It is a place where mice were milked for cancer research and 60 radioactive cows were found buried beneath the soil.
But also where early developments were made in spreadable butter, flavoured yoghurt, powdered milk, cereal, heart valve transplants and IVF.
The location is the State Research Farm, and the scientific breakthroughs that happened there in the 20th century have largely been documented.
But there has been no effort to record the lives of people who lived there — until now.
Researcher Monika Schott has embarked on a project to interview the people who lived on the farm and document its social history to discover "what made the place tick".
An abiding link to the community
The research farm was set up in 1912 to explore ways of improving agricultural production in Victoria.
It was initially used for cereal, wheat and grain investigation and later introduced dairy and livestock research.
Dr Schott estimates hundreds of researchers, farm workers and their families lived on the land at any one time in cottages.
But in the 90s, research at the farm began to wind down, and homes were demolished.
Dr Schott said she became interested in the people who lived on the farm through her research and subsequent book about the community who lived at the Metropolitan Sewage Farm in Werribee.
She discovered the State Research Farm had its own cricket team, the Australian Women's Land Army – the female farm workers who replaced the men when they went to war – and a vibrant social scene.
"You've got this beautiful synergy between people because they've only got each other."
But the research conducted at the farm is entwined with the lives of those who lived there.
Through interviews, Dr Schott has found the connection between early heart valve and embryo research with modern-day heart surgery and IVF breakthroughs.
"I was talking to someone who worked in pig research, and she said there's so many things from that pig research [at the farm] that are in our lives today, such as the use of heart valves when they do heart surgery," she said.
"Other people have been talking about how there are links between the artificial insemination research and IVF technology."
Push to raise the farm's profile
Jan Goates lived on the farm from the age of four and remembered the research her dad did as a butter and cheese maker.
"I remember Dad bringing us home some yoghurt and thinking, 'Oh my God, that is so awful'," Ms Goates said.
"But then they added boysenberries and made it wonderful."
She described the research farm as a satellite town where they lived a simple farm life, had fancy dress nights in the shearing shed, and welcomed visitors from afar for field days.
Ms Goates left the farm as a teenager but now lives in Werribee and is the chair of Arts Assist, which offers funding support for arts and culture projects in the City of Wyndham.
She hopes the new research into the town will lead to the abandoned buildings being turned into an arts hub.
"Our bigger picture is to bring some stakeholders together to make sure the site is preserved and has community use, potentially for markets and artist workshops," Ms Goates said.
"We'd like to raise the profile of it."
But she also hopes the former farmland surrounding the buildings is developed into something of use to the community.
"The land has been sitting there stagnant," Ms Goates said.
Development has stalled
While future use of the State Research Farm buildings has not been determined, the Victorian government has plans to develop the remaining site into an employment precinct.
According to the East Werribee Employment Precinct Structure Plan from 2013, the 775-hectare area — the largest parcel of undeveloped state government land in metropolitan Melbourne — will be developed into commercial, health, learning and business precincts, creating more than 58,000 jobs.
While Victoria Police, Mercy Hospital, Victoria University and the CSIRO have sites on this land, a precinct has not yet been built.
The Victorian government chose Chinese-backed Australia Education City to build a $31 billion education precinct on the land in 2015, but that deal was scrapped in 2019.
However, $2.8 million was allocated in this year's state budget to develop a road map for the planned precinct.
Wyndham Mayor Peter Maynard said the development of the precinct had been the council's "number one advocacy priority for some time".
"The more people we have working locally, that'll reduce congestion on the roads.
"I think it's good planning for an ever-growing suburb."
A Victorian government spokesperson said the focus for the precinct was job creation.
"We are working closely with local government, businesses and communities in the area as we progress this work on the precinct."
Research into people a rewarding pursuit
Dr Schott said she would also love to see the abandoned buildings and the surrounding site developed into something representative of its productive past.
But for now, she said she has plenty of research to do before she puts together the social history of the farm.
By the end of the year, she hopes to have launched a 10-minute film at a community event.
And Dr Schott said next year, she planned to write a literary non-fiction book based on the stories of those who lived on the farm.
While there are plenty more discoveries to be made, Dr Schott said it had been so far rewarding speaking to the people who lived there.
"When I spoke to someone who worked with the Women's Land Army, she started off really tentatively and said, 'I don't really know much,"' Dr Schott said.
"But two hours later, we're still talking, and she's beaming.
If you have a connection to the State Research Farm in Werribee, you can contact Dr Monika Schott via email at soup@netspace.net.au.
