Motherland Australia

In 2012, Kaz Bishton's farm went from being her family's sanctuary, a place of freedom and adventure, to a place of trauma and grief. Every year, lives are lost in tragic farming accidents; we read about them, but we rarely hear from the people affected. Kaz has bravely decided to share her story. 10 years ago, her 12 year old nephew died on her farm when a ute that was being driven by h...

June Tarlinton was born to droving parents and spent her childhood in the bush, living in tents. She's now a mum of three and grandma who's had quite the adventure. She's a dairy farmer on the the far south coast of NSW and has been married for 40 years. She's weathered plenty of highs and lows, but the hardest came just three years ago during the Black Summer fires where she f...

Kate Field and her husband love cheese so much that 10 years ago, they packed up life in Sydney and bought a farm in Tasmania to become cheesemakers. They started their own dairy goat herd and have grown their business to something very special. But there's a lot more to Kate's story than wrangling kids- both the goat kind and the human kind! Kate is also an emergency doctor at the Royal...

Nikki Mahony has done what some rural families could only dream of, she managed to get her husband off the farm, and together with their three kids, they moved overseas, spending 18 months living in the middle of France, and you're about hear all about it. The trip was inspired by a 'life is too short' mentality...and unfortunately, after returning home to Australia, that saying too...

Dimity Smith has decided to share a very private battle of hers, very publicly for the first time. At 35 she says she'd always imagined she'd be a mum by now, raising her children in a loving home with a husband by her side. She wants nothing more. But a couple of years ago, after waiting and waiting for a proposal that never came, the long term relationship she was in fell apart, and so...

Kelly Foran was eight months pregnant when doctors discovered she had a massive brain tumour. She was rushed to hospital where the fight was on to save not only her, but her baby boy who was born with a life threatening illness. There was more heartache ahead when Kelly suffered a stroke during surgery to remove her tumour. It Left her unable to walk, talk or care for her son for several months. H...

Gabrielle Chan is a political journalist and the rural editor of the Guardian Australia. She's a fierce advocate for the bush, a loyalty and understanding that stems from her own experience as a rural mum. Gabrielle grew up in the city, and only moved to a farm when she was married and 8 months pregnant. Her new life started as a shock to the system, before her love for her community seeped i...

Felicity Weal was just 21 years old when she had an accident on the farm that changed her life forever, causing her to become a paraplegic. Paralysed from the waist down, Felicity had to relearn basic life skills, and adjust to her new reality in a wheelchair. But two years ago she became a mum for the first time, which has presented new challenges, none of which phase her in the slightest. She is...

Ell Regan is a country music artist who left her home town and family in NSW to move to one of the most remote parts of outback Australia. She now sings at Barkly Homestead, a roadhouse which is the first and only stop for travelers crossing the Queensland border into the Northern Territory. Ell happily drives five hours to Woolies just to do a click and collect, all with her one year old son by h...

Lyn Kelson is a farmer, a mum, and a grandmother who's story of survival and resilience is unbelievable. Lyn's youngest children were just two and three years old when her husband committed suicide. She was widowed at the age of 26 , left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and broken family. But just as she started to rebuild their lives, a devastating bush fire destroyed everythi...

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia's best selling rural authors and many of us know her for her gripping crime novels inspired by life on the land. But she's never shared her own story quite like this. Fleur is an incredible woman who raised two children with disabilities on a remote station in Western Australia. She also left an incredibly toxic marriage and went on to start an amazing...

What happens when live on the land doesn't go the way you planned? Sam Noon was living the dream with her husband, working on a farm when the live export ban hit and overnight, they lost everything. Four weeks before having her first baby, they were made redundant and sent packing. Over the following years they battled their way back to the land, before being dealt another cruel blow by a cri...

When Amanda Gilpin first noticed some signs that her little girl Hollie was lagging a bit at school, she wasn't too concerned. But when she developed more sinister symptoms she sought medical help, and the truth was terrifying. Two years ago, Hollie was diagnosed with an extremely rare and incurable form of childhood dementia, known as Batten Disease - she's one of just two children in A...

A few months I put a call out, I was looking for someone, preferably a rural mum to help me with Motherland. That led me to the wonderful Miranda Saunders. Miranda has spent more than 20 years as a journalist working for the ABC, until she recently stepped back from her role to focus on her four children and their farm in the northern rivers of New South Wales. But it wasn't long before she w...

Maggie Dent is a parenting author, educator and host of the ABC Parental As Anything podcast which kicks off its 5th season tomorrow! But, she's also a born and bred bushy. Maggie grew up in rural WA and her journey on and off the land has been full of extraordinary highs and heartbreaking lows. From a suicide attempt which then pushed her to find her life's purpose, through to raising f...

Noelene Brown spent 12 years in Ireland where she had her three children. Her and her first husband ran a storage business for fertiliser, and were embedded in the local farming community. But one day, without notice, the Irish government put one of their major clients into liquidation, and overnight, Noelene lost everything. Her kids were just 1, 2 and 3 years old, and when the pressure became to...

Olympic gold medalist Giaan Rooney shocked the swimming world when she retired at just 23 , and she hasn't swum a lap since. Her professional career both in and out of the pool has been widely publicised, but her personal life including her motherhood journey and her recent move to the land is something I'm very excited to share with you. Giaan is married to a fifth generation cattle far...

In 1959 Pat Fennell (OAM) moved to a remote property that was bought by her husband's family under a ballot system after the first world war; they had just 20 quid in their pocket. Pat is an incredible woman so strap yourself in! She's been a disgraced divorcee in an era of inequality for women, a single mum, a working mum, a fierce advocate for the live export industry and for remote he...

Sarah Hope’s youngest child was just four months old when she left her first husband and drove out of their farm with their three children in the middle of the night. She had nothing, and had to start from scratch to provide for her kids. However, her divorce ended up to be a very amicable split, and it was a very difficult time when she suddenly found herself grieving her ex husband after his sud...

Darrilyn Gordon was just 17 years old when she found out she was pregnant. That same day, she was about to accept an offer to play professional basketball, a dream, she chose to walk away from to become a mum. But she's gone on to chase her new dream on the land as Manager of Lamboo station, an Aboriginal owned property spanning 360,000 hectares into the heart of the Kimberley. Darrilyn has s...

Life is full of sliding door moments and for rural mum Sally McManus, a car accident on the way home from the pub changed everything. Growing up in the country side of England, Sally never expected to build her life and her family here, on the other side of the world. But that's what happened, and it's been far from a fairytale. Sally lives on a cattle station in Queensland, and her rura...

Tanya Cameron (OAM) is a proud rural mum and grandma who has dedicated her time to advocating for country women. But given she's President of the Country Women's Association of Australia, it came as a bit of a shock that she never really wanted to join in the first place. During our chat, Tanya shares her journey juggling three kids, her work, and the shock news about the CWA I didn&apos...

This week I catch up with rural mum and photographer Stacey Ford who lives on the remote Fossil Downs Station in the Kimberley. Stacey was 18 when the north came calling and a chance meeting with a chopper pilot who she initially fobbed off changed everything. She now has four teenage daughters. We talk station life, homeschooling with a newborn and toddler at foot, her next chapter dealing with a...

Bridie Carter shot to fame when she starred as Tess McLeod in the hit TV series, McLeod's Daughters. 20 years on and two children later, she now splits her time between farming on her property in the Byron Bay Hinterland, and being an actor. We talk farm life, mum life, and the ups and the downs of her incredible life and career so far. This is her story. SPONSOR: Nestled in the heart of the...

Terry Underwood's story reads like it’s straight out of a novel. Her novel! The then 18 year old nurse had no idea how her life was to change when she met her future husband cattle icon John Underwood, while working at a Sydney hospital. This is an epic love story. Terry eventually moved to the Northern Territory to be with John, 600km south-west of Katherine where they began building their e...