Motherland Australia

This week, I catch up with rural mum Jess. Jess is a former police officer, turned cattle farmer. She's lived on some of the most remote stations in the country, but now calls King Island home. Heartbreakingly, Jess lost her first child at almost full term to an extremely rare chromosomal disorder. Since then, she's welcomed her little boy Jim into the world, and her motherhood journey s...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Cilla Pershouse. Cilla left the family farm to pursue an acting career which saw her perform around the country in shows including Outback Spectacular. But a few years ago, she returned to the land and launched Blue Gum Farm TV, an online TV program for kids with a live show that tours across rural and remote Queensland. And the amazing thing is, Cilla does it...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Jillina Whittaker. Jillina lives in a tiny rural town of 30 people, and calls the cop shop home! She's married to a police officer, and they live with their four kids in a house attached to the station. They have a very unique lifestyle that sees them move around every couple of years. Jillina opens up about what it's like homeschooling her children,...

This week, I catch up with rural mum of three Emily Brett. In 2015, Emily's husband Dougal was killed in a helicopter crash on their property, and Emily suddenly had to face motherhood on the land alone. What she's endured is unimaginable. Dougal and Emily made an incredible team. They became the faces of the northern cattle industry in the aftermath of the 2011 live cattle export ban to...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Audrey Doyle. Audrey is 85 years old, but that hasn't stopped her from living an independent life on the land Audrey's husband passed away five years ago, but she's still on their farm, on the quad bike everyday, with her trusty sidekick Pedro by her side. It was great to have a quick cuppa with her and hear a bit about her motherhood journey bac...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Airlie Landale. When Airlie finished school, her family's farm was deep in the millennium drought. After seeing the toll it took on her parents, Airlie left, and never considered a career in ag or a life on the land. But things changed! Airlie is the founder of Farm Table; an online ecosystem for the agriculture industry. It's a business she recently...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Vanessa Fisher from Victoria. Vanessa was just 19 when she became a mum, and had a toddler in tow when she met her husband. They've since gone on to have two more beautiful kids, but Vanessa's journey has been full of highs and lows. You'll hear about her devastating miscarriages, why she's savouring being a full-time mum, and how at a time...

This week, I'm thrilled to welcome back Raine Holcombe. Raine shared her incredible struggle with fertility back on Episode 28. It was a heartbreaking journey that took them across the country for treatments, thousands of kilometres away from their remote cattle station in the northern territory. Finally, there was a breakthrough, and an undiagnosed rare genetic condition was discovered. Both...

This week, I catch up with cattlewoman Julie Mayne. And what a wild ride she's had! Julie was married to a professional cowboy, and as a new mum, travelled on the rodeo circuit! Since then, her life has changed significantly. Her marriage ended, and years later, she packed up her two children and started her own farm. It was, and still is, an incredible one woman show she built herself from s...

This week I catch up Amy Ballinger, the founder of Wattle and Twine, which promotes and celebrates thriving bush businesses and the rural women behind them. Amy is a mum of two, with her third due later this year. The juggle has been real, so real, that a few months ago, she shocked her online community one night when she announced Wattle and Twine would close immediately. Amy's story is a re...

This week, I catch up with dairy farmer Rebekah Frankcombe from Tassie. She's a solo mum to three beautiful kids, a journey that has been full of heartache and hard decisions. While pregnant with her third child, which was unplanned, her partner was batting his own demons. His mental health spiraled rapidly, that eventually their relationship ended, leaving Bek to manage motherhood on the lan...

This week I catch up with an incredible woman who has taken us around the world for 30 years. Catriona Rowntree, host of Getaway may be Australia's most travelled woman, but her proudest achievements and her biggest loves are her husband and their two boys. Catriona did what so many of us rural women do. She fell in love with a farmer, and eventually moved to rural Victoria. Behind the glitz...

Nappies by day, and shooting at night! This week, I catch up with rural mum and ABC journalist, Liz Rymill. She's raising three kids on the land, all while juggling her passion for skeet shooting on the side! She's gone as far as the national titles, and just a few weeks ago became the first woman in South Australia to make the Open State Skeet Team. It's not just a passion, it&apos...

This week, I catch up with single mum Cindy Lee from WA. At 19, she was married and unexpectedly pregnant. At 22, she's single, and raising her little boy alone. Cindy has overcome many motherhood demons which made her believe that it was impossible to have a career as a woman in agriculture and raise a young child. She's proved herself wrong, and learned many lessons along the way. This...

This week, I catch up with Kim Weir from Queensland. Kim's story is not about the ups and the down of rural motherhood, it's about her fight to become a mum. Kim and her fiancé Joel run a helicopter mustering business, and have recently begun a long and expensive IVF journey. It all comes after a farm accident left Joel in a very rare situation, with a sperm count of zero. Underneath Kim...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Kate Brow. From Canberra, to the country, Kate juggles her job working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Motherhood the second time around for Kate was more of a shock than baby number one. Her second daughter was born prematurely at 35 weeks during raging bushfires across her region. We chat identity after becoming a mum, miscarriage, birth trau...

This week, I catch up with rural mum, Annabel Curtain from the Northern Territory. Annabel lives a life on the road, travelling for most of the year with her son Harry and her singer, songwriter husband Tom Curtain. She's in the thick of it running their tourism business which showcases life on the land through horse training and working dog demonstrations, and live music. Annabel's intr...

This week, I catch up with rural mum, and my sister-in-law Claire Trethewey. Claire lives on her Dad's farm in Victoria with her partner Mike and their twins Jack and Skye. Claire's motherhood journey has been an emotional rollercoaster. What started as an intense battle with endometriosis and fears of infertility, ended with an unplanned pregnancy and a sudden move from the city, to the...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Lucy Prentice. Lucy is one in a million. Literally. With three young kids including twins, Lucy found herself in the fight of her life after being diagnosed with an extremely rare cancer. It all came not long after her and husband suddenly had to step up and take on the family farm. It's been one hell of a ride. This is her story. SPONSOR: This week’s epis...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Shannon Crocker; farmer, boy mum, nurse, and businesswoman. She's navigated motherhood through droughts, given birth during harvest and quite simply adores her cattle. She's thrived on farm, but off-farm, has battled with self confidence and all the obstacles that motherhood has thrown at her. But a very unlikely business opportunity came knocking whi...

This week, I catch up with Simone Kain, author of the much loved kids books, George the Farmer! She's a mum of three, including twins, and in many ways, lives the best of both words, living in town, while her husband drives out to work on the farm each day. Work/life balance is critical for her family, especially after Simone's battle with the 'motherload'..... when life and wo...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Emily Riggs who lives on a sheep station in South Australia. You might be familiar with her incredible business, Iris & Wool. But behind the clothing brand is a hardworking woman who's also busy raising her two children, and her journey through motherhood has been far from picture perfect. After battling cancer herself as a child, Emily lost her mum to...

This week, I catch up with rural mum Sal Bradford who lives on a cattle station in central Queensland. Sal runs the Rural SheEmpire and is passionate about supporting the mental health and wellbeing of other rural mums. It comes after her own silent struggle with postnatal depression which left her desperate for a natural solution to help her feel like herself again. This is her story. SPONSORS: L...

This week, it's Julie McDonald like you've never heard her before. Meet the woman behind one of Australia's biggest cattle operations and an incredible rural mum. Julie's husband Zanda died in a windmill accident in 2013. And in our very candid catch up, she opens up about their whirlwind love story and the heartbreak, including how she navigated motherhood on a remote cattle s...

For the last episode of 2020, I catch up with writer and photographer Annabelle Hickson. The mum of three recently launched Galah, a beautiful magazine which shines a light on regional Australia. Annabelle grew up in suburban Sydney, and now lives on a Pecan farm in Tenterfield, NSW. As a former journalist for The Australian, giving up her dream job and swapping the city for the country was an eno...