Mushrooms are everywhere right now – and I’m talking in more places than just your bowl of risotto. These humble fungi are popping up in everything from plant-based proteins and coffee powders to skincare serums, wellness elixirs, biodegradable packaging and even faux leather made from mushroom roots. I, for one, am an OG mushroom fan and love all the umami goodness they add to dishes. So when I heard about an old railway tunnel turned fungi farm hiding in Tasmania, I had to visit. Just like mushroom sprouts, this tunnel is destined to grow into something awesome.
Hidden below the slopes of Mount Rumney, just a 20-minute drive from Hobart’s CBD, Tunnel Hill Mushrooms is one of only two operating mushroom farms in abandoned railway tunnels across the country. After more than a decade of exclusively supplying local chefs and restaurants, founder Dean Smith is finally rolling up the tunnel door and welcoming the public to explore the mycelial magic of his underground mushroom lair.
The story behind Tunnel Hill Mushrooms is as extraordinary as the fungi it produces. When Smith and his family purchased the Mount Rumney property in 2000 – which included a 90-metre stretch of the 165-metre, heritage-listed Bellerive–Sorell railway tunnel – they intended to transform it into a small hobby farm. That was, until they received a surprise visit from Dr Warwick Gill, the original farm manager at Huon Valley Mushrooms.
With Gill as his mentor, Smith discovered that the tunnel’s cool, damp climate and naturally high humidity were ideal for growing mushrooms. After a workplace injury forced him to give up his career as a qualified electrician, he fully turned his energy to fungi, setting up a small home lab and experimenting with cold-loving oyster strains. Fast forward almost 20 years, and Tunnel Hill is now one of Tasmania’s most sought-after suppliers, providing gourmet mushrooms on demand to top restaurants like Aløft, Peppina, Driftwood and Tasman Restaurant.
In a self-built lab next to the tunnel, Smith clones mycelium, cultivates them on agar plates, spawns them in sterilised grain to create fully-inoculated blocks and places them in the tunnel, where the mushroom bodies begin to grow. Over the years, his one-man oyster mushroom operation has expanded to include lion’s mane, reishi, shiitake and shimeji turkey tail varieties, just to name a few.
Tunnel Hill has previously collaborated with popular Tassie events, like Dark Mofo and Beaker Street Festival – but now, Smith is opening his tunnel to tastemakers interested in learning about the production process from petri dish to plate. The coolest part is the chance for visitors to harvest their own mushrooms and have them cooked for tasting on a one-of-a-kind ‘train barbecue’. Smith plans to double his fungi-growing operation in the coming years and design a space in the tunnel for private dinners and one-off events. In the meantime, you can check out his Off Season tunnel tours here.
