Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue #25.2 April/May 2022 i Australian Country

As this issue goes to press, after two years of disorder, unimaginable tragedy for some and disruption to work and life for most, it feels that we are slowly arriving at something resembling life before the pandemic. We’re grateful that we’ve been able to return to some domestic travel, that we managed to squeeze in a fashion shoot for the first time in ages and that we’re back on the road, albeit cautiously, meeting people, gathering stories and doing what Australian Country does best: sharing them with an appreciative audience. People often ask how we find the stories we feature in the mag, and getting out and about again has reminded me that the answer is you. Readers contact us with suggestions and then the network kicks in and the…

For as long as he can remember, Jamie Bishop has been retreating to Goolwa, the historic South Australian port town where the Murray River makes its entrance into the Southern Ocean. It’s where he holidayed from Adelaide with his parents, staying with his maternal grandparents. It’s where he learned survival skills, roaming free with mates from sun-up to sundown. It’s where he learned to swim and fish, to milk cows and to drive behind the wheel of a left-hand-drive ex-army vehicle. These days, the summer cottage he remembers so fondly from those holidays is called River’s End. Since the COVIDrelated lockdowns, it’s become his permanent home, a splendidly appointed, extended and renovated version of the modest limestone original, which he shares with fortunate family and friends, a pair of resident…

THE ARBORNAUT MEG LOWMAN, ALLEN & UNWIN, $32.99 Dr Meg Lowman, aka Canopy Meg, is an American biologist, educator, ecologist, writer, editor and public speaker. She is the executive director of the TREE Foundation and a professor at the National University of Singapore, Arizona State University and Universiti Sains Malaysia. She pioneered the science of canopy ecology. Her motto is: no child left indoors. A pioneer in her field — she invented one of the first treetop walkways — she is a tireless advocate for the earth and has spent decades educating citizens across the globe. In a voice as infectious in enthusiasm as in practical optimism, The Arbornaut chronicles her irresistible story and guides the reader through the eighth continent in the trees above us. AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE DAVINA JACKSON,…

Belle Couleur 197 Ryrie St, Geelong Vic 3220 ph: 0417 913 192 e: melissa@bellecouleur.com.au w: bellecouleur.com.au Birdsnest ph: 1300 696 378 w: birdsnest.com.au Clementine Sleepwear ph: 1800 336 153 w: clementinesleepwear.com.au CoomberBrosJewellery 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 EmuWire Industries 2/25 Encore Ave, Somerton Vic 3062 ph: (03) 9308 5599 e: sales@emuwire.com.au w: emuwire.com.au Escea Fireplace Company ph: 1800 460 832 w: escea.com Glen Dimplex 1340 Ferntree Gully Rd, Scoresby Vic 3179 Ph: 1300 554 155 w: glendimplex.com.au GlenviewProducts 3 Edenholme St, West Pymble NSW 2073 ph: 0411 732 950 e: sales@glenviewproducts.com.au w: glenviewproducts.com.au Jetmaster ph: 1300 538 627 w:…

BRONTE CAMILLERI, STYLIST & LOCATION SCOUT Bronte’s career began in visual merchandising for major Australian retailers, including R. M. Williams, Myer and Cue. She has been a lecturer on the subject for the tertiary education system. She has worked as overall coordinator on a range of projects from small studio propping to major photo shoots for international corporations such as Nikon, Japan and ING. ROSS WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHER Ross has been a photographer for 30-plus years, shooting food, wine and commercial and residential architecture, as well as travelling overseas to shoot everything from mining projects to aircraft. He relishes the challenge of arriving at a previously unseen location and working on the best way to showcase it. australiancountry.com.au facebook.com/AustralianCountry @australiancountrymag zinio.com pinterest.com/auscountrymag…

It was supposed to be a fixer-upper. When Sydney architect Michael Bell and his interior designer work and life partner, Michele, went looking for a property on the NSW South Coast, they only ever intended to move there for as long as it took to renovate and sell a house. Michael had spent part of his childhood in regional Victoria and had fond memories of holidays at his grandfather’s beach shack on Phillip Island, and although Michele had grown up in Sydney’s north-west, she yearned to show their sons, Ewan and Thomas, the less-structured lifestyle she had enjoyed during her childhood. So it made perfect sense to move to Kiama, a town famous for its surfing breaks and tourist-drawcard blowhole surrounded by a rolling green landscape dotted with dairy herds…

NEW FRIENDS My daughter and I have just discovered your lovely magazine and really enjoy all you share with us in each issue. However, we have two small requests. Could you please put the details under each photo rather than general wording of the whole page? It would be nice to know exactly what we are looking at. The second request is would it be possible to put a small map in the corner of each story to show us where you have been? We’ve not been to all the places you feature and it would be nice to be able to place them instantly. Jill and Val Holloway, Harristown Qld Ed’s note: We appreciate your feedback and will endeavour to incorporate your suggestions in the future. OLD ACQUAINTANCE I…

So you think you lack the artistic gene? Jacqueline (Jac) Coates says it’s not possible. The Barossa Valley-based art teacher and mentor says she has yet to meet a single person she can’t teach how to paint. In fact, she vows that by using her techniques, she can show even the person who “can’t draw a straight line” how to produce work they will be proud to hang in their home and even potentially make money from selling. Jac has lived in Kapunda, a historic copper-mining town and one-time HQ for “cattle king” Sir Sidney Kidman’s vast operation, for the past 25 years. During that time, she has restored about six buildings in the village, including one of Sidney’s stone barns that’s now her home and a former mechanic’s workshop…

Sally Wise is uncertain about being dubbed Tasmania’s Nan. When TV chef and cookbook author Matthew Evans proclaimed her “the Granny we all wished we had”, she says her unoffi cial role as the island state’s chief ambassador for all things home-grown and made stepped up a notch or two. “I’m not sure that all the grandmothers of Tasmania would feel I represent them,” she says. “But it is nice that people feel they can turn to my books for solid, practical advice and recipes.” Sally has built her career, a stack of cookbooks, a regular slot on ABC radio and a cooking school at her home in the Derwent Valley around the kitchen, the fruit and vegies she and her husband, Robert, grow in the garden and the broader…

Val Peachey has been gardening all her adult life. In fact, she was learning by osmosis long before then, as her parents kept a beautiful garden filled with roses, annuals and vegetables at her childhood home at Kingaroy in southern Queensland. She continued the tradition when, as a newlywed, she and her late school-teacher husband, Ron, went to Windorah in the state’s far west, where they attempted their first garden. “We had no mains power and no reticulated water,” Val recalls. “Our water came straight out of Cooper Creek, so gardening was always going to be a challenge. Ron tried to grow lettuce, but a dust storm shredded them.” The Peacheys persevered with varying levels of success through postings across Queensland from Weipa in the far north to Biloela in…

Thanks for being in touch. We welcome your feedback.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 Sourdough bread-making kit from our friends at Mad Millie. Just send us your thoughts on the magazine and life in general to be in the running for this wonderful prize.…