Australian Country Issue #23.3 May/June 2020

As this issue goes to press, we are all adjusting to the new normal of these terrible times and I’m hoping that you and your families are staying well and safe. In counting the positives, I couldn’t be more grateful for the many people who are keeping the country running — the doctors, nurses and emergency responders who keep turning up at work, in spite of the risks it presents to them and their families. To the teachers, carers and childcare workers, the people who work in supermarkets, grocery stores and bottleshops, delivery drivers and post offi ce staff, pharmacists, farmers and countless other workers who are ensuring we continue to live as normally as possible, a huge shout out and a heartfelt thank you. As I grew up in…

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 such as Nikon, Japan and ING. ROSS WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHER Ross has been a photographer for more than 30 years, shooting food, wine and commercial and residential architecture, as well as travelling overseas to photograph 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…

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 further 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 and…

Bec Hardy and Richard Dolan candidly admit that they were a bit naïve when they bought the seven-acre (almost three-hectare) Tipsy Hill farm at Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale. The viticulturalist and her financial planner husband blithely assumed they were well qualified to manage the four acres (1.6ha) of Cabernet Sauvignon vines and three acres (1.2ha) of gardens when they purchased the hilltop property with its sensational views of the Mount Lofty Ranges in 2016. “Richard was actually overseas when I first inspected,” Bec recalls. “We had been looking for a while when I visited and fell instantly in love. Richard had only two stipulations for the property: views and an island kitchen. The views weren’t in contention as we have those in spades. The island was a bit of a…

Resilience and resourcefulness are mandatory qualities for successful primary producers. So when Queensland strawberry farmers Mandy and Adrian Schultz of LuvaBerry found themselves with a glut of imperfect fruit after a particularly wet season in 2017, they channelled American self-improvement guru Dale Carnegie, who famously said: “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. “I went to the supermarket and bought a heap of sealable plastic bags,” Mandy recalls. “Then I packed them with strawberries and froze them.” From there, it was a matter of connecting with jam makers, bakers and cooks via Facebook. In the ensuing years, LuvaBerry’s “War on Waste” has grown into a fully fledged movement, with more than 6000 members who buy frozen less-than-perfect berries via “car-park parties” in 15 locations across south-east Queensland. They’ve also branched out…