Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 27 i Australian Country Homes

Mel Lumb cheerfully admits that her career path from high-flying marketing executive to down-to-earth ceramicist may seem obscure to some. But it makes perfect sense to her. And now that she and her business-consultant husband, Dave, and their sons, Lachlan and Fletcher, have settled into their home on acreage in the stunning Noosa hinterland, it seems that it was all meant to be. In fact, Mel would probably have pursued an art career much earlier if it weren’t for an unhelpful teacher who told her as a teen that she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. “That kind of criticism sticks,” Mel recalls. “So although I studied three-unit art at high school, I didn’t pursue it and went into real estate straight after graduating.” This led her into…

It’s shearing time at Tuckokcowie station near Warooka on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, so the little shed on Richard and Lee-Anne Murdoch’s farm is buzzing with activity. The Merino flock, which is spread across the property’s home block and nearby holdings, is mustered and the sheep have their annual haircut before being returned to the paddocks. And the Murdochs are working dawn to dusk to see their sheep shorn and the wool classed, baled and shipped to market in Adelaide on the other side of Gulf St Vincent, some 250 road kilometres to the north and east. For the Murdochs, shearing is a culmination of the year’s work with their flock and this year is particularly important as, at the time of Australian Country Homes’ visit, Richard and Lee-Anne were…

Central Queensland farmer, environmentalist and artist Bloss Hickson says she built her first cubby house at the age of six, and has been building houses ever since. The most recent “cubby” is a rock retreat on Huntly, the cattle property she runs alongside her brother, Rhu, in the Arcadia Valley midway between the tiny towns of Rolleston and Injune. Bloss shares her property with a loose affiliation of fellow creatives, international backpackers and environmentally concerned friends. During the week her husband, Rodney Perrett, lives 80 kilometres away on his station, Bungawarrra, and they spend weekends and holidays together. The self-appointed president of the Anti-Rectangle Society explains that it took her 17 years to complete her new home, which is off the grid and runs on solar power and water stored…

We are all well versed in the world of popular culinary herbs and the many that are used for beauty products and other cosmetics. But most of us are unaware of how intrinsically linked some of the more unusual herbs of old were — and still are — to our everyday lives and how many of these forgotten plants are enjoying a resurgence. In the Middle Ages and earlier, of course, people didn’t have the medicines, perfumes, cleaners and air fresheners we have today. Back then, plants were the main source of remedies in the form of salves and tinctures. Herbs, flowers and oils were a large part of daily life and were often linked to magic and folklore as well. Over the centuries, a lot of these practical plants…

Given his druthers, Carl Nancarrow would probably be living on a vast cattle station somewhere back of Bourke. His wife, landscape and still-life artist Emma, prefers a more urban existence, close to the art galleries that nourish her soul and the beach where she grew up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The compromise was somewhere in between, on a 30-acre (12-hectare) property called Springview in the Noosa hinterland. The farm allows Carl to keep one foot in the bush, as he uses it to fatten Droughtmaster steers, and gives Emma space to indulge her passion for gardening with a large vegie patch, orchard and loads of flowering natives. It’s also a wonderful location for their sons, Charlie and Levi, to ride motocross bikes and free-range with their friends. “I grew up…

With integrity of design, floor plans that are 100 per cent flexible, and a highly regarded brand name, Harkaway Homes offers the charm and character of yesteryear with the conveniences of modern-day living. Established in 1986, Harkaway Homes operates throughout Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Canberra and southern Queensland. With almost 40 years of experience in the industry, multiple Master Builders Association (MBA) awards and a reputation for excellence, Harkaway Homes is acknowledged as an industry leader in traditional Australian housing. Being both architectural designers and major components suppliers, Harkaway Homes offers a unique and tailored pathway to home construction. Clients have the option to project manage the build of their home or engage with a licensed builder thus ensuring cost-effective construction and predictable outcomes. With nine ranges…

Ilfradale means in a valley between rugged and rolling hills, which makes sense because the Quinn family farm is located between the upper Mount Lofty and lower Flinders Ranges. “Our children are the fifth generation to live in the home we live in now,” Jodie Quinn says. “We think it’s just lovely and we’re very fortunate to have been lucky enough to keep it all going.” “Our son, Will, is the third William Henry Quinn to live in the Ilfradale homestead,” husband John adds. “The kids are the highlight of our lives and what they’re doing makes us burst with pride.” The children, Eliza, Will, Belle and Lucy, all attended Burra Community School at the time of Australian Country Homes’ visit and, as Jodie says, enjoy a free-range childhood on…

Most homes usually have a view of some description — a row of trees, an adjacent building or maybe nearby parklands. It’s that defining “something” that the eye is drawn to as it peers out the window at the world. Fewer homes have a selection of vistas, while a lucky few have spectacles at every turn. John and Sally-Ann Cottle’s country property, Shirley, located half an hour from Cooma, is such a place. It’s a veritable oasis that features extensive European-inspired gardens, a man-made lake and room enough for approximately 12,000 Merino and Dorset-cross sheep. “We returned from travels in Europe in 2006,” Sally-Ann explains, “and we were so inspired by the extraordinary gardens we had seen that we commissioned Melbourne-based landscape designer, Paul Bangay, to sympathetically redesign the garden…

Will and Ali Gebhardt are a young couple living on Mokota, Will’s family farm near Burra, 230 kilometres north of Adelaide. They both have a strong family history with rural South Australia: Ali grew up on her family farm between Victor Harbor and Cape Jervis; and Will is the fifth generation of his family to be living in the former Mount Cone homestead on what is now Mokota. As the history books record, a German migrant named Gustav Gebhardt started buying land in South Australia’s mid-north during the 1860s. He purchased 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Mokota, near Mount Bryan, and stocked it with 1200 sheep. “Gustav built Will’s father’s house on Mokota station in the late 1890s,” Ali says. “There’s also a neighbouring property called Mackerode where Gustav built…