Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue #25.1 January/February 2022 i Australian Country

Welcome to the first issue for 2022. Let’s hope that it’s a less challenging one for all of us and that our lives can finally return to something resembling, if not the old normal, at least one a tad more regular. We’re delighted to bring you a bumper crop of stories to kick- start the new year. Anabel Dean reports on her new passion for beekeeping and brings us her view on the remote wilderness of north-west Tasmania. We’ve glimpses inside some fabulous historic homes, Garowie in the Queensland provincial city of Ipswich, Tyreel Stud in the NSW Hawkesbury Valley and The Cedars, the former home of the late, great landscape artist Hans Heysen. Australian rock legends Jimmy and Jane Barnes have spent their lockdowns producing a cookbook and we’re…

By her own reckoning, Rosalie Cook lived in a chateau in a previous life and you don’t have to look much beyond her front door to confirm this assessment. There’s a Parisian symmetry to the façade of the home she shares with her husband, Stephen, and three adult daughters. Cast-iron detailing, plants in urns, an elegant monochromatic palette and antique furniture infuse the interiors of their residence in the Barossa Valley township of Tanunda with a European sensibility. Although Rosalie grew up in Hamilton, deep in the dairying country of the north island of New Zealand’s Waikato region, her heart is firmly rooted in rural France. Stephen also hails from the north island, at Lake Taupo where the stunning shoreline and calm waters belie the holiday region’s volcanic origins. A…

The splashback in the kitchen of Jimmy and Jane Barnes’ home in the NSW Southern Highlands tells the tale of the legendary rock couple’s shared life and loves. It’s pieced into the wall behind their bold blue AGA cooker are more than 30 Delft tiles Jane has collected on trips to Holland during the 40-plus years she and Jimmy have toured and travelled together. There’s a duck, for the fowl that nest on the banks on the Wingecarribee River their home overlooks, and a bird to represent the more than 100 species that fly past their property. Plus, there’s a swan, as a nod to Jimmy’s birth as James Dixon Swan in Glasgow in 1956, six years before he moved with his family to South Australia. There are flowers and…

RECOVERY BOOST I have recently purchased my first country home and was given a beautiful bundle of country books and this edition of Australian Country as a house-warming gift. I’m also recovering from major surgery and I just wanted to say thank you. I have been settling in my beautiful new home, recovering from surgery and I can’t tell you how much enjoyment a few editions of your beautiful magazine have given me. I have so many lovely ideas for my home and have saved all of the recipes to try in my kitchen when recovered. Huge thank you! You’re my new favourite magazine. Melanie Manners, Gladstone Qld NEW ACQUAINTANCE I was in our local newsagency looking for a magazine to read, I was so bored with many of the…

Belle Couleur 197 Ryrie St, Geelong, Vic 3220 ph: 0417 913 192 e: melissa@bellecouleur.com.au w: bellecouleur.com.au BeeIncentive (Flow Hives) ph: (02) 8880 0774 w: honeyflow.com Birdsnest ph: 1300 696 378 w: birdsnest.com.au Chelsea Park 589 Moss Vale Rd, Burradoo NSW 2576 ph: (02) 4861 7046 e: chelsea@netkey.com.au w: chelseaparkbnb.com Clementine  Sleepwear ph: 1800 336 153 w: clementinesleepwear.com.au Coomber Bros Jewellery 78 McDowell St, Roma Qld 4455 ph: (07) 4622 1145 e: sales@coomberbros.com.au w: coomberbros.com.au Cotswold InOut Furniture 29/69 O’Riordan St, Alexandria NSW 2015 ph: (02) 9906 3686 e: sales@cotswoldfurniture.com.au w: cotswoldfurniture.com.au Ecodownunder e: service@ecodownunder.com.au w: ecodownunder.com.au Emu Wire Industries 2/25 Encore Ave, Somerton Vic 3062 ph: (03) 9308 5599 e: sales@emuwire.com.au w: emuwire.com.au Glenview Products 3 Edenholme St, West Pymble NSW 2073 ph: 0411 732 950 e: sales@glenviewproducts.com.au w: glenviewproducts.com.au…

ANABEL DEAN, JOURNALIST Anabel is an award-winning travel journalist who began her career as a Fleet Street news reporter in London. She has worked as a feature writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, arts editor for The Bulletin and lifestyle editor for Medical Observer magazine. Anabel contributes to national and international publications, sharing adventures of people, places, art, nature and food from around the world. JOHN DOWNS, PHOTOGRAPHER Four generations of John Downs’ family have been photographers, starting with his great-great-grandfather in Wales in 1868. John began as a staff photographer at London’s Natural History Museum and his varied career has seen him shoot everything from fluffy cushions in the studio to Formula 1 cars screaming around the track. australiancountry.com.au facebook.com/AustralianCountry @australiancountrymag zinio.com pinterest.com/auscountrymag…

Her Majesty has been liberated from three days of lockdown in a padded post bag and is secreted in a tiny timber box with five fawning court attendants. She’s under gauze and quivering. Her aides are edgy, feeding from a plug of sugary fondant, fussing and fidgeting. Perhaps they can predict the tragedy that’s about to unfold. A nearby hive is vibrating in a single pure note and it’s time for introductions. Queen Regina is a docile Caucasian, a sub-species of the western honey bee, originally bred high up in the Caucasus Mountains. If true to breed, she’ll produce up to 2000 eggs a day in a colony of bees gifted with the longest proboscis to extract nectar from the deepest petals and the finest honey in a few weeks…

MILLE-TUILE Serves 4 Start this recipe a day ahead. My little twist on the classic millefeuille is a little bit easier, fun, tasty and modern. Instead of spending the whole day making puff pastry, I’ve used tuiles. Of course, they’re not as fine and flaky as puff pastry, and they do contain more sugar, so I’ve dialled down the sweetness by using brown sugar and reducing the amount used. Salted vanilla whipped ganache ½ gelatine sheet (titanium grade) 385ml thickened whipping cream 5g salt Seeds of 1 vanilla bean 100g white chocolate Soak the gelatine in cold water to soften. Pour 165 ml of the cream into a saucepan, add the salt and vanilla seeds and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Put the white chocolate in a heatproof…

We appreciate your thoughts and in each issue, one correspondent wins a prize. Simply email Kirsty at kmckenzie@umco.com.au or write to us at Australian Country, Locked Bag 154, North Ryde NSW 1670. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters before publication. Our favourite correspondents next issue will win a DIY crochet kit for a Crayon Snood from our friends at We Are Knitters. Just send us your thoughts on the magazine and life in general to be in the running for this wonderful prize.…

There’s no such thing as a small project on a heritage building, according to Ipswich real estate agent June Frank, who has deep knowledge of all property in her hometown, which is Queensland’s oldest provincial city. Although June has owned Garowie — a high-Victorian mansion in Ipswich’s dress circle on Limestone Hill — since 2003, she has only been living there since 2011. Her children and cousin both lived in the double-storeyed colonial home, with its cast-iron balustrading, scalloped timber-battened façade and gabled portico, before she completed a three-year renovation and took up residence herself. “Three tradespeople, including heritage builder Ron Lyon, worked on the place full-time,” June explains. “So there was no way I was moving in until they were done. Every task is multiplied in an old building:…

Bees are an indispensable pillar of our food supply pollinating the most important group of organisms on the planet — flowering plants — and they are under threat from parasites, disease, pesticides, pollution, habitat loss and climate change, in fact from us. “Three out of every four leading food crops for human consumption — and more than a third of agricultural land worldwide — depend in part on pollinators,” according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Rooftop Bees aims to strengthen the connection between organisations, people and the environment through beekeeping. The company installs and maintains beehives on buildings and campuses to help drive sustainability and corporate goals for social responsibility. rooftopbees.com.au…

In spite of many years as a horticultural teacher, garden presenter, consultant and tour guide Brian Sams confesses it was not until he actually started developing his Highfields garden that he realised the size of the task he had undertaken. “In theory, I knew it was a sloping site,” he recalls. “But I didn’t fully twig how steep until I actually started working on it.” Brian and his late wife, Vivien, moved to the property on acreage in the semi-rural community just north of Toowoomba in south-east Queensland a decade ago and the garden has been a work in progress ever since. Sadly, Vivien’s life was cut short by a brain tumour last year, but the garden remains as a living memorial to the hard work and passion the couple…

THRIFTY COOKING BY THE COUNTRY WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, MURDOCH BOOKS, $24.99 The Country Women’s Association of Victoria has been working to improve the lives of Australian families, particulary those from rural and regional areas, for almost a century. Hearty, wholesome and affordable cooking is a cornerstone of the organisation’s proud tradition and this collection of recipes delivers just that in a clear and concise format. FIREPIT BARBECUE BY ROSS DOBSON, MURDOCH BOOKS, $35 Ross Dobson is a Sydney cookbook author, chef, cafe proprietor and proud Penrith lad. He’s also a dab hand with the barbecue tongs, as this collection of recipes testifies. Alongside tips for cooking on a firepit, grill or hotplate, Ross offers host of recipes to make your next barbie sing. It’s great to see recipes for…