Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 28.5 i Australian Country

editor's letter

As this issue goes to press, I’ve been reflecting on how the Australian Country network has well and truly been in overdrive. We can’t produce a magazine as broad-ranging as we do without a lot of help from our readers, not to mention the people who so kindly share their stories. The connections we make are lasting and while it may take years for a destination to finally make it out of the “when in the area” file and into the magazine, it’s amazing how it opens doors for new stories. We first met Kim and Wendy Muffet as we were ever so tentatively creeping out of a pandemic lockdown at the end 2020. Their focus on hospitality and sustainability at Girragirra Retreat on the outskirts of Forbes was the…

2 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

hospitality central

Steve Lindsay had a great life in Sydney. A great house, a great job as a sales manager for a multinational hotel company, not to mention a great salary. Yet there he was, sitting in a board meeting dreaming about how he’d rather be sitting behind a mob of sheep on his family’s farm back at Peak Hill in the NSW Central West. And this is how, in 2005, he made the decision to return to his roots and help out his parents who also live on Cora Lynn station, where they run Merino sheep and grow wheat as a cash crop as well as fodder crops for their livestock. Steve is the fourth generation of Lindsays to farm on Cora Lynn, the 2820-acre (1140-hectare) property they run in conjunction…

7 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

land of opportunity

Never waste an opportunity. It’s the mantra that Forbes farmer, property sales specialist and agribusiness developer Gary Johnston has lived his life by and one that his son, Sam, has also embraced. Gary lives on Walla Wallah, a 220-acre (89-hectare) lucerne and prime lamb farm on the banks of the Lachlan River, which he bought in 2011. His son, Sam, lives on Surround, an adjoining 150-acre (60-hectare) farm with his wife, Kohbe, who works in the medical imaging department of Forbes Hospital. Gary’s daughter, Claudia, and her partner also farm in the Forbes district. Gary grew up on a dairy farm at Cobbitty on Sydney’s south-western periphery and never deviated from his desire to build a career in farming. He credits his parents and their friend, at the time the…

5 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

just add water

It’s one of those sparkling fresh spring mornings when the sun cracks off the water in shards as the passenger ferry pulls out from Triabunna for the crossing to Maria Island. Half an hour later, the parabolic blue sky blends into the turquoise shallows as the boat pulls into Darlington, the port for the island national park, which preserves an extraordinary blend of colonial history, native wildlife, bush walks and bike rides. Maria Island, or Wukaluwikiwayna as it was known to its traditional owners, the Oyster Bay people of Tasmania’s east coast, sits just 16 kilometres off the coast. It’s connected to the mainland by multiple ferries daily, so it’s possible to explore with a day trip. Visitors who choose to stay longer have the option of camping at one…

5 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

striking geometry

MEASUREMENTS Width (approx) 100cm Length (approx) 130cm PANDA SOFT COTTON CHUNKY 100g balls 4 balls: (5 Candy Pink) 2 balls each: (2 French Blue), (11 Sand), (8 Navy), (1 Green Tea), (6 Amber), (14 Marigold), (7 Shell) and (13 Cream) Use only the yarn specified. Other yarns are likely to produce different results. Quantities are approximate as they can vary between knitters. Ensure all yarn of the same colour is from the same dye lot. NEEDLES AND EXTRAS 1 pair 10mm (UK 000) knitting needles and a 10mm circular knitting needle (80-100cm long). wool needle for sewing seams. TENSION 9 sts and 13 rows to 10cm over stocking st, using 10mm needles. Correct tension is not essential for this throw, however stated measurements and yarn quantities are based on this…

2 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

action station

Dani Holzwart grew up on a cattle property outside of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory with her parents and two sisters. Her mother was always taking photos growing up and gave Dani her first camera at age 14. “Little did she know she would be getting asked to buy me more film, a lot,” Dani recalls. “I have been taking photos ever since.” After leaving boarding school, Dani worked with a contract mustering team in Alice and got to explore other cattle properties around the area, including in South Australia and Western Australia. This led to many more photos being taken (whenever she could). After another stint working in Alice at the local pet shop, she went back out to the bush on a new property. Then it was…

2 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

store strolling

DAVID ROCHE GALLERY This compact umbrella, $30, featuring eight of the most exquisite female portrait paintings from the David Roche Collection, is not only a visual delight for the most discerning art lover, but its tough, lightweight and compact nature also make it a most practical and convenient accessory. rochegallery.com.au/shop HOWARD PRODUCTS Howard Products SunShield, $45.75, is a unique blend of carnauba wax, beeswax and orange oil combined with an extremely high-quality UV inhibitor designed to protect both the wood finish and wood colour from sun fade. Use it on outdoor settings, indoor furniture that is exposed to direct or indirect light, timber window frames, shutters or blinds. howardproducts.com.au THOMAS COOK Thomas Cook’s Mara linen long-sleeve shirt, $119.95, is made from a breathable linen-blend fabric to keep you cool. It…

4 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

helping out on this issue…

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 and has worked as overall coordinator on a range of projects, from small-studio propping to major photo shoots for international corporations. 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 capture 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…

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Australian Country|Issue 28.5

for love of landscape

From her earliest memories, Regina Law was the “arty kid, always in the craft corner at school”. The youngest of six children, she migrated with her family from Germany to Australia in 1974, when she was six years old. They settled in Sydney’s south, where weekend rambles in the Royal National Park were a formative influence on her burgeoning love for the natural environment. Thanks to a combination of the need to earn a living and family expectations — her father was a physicist — Regina set her artistic ambitions aside and embarked on the next best thing, a career in interior design following a degree from the University of Technology, Sydney. She worked mainly on domestic projects, specialising in kitchens, before branching out into her own ventures creating curated…

3 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

a well-oiled operation

While Sue Sutton and Mark McColm admit they didn’t move to the country to retire, they had little inkling that their decision to buy an olive grove would make their lives busier than ever before. As a long-term resident of the Sutherland Shire, Sue had worked in the NSW police force, both as a sworn offi cer and in administration. Mark lived on the NSW Central Coast and had spent many years in hardware and plumbing sales when they met in 2010. When Mark’s work took him to Orange in the NSW Central West and Sue’s workplace moved making her commute longer, it seemed the universe was sending them a message that the time was right to fulfil their long-term ambition of a move to the country. “Sue kept working…

4 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

a paradigm shift

Tenterfield garden designer and plantswoman Carolyn Robinson says there’s an element of “do as I say, not as I do” when she advises her friends and clients to “learn to live with the limitations of your climate, soil and self”. As well as working on numerous gardens all over northern NSW and southern Queensland, Carolyn has developed two showpiece gardens of her own. The first was Glenrock Gardens, an eight-acre (three-hectare) site north of Tenterfield that Carolyn and her husband, Peter, bought in 1989 and gradually developed through the years until they sold in 2016. Their current home is Eagle’s Bluff, south-west of Tenterfield, which they bought in 2008 and have been working on the five-acre (two-hectare) garden ever since. “I loved the idea of starting again,” Carolyn says. “Glenrock…

5 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

circular fashion

MEASUREMENTS Diameter (approx) 110cm PANDA SOFT COTTON CHUNKY 100g balls 3 balls: (13 Cream) 2 balls each: (7 Shell), (6 Amber), (1 Green Tea) and (5 Candy Pink) Use only the yarn specified. Other yarns are likely to produce different results. Quantities are approximate as they can vary between crocheters. Ensure all yarn of the same colour is from the same dye lot. HOOK AND EXTRAS 10mm crochet hook. wool needle for sewing in ends. TENSION First 2 rounds to measure 12cm in diameter, using 10mm hook. Correct tension is not essential, however stated measurement and yarn quantities are based on this tension. ABBREVIATIONS NOTE – Australian/UK crochet terminology used throughout. beg = begin, beginning; ch = chain; dc = double crochet; dtr = double treble; lp, lps = loop,…

5 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

baked joy

MATILDAS' TRIBUTE CAKE In the 2023 World Cup, the Matildas (the Australian women’s soccer team) were this close to winning. Now, I couldn’t be described as a close follower of football of any variety, much less as someone who is likely to bake a cake in honour of a boot-to-ball achievement. But there was something so inspiring about the emergence, at last, of a women’s competition that gripped the global imagination, and about the Matildas’ talent and success. It felt like something to truly celebrate. I had the idea of creating a cake that would be uniquely for the Matildas. Layers of soft sponge and crisp meringue, topped with kiwi fruit and passionfruit for the Aussie green and gold. Sweet, fresh and tangy, with a contrast of textures. Go Matildas!…

12 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

stockists

AAADA e: info@aaada.org.au w: aaada.org.au A Little Patch of Country 63 Princes Hwy, Trafalgar Vic 3824 ph: (03) 5633 2311 w: littlepatch.com.au AM-BOSS Access Ladders, 11-13 Maida Ave, North Sunshine Vic 3020 ph: (03) 9310 8788 e: amboss@ambossaccessladder.com.au w: ambossaccessladder.com.au Clogees ph: (03) 9708 2017 w: clogees.com.au Cruising Adventures ph: 0408 444 191 e: enquiries@cruisingadventures.com.au w: cruisingadventures.com.au David Roche Foundation e: info@rochefoundation.com.au w: rochefoundation.org.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 Howard Products 33 Griffin Ave, Tamworth NSW 2340 ph: 1800 672 646 w: howardproducts.com.au King Reef Resort 73 Jacobs Rd, Kurrimine Beach QLD 4871 ph: (07) 4065 6144 w: kingreef.com.au Lume Outdoor…

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Australian Country|Issue 28.5

diary notes

OCTOBER 25–26 (NSW) Blue Mountains Edible Garden Trail The Blue Mountains Edible Garden Trail is the flagship environmental event of the not-for-profit, memberowned Blue Mountains Food Co-op, which hopes to promote sustainability and community, as well as ease cost-of-living pressures by educating people on how to grow their own food. Proceeds from ticket sales are donated to participating school and community gardens. ediblegardentrail.com JANUARY 7–11, 2026 (NSW) Parkes Elvis Festival The ever-popular Parkes Elvis Festival returns for its 33rd year with a jam-packed lineup of rockin’ ’n’ rollin’ fun. The King-sized program features hundreds of Elvis and Love Me Tender-inspired events, timed to coincide with Elvis’s birthday and attracting more than 25,000 participants. parkeselvisfestival.com.au OCTOBER 17–JANUARY 18, 2026 (SA) Too Deadly: Ten Years Of Tarnanthi Tarnanthi, the Art Gallery of…

1 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

from the heart

With 25 novels to her credit and a 26th about to hit the stands at the end of this year, it’s a little surprising that Karly Lane says she still struggles with the label “author”. “It sounds silly, I know,” she confesses. “But writing is just what I do. Authors are people I look up to and I doubt I’ll ever get over the feeling that I’m where I am by accident.” Speaking from her home on acreage in the Nambucca Valley on the NSW Mid-North coast, Karly says that she’s been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember, encouraged by her grandmother, who was an ardent consumer of romantic fiction. Karly’s dad was a country bank manager, so they moved every three years with his transfers…

6 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

simply amazing

Trudy Mallick stops to check a counter as she enters the site of Varanus (Goanna Gugaa), Glen Star’s giant metal sculpture near the Gum Swamp Wildlife Refuge on the outskirts of Forbes in the NSW Central West. The sculpture acknowledges the importance of the goanna to the Wiradjuri people of the NSW Central West and is either the start or end point of a 100-kilometre trail of giant works, each positioned approximately 10km apart on the Lachlan Valley Way between Forbes and Condobolin. “One hundred and eight thousand, two hundred and ninety-five visitors,” Trudy says, reading the tally. “That’s how many people have been to this site since the sculpture went up in 2019. And it’s 2000 more than when I was here last week, so it’s definitely drawing attention.”…

8 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

a sweet spot

“Gardeners are very generous people and enjoy sharing their knowledge and plants. Josie Pollifrone says her earliest memories are of being in the kitchen helping her mother and grandmother with baking and meal preparation. With her Italian heritage backed by a strong female line of bakers and gardeners, cooking and entertaining at home is part of her DNA. “I’m the eldest of six and from about the age of four or five, I can remember my sister and I making cakes and biscuits,” Josie recalls. “We grew up on a dried fruit property at Merbein South, close to Mildura, and like lots of farmers in the area, my dad transitioned the farm to table grapes in the 1980s.” Josie’s husband, Anthony, grew up in the nearby suburb of Cabarita, where…

4 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

off the shelf

THE ROAD TRIP Tricia Stringer, HQ Fiction, $34.99 It sounds like the holiday from hell. Four adults — one husband and wife, one brother and sister — set offin two caravans on a road trip from Adelaide to Broome. It’s supposed to be Sharyn’s 60th-birthday celebration, except she wasn’t consulted by her husband Barry and would have much preferred an overseas trip or at least a fancy resort. He’s invited his recently widowed good mate Ray along, so Ray pretty much arm wrestles his reclusive sister into joining the jolly holiday. Pretty much everything that can go wrong does, but somehow Tricia manages to wrangle her protagonists out of killing each other in a satisfying outcome for all. THE WHITE CROW Michael Robotham, Hachette Australia, $32.99 It’s hard to imagine…

4 min

Australian Country|Issue 28.5

mailbag

LAST ISSUE GENERATED LOTS OF FEEDBACK FROM OUR READERS. WIN A PRIZE 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 correspondent next issue will win a Double Ring mint and pink dinner set from our friends at Corelle. Just send us your thoughts on the magazine and life in general to be in the running for this wonderful prize. AUSTRALIAN SAMPLER I enjoy reading about Australia-wide country homes and people. I like the paper and format of the magazine. As the magazine is called Australian…

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