Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 26 i Australian Country Homes

Growing up in Dublin, it is unlikely that Professor Patrick Brennan would have guessed his life and that of the notorious bushranger, Bold Jack Donohoe, would have crossed paths as he listened to the ballad of “The Wild Colonial Boy”. But cross they did in the historic setting of Bringelly, some 60 kilometres from Farm Cove, which was the site of the colony’s first farm in the centre of Sydney. Situated in a private but elevated spot is the heritage-listed homestead of Kelvin, previously known as Cottage Vale and The Retreat. Built in 1820 by the notable early soldier and farmer, Thomas Laycock Jnr., the homestead is one of the few remaining historic homes within commuting distance of Sydney still in residential use. As the current owners, the Brennan family…

With their collective extensive experience in marketing and advertising, it was hardly surprising that Bede and Mary Gibson sought to value add when they first opened their garden to the public in 2012. In what amounted to a tentative toe in the water, they invited four sculptors to exhibit. Encouraged by the sale of all the works, the Gibsons invited more sculptors the following year. Numbers soon increased to a display of more than 60 works by 15 different artists displayed in the three acres of formal garden they have created on Mica Grange, their property near Castlemaine in the Victorian Goldfields. Bede and Mary’s daughter and her then husband took over the 100-acre cattle farm and started the garden in 2004 with plants and trees gifted for their wedding.…

AMANI OUTDOOR SOFA The Amani outdoor sofa is every bit as luxurious as the name implies. This generously sized piece of furniture is the perfect place to while away your days outdoors this spring, whether you’re relaxing with friends, enjoying a cuppa or reading your favourite magazine. The Amani outdoor sofa is available now from Satara. For more information, visit satara.com.au FEED-N-WAX Enhance the natural depth and beauty of your wooden furniture with Feed-N-Wax from Howard Products. This unique blend of soft beeswax, hard carnauba wax and pure orange oil is the ideal way to prevent finished and unfinished woodgrain from drying and cracking, ensuring your furniture stands the test of time. It will help you to polish your wooden surfaces to a soft lustre, protecting them with a coating…

Living and raising a young family in a large heritage house in the middle of South Australia’s Clare Valley may sound like a romantic fantasy, but for Alice and Andrew Duncan, sometimes it feels more like a cold, hard dose of reality. The Duncans moved into the grand stone homestead at Hughes Park, on a scenic winery drive three kilometres from Watervale, in the midwinter of 2013. Even though they’d just completed a significant renovation, they very quickly discovered what it meant to live in a house that has 60cm-thick stone external walls and 50cm internal walls. “It’s like a bunker,” Andrew says. “A storm can rage all night, but you wouldn’t know until you ventured out.” “And in winter it’s extremely cold,” Alice adds. “We installed heating in the…

It may seem a long haul from a career in corporate finance in Perth and London to running an interior design consultancy, but Geraldton businesswoman Tess Beagley says it was a logical progression. Tess grew up in Esperance on WA’s remote south coast and went to Perth to study public relations and journalism. From there she enjoyed a high-flying career in PR, but admits that while she loved her job, she occasionally felt creatively stifled. Having met and married her husband, whose background was in agriculture, they moved to Geraldton on the Coral Coast when he received a job offer that was too good to turn down. “I’d always loved styling interiors for my own homes and helped friends,” she recalls. “But it wasn’t until I was on maternity leave…

Tim Lenehan says he had no idea where Braidwood was when he spotted an ad for historic Nithsdale homestead in The Sydney Morning Herald. The former Sydney ad man and market researcher and his wife, Janey Young, who ran a Sydney graphic design business, already had a country bolthole in the NSW Southern Tablelands and had no intention of moving farther afield when Tim saw the ad and decided on a whim to inspect. “I remember bringing my mother along for the drive,” he recalls. “It felt like we were travelling to the end of the earth. But, given my interest in antiques, the house appealed, and the thing that really attracted me was the fact that the whole area was redolent with history. We eventually bought it in 1996…

In early spring in my garden, honeyeaters are calling out to one another as they flock to the pendulous yellow flowers on the large kowhai (Sophora tetraptera). Every now and then there’s a tussle and a cascade of yellow flowers fall to the ground. There’s already quite a carpet of yellow. As well as the large wattlebirds, there are several smaller honeyeater species including the New Holland honeyeater and the crescent honeyeater. The tree is also buzzing with bees. This show goes on all day from dawn to dusk for several weeks while the tree is in flower, and birds also appear before the buds open. From when the colour begins to show, birds drop by to check on the tree’s progress. It is just one of many trees in…

They say there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, so it’s little wonder Nicola and Carl Mason raised a few eyebrows when they upped stakes and moved from Perth to Hobart. They’d never even visited the island state, they had no jobs and two daughters, Holly, aged seven at the time, and Brooke, five, to support plus son Daniel on the way. But the lure of four distinct seasons, the prospect of living in a mini version of England where both were born, and a full menu of outdoor adventure opportunities persuaded them to leave behind family and friends, all that was familiar, and a successful recycled furniture business. However, they were young, resourceful and resilient, and found their feet relatively easily with their new life on the other…

It’s lunch time at Anthony and Wendy Hoy’s home behind their jewellery showroom in the NSW southern tablelands town of Braidwood, and Anthony rustles up something he prepared a little earlier — a plate of sandwiches that would do the CWA proud. All the country favourites are there — curried egg and lettuce, leftover roast lamb and chutney, and an offering he reveals is a Hoy family staple, the Vegemite and walnut combo. Who knew that was a thing? A quick internet search reveals it even has a name: the zebra sandwich. Try it before you dismiss it, folks. Turns out it’s a winner, practically makes use of pantry staples and delivers earthy flavours in a tasty package with just a hint of surprise. It’s not too great a leap…

Initially built in 1856 by JTC Ballerstedt, Fortuna Villa was a somewhat humble double-front, two-storey villa with eight rooms and a semi-basement. Ballerstedt built the villa close to his quartz-crushing mill, the first on the Bendigo goldfields. Between 1858 and 1869, substantial construction work was carried out on the home and crushing mill. Local architects William Charles Vahland and James Getzelman added a further three rooms to the south wing of the villa while incorporating some of their own romantic classical style, and the ballroom/dining room was also added. However, the real story begins when Fortuna Villa and the mine were sold to George Lansell, later to be known as the “Quartz King”, in 1871 for the sum of £30,000. Originally from Margate, England, George moved to Bendigo in 1853…