a number of photos on the exhibition.

We are primarily breeding white alpacas for the textile industry but are also breeding for rose-grey alpacas as their is a huge demand for the fibre from hand-spinners.

Alpaca fibre in its raw state is available to hand- spinners, scoured white or brown fibre; processed 80% alpaca and 20% wool. Also nuno-felting kits are offered to students who have participated in nuno-technology workshops at Calson Park. We offer students materials and instructions to go on with the craft.

I am also the primary representative and distributor for Ertoel Wheels Australia and is listed on Ertoel’s website as the Melbourne Distributor.  Ertoel Wheels and accessories can also be purchased from the Spin City Alpaca Shop or by visiting Calson Park and inquiries can also be made by contacting us directly on Melbourne + 61 3 97479542 Information on Ertoel Wheels is listed on calsonpark’s web-site.  We are a .com and not a .com.au. Contact details are also listed on our web-site.

At Calson Park, farm tours are held whereby groups of 10 or more are given a commentary on alpacas followed by cake and refreshments.  Visitors are also able to purchase garments at the importer’s wholesale price. We will be offering students at primary and secondary level the opportunity to visit Calson Park as an educational facility.

We run workshops in an ancient Japanese craft called “Nuno-technology” which is the art of laminating fibre to fabric using a series of techniques and processes. We hold one day workshop and personalised workshops at Calson Park. All materials are provided including refreshments and lunch.

Hand spinning tuition on an electronic hand- spinner is available on a personalised basis.  Hand-spinning tuition is also available on any one of my traditional hand-spinners.

We offer the purchase of alpacas (listed on our web-site) at realistic prices.  Prices are also negotiable and packages are also available. All of Calson Park Alpacas are halter-trained.  They have good temperaments due to the fact that they are housed of an evening in their own enclosure and are used to being handled and having “We humans” spend time with them.

We also offer stud services with any one of our 3 Huacaya males which are DNA certified stud males. We are members of the Australian Alpaca Association – Central Region, Victoria – Herd code: MGW.

We deliver alpacas purchased from Calson Park Alpaca free within a 100 kilometre radius.

Lastly, we host students from Japan in an endeavour to give them an experience to last them a life time.  One group of students that stayed with us only a few days ago, witnessed the birth of a cria. They also participated in halter-training our weanlings, witnessed an alpaca mating and participated in a nuno-technology workshop whereby they each created a wall-hanging to hang on their walls in their Japan home. Please go to the photo gallery on our web-site “Japanese Students at Calson Park” to see the photos of these wonderful young people.

I hope you can explore our web-site at calsonpark. Just type in calsonpark in your search engine or spincityalpaca and you are there. Double click on the Spin City Alpaca logo to get into the shop.  We hope that you are interested in our small cottage industry and contact us soon after.

If you would like a brochure and/or business card sent to you, please contact us with your mailing address.

Kind regards

Mary-Rose and Glyn Wilson