Robin McConchie is a familiar voice from ABC radio and is a professional storyteller. Over three decades she reported for the ABC Country Hour, was a Director of the National Press Club and is a member of the Queensland Rural Press Club Hall of Fame. Her passion for storytelling continues in retirement and Robin is trying her hand at writing and podcasting about the bush.
The podcast Postcards from the Bush with Robin McConchie brings you stories about the men and women who give so much to their community in rural, regional and remote Australia.
Let Robin – Tell Your Story. The voice is intimate, sharing life stories connects families and inspires future generations. Oral history with Robin is affordable and enjoyable. Capturing a life story is easier than you imagine. Listening to a family member tell their story, recorded by Robin, is a great way to pass a long trip in the car.
Succession planning is one of the biggest challenges facing any farming family. Nikki Mahony (nee Joyce) and her three siblings grew up on Gyranda, a 9,500-hectare cattle property in central Queensland and a foundation stud for the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle in Australia. Nikki says it was a wonderful life working stock, learning about the environment and indigenous ways. But her parents Burnett and Louise, made it clear not all the children could come back to Gyranda. Instead, they encouraged the children to study and experience life away from the farm before deciding what they wanted to do with their lives. Encouraged by Nikki and her husband Peter, the Joyce family started succession planning early. It took 15 years of facilitated meetings, long discussions and plenty of tough conversations to develop a plan that all the family accepted. Nikki recalls fondly one of her sisters thanking her for pushing the issue allowing their father’s last days to be a time to reflect and celebrate his life rather than worry about the future.
Nikki Mahony and the importance of succession planning on Gyranda
You’ve heard the song Horse with No Name, well today we meet Queensland cattle producer Jenny Underwood who tells the story of the cow with no Name and a calf called Horse. Jenny brightened the lives of farmers during drought with #lifeinasong and #onedaycloser. The season is better in 2020 and No name has just dropped her 15th calf.
No Name is a wonderful cow who refuses to stop producing calves. Every time I visit the wonderful Jenny Underwood at Pine Hills near Roma we head out into the paddock to see if we can catch up with the old girl.
Roger and Jenny Underwood sharing a cuppa at smoko
She must be approaching 20 years of age and her progeny continue to add quality to the Droughmaster breed. Many of the top stud bulls at Eversleigh have sired her calves. The male calves are always called ‘horse’, from the song ‘Horse with No Name’.
The wonderful No Name, the veteran of the Pine Hills herd, 2021
The picture in the podcast was taken when Jenny and her husband Roger lived further north and the region was in one of the worst droughts on record. But good old No Name, otherwise known as the Dolly Parton of the ‘bovine world’ still produced plenty of milk and her calf did well.
Wow, I am excited; my article in the Graziher magazine featuring Annabel Tully, a Western Queensland farmer, artist and breast cancer survivor, was highly commended in the 2021 Rural Press Club Awards.
Imagine this: you are 38 weeks pregnant, doctors tell you the lump you just found in your breast is cancerous. Your husband is at home, 1000 km away, looking after your 18-month-old toddler. This scenario is the situation that faced Annabel and Stephen Tully. Two days after diagnosis, your baby is born, and a couple of days later, you start the long journey for breast cancer treatment.
Annabel and her husband Stephen live on Bunginderry, an 80,000ha sheep, cattle and goat property near Quilpie. Annabel has always painted, and her art reflects the harshness and the beauty of the channel country in western Queensland.
The Tully family has grown to five children, and Annabel has survived a second bout of breath cancer.
For Annabel Tully, resilience is about adapting to the situation, whether it’s drought, a drop in livestock prices or breast cancer.
Annabel’s story is as inspirational as her art and her new enterprise Tully Textiles.
Bunginderry, 80,000ha sheep, cattle and goat property in Western Queensland
Annabel Tully, artist, mum, farmer, nurse and ‘agvocate’
Annabel and Stephen relaxing with the pooch.
The Golden Hour at Bunginderry
Annabel’s latest enterprise- Tully textiles
Robin Mcconchie in Conversation with Annabel Tully
Larger than life, Katrina Goldsworthy has a great motto.
“If you can smile, you will get through it.”
Katrina Goldsworthy paints on leather, her picture of bulls, cattlemen and horses have a three-dimensional feel and could walk off the canvas. thebullartist.com
Katrina, better known as the Bull Artist, is a born creative and her leather paintings of bulls, cattlemen and horses are spectacular.
The bulls almost walk off the canvas; you can read the cattlemen’s mind in her paintings and feel the action of the rodeo riders.
But there is a determination about Katrina; life hasn’t been easy.
“I have had many life-threatening situations, from losing our son with leukaemia, coming down with breast cancer and lately, bowel cancer, “she said.
“But through these major health issues, I’ve always got through my life with a smile on my face.”
“I like to speak about the journey in and say to people, if you can smile, you will get through it.”
“I’ve always been creative, but my niche fell into place because of the beef live export debacle,” she said.
“I wanted to make a statement to the world that our brief was of quality, and Australia is such a pristine country, that city people need to understand and be educated on what they have and not just take it for granted and abuse it.”
“The industry needs to be respected as do the people for their dedication to the country and their animals.”
“And so my art has developed from that.”
Katrina describes each of her leather paintings as a labour of love and an engineering feat.
“I find that painting on leather, is a bit like a tattoo,” she said.
“I buy the kangaroo hides, and the subject determines which hide I use, whether it’s a rough hide or a smooth hide.”
“Humans are usually smooth, cows and bulls are rougher, and horses come up great too.”
“When I’ve worked out the subject matter, I draw that on a big piece of paper to get the perspectives right because it’s all about perspective.
“Then I draft it onto the kangaroo hide, and then I cut out the kangaroo hide. Then there are months of painting the layers of the bull.
“Once it is completed in acrylic paint, I stitch it on the sewing machine. It’s a bit like patchwork and quilting; you stitch all the contours.”
“If you’ve ever seen wool carded, it’s the same thing, when you card wool it comes electrified. Well, the same thing happens when I stitch the kangaroo hide, the stitching wakes the bull up and all the contours and then all of a sudden when I’ve put it onto the canvas, it gives a 3d effect, and they look like they could walk off the canvas.”
Rockhampton, the so-called beef capital, will host Beef Australia in 2021, the industry calendar’s most significant event. Eighty thousand visitors will roll through the turnstiles to see the best the industry has to offer, and Katrina can’s wait.
“You are rushed off your feet,” she said.
“It’s also an opportunity to connect with people from the city, bridge the city-country divide and promote opportunities to see and experience the bush.
“We’re worlds apart. Distance is a thing. People in the city hardly ever go over the Great Dividing Range. “
“We have everything that the world can offer in Australia. We have Barrier Reef; we have snow, we have deserts we have you have beautiful harbours.”
“We have it all in Australia. People need to realise we do and, and go for it.”
Katrina’s mantra: if you can smile, you will get through it.
Each year my young neighbour Nikola and I paint a mural on the toilet door underneath my house. We save a small portion of the mural from the previous year and then add a new design. The ‘dunny door’ mural project started three years ago. Nikola adores dogs and three beloved pups featured in the first mural. Nikola loved the big turtles in the 2020 design, so they were kept. 2021 sees the mural tell a story of how Flash the peacock saves and falls in love with Princess Pertrisha the stranded peahen with the help of her turtle and dolphin friends.
Robin and Nikola admiring our 2021 mural which tells the story of how Flash the peacock falls in love with Princess Pertrisha
Flash the Peacock finds love
by Nikola
Flash the peacock is searching for a girlfriend near the beach on the Sunshine Coast. He looks everywhere for her, under the tall trees, in between the bushes, and along the water. Flash looks into the horizon and spots a lady peacock stranded on an island, surrounded by a school of dolphins. As quick as a flash he gathers logs and flowers to make a raft. He cries out to her AHHH , ohhhohhohh to tell her he is coming. Princess Pertrisha the peafowl, calls out to her dolphin and turtle friends and asks them to drag Flash over on his raft. It is a long way for the dolphins but, they were happy to help Pertrisha meet Flash. On the island Flash dances for Princess Pertrisha and they fall in love. THE END.😍😍
Starting a New Year tradition, Nikola and I paint the dunny door. Of course, we have the help of Harvey.
Meet Kerri Brennan, the amazing woman who founded Buy From the Bush Queensland. It’s a story of resilience, compassion, inspiration and leadership.
Kerri and her husband John run a cattle property Tralee, on the Southern Downs, Queensland. They did not inherit the farm, they worked for years to buy Tralee and for the past seven years have been battling drought, just as John was made redundant from his job in town. Kerri homeschooled their five children and believes education is about more than the classroom.
Katherine and Kerri Brennan at Tralee
Like so many farming families grappling with drought, Kerri needed to diversify the family income and bought into a small business in Toowoomba, selling maternity wear. She could relate to the women and loves the conversations and support she is able to provide.
Kerri wanted to support other women on the land who had started a small business, so she set up the FaceBook group Buy From the Bush Queensland. The site has promoted over 1000 businesses and has 20,000 followers. Kerri says #buyfromthebushqld is about more than selling, it is about connection and support for women.
Darling Heights is a suburb of Toowoomba which welcomes and supports migrants and refugee families. The local state school is one of the most ethnically diverse schools in Australia with over 40 languages spoken by the students, many of whom have come to Australia as refugees. Classes are in English, but when the students go home, no one speaks English. Ricky Adams is a teacher-aid and says this situation can be incredibly isolating for the students and their families, especially mothers who are often illiterate in their language. The school runs English classes for all the family, and Ricky says this has a positive impact on parents and the students. But English classes are just the tip of the iceberg. Ricky is proud of the Darling Heights Community Hub, which runs sewing, parenting, and gardening classes. There is a hub food bank and strong links with the local Men’s Shed. Other community groups provide volunteer and in-kind support.
Ricky Adams talks about how the Darling Heights State School hub hubs supports community
Ricky tells the story of a woman she met one day who had very little English; her husband was ill, and she had to put him into care. The woman was isolated and did not know where to get support. Ricky says within 20 minutes, she had the woman signed up for English, sewing, and parenting classes. Over time the woman gained more English and more confidence. She became part of the community and is now a supervisor of the sowing group and regularly donates food to the hub food bank to give to less well off families. Ricky smiles as she tells this story and says it is an example of how the hub can empower people and positively uplift families.
The Bunya Mountains are home to the largest stand of bunya pines in the world
Bunya Mountains sunset
I wonder the age of these giants in the Bunya Mountains rain forest.
Looking west from Mt Kiangarow, Bunya Mountains
This little fella is feeding on a grass tree, so abundant on Mt Kiangarow, Bunya Mountains
Summit restaurant on Mt Kiangarow, Bunya Mountains
fire is critical to conserve endangered grasses in the Bunya Mountains
It’s like magical cave
Hey mum, I am a bit nervous.
Don’t speed says the wallaby
Strangler vines, Bunya Mountains
Hop pine harvested its quality timber
Bunya pine bleeding sap
The bark of the hoop pine reflects its name
The red cedar was a much sort after timber in the Bunya Mountains
It could be a murder scene
Waterfall calling out for a decent fall of rain
Despite drought the maidenhair survives in the Bunya Mountains
Leaving after a good feed from the grass tree, Bunya Mountains
The delights of grass tree flowers
The birdlife in the Bunya Mountains is prolific
Looking up is mesmerising in the Bunya Mountains
A youthful Kookaburra resting in the Bunya rainforest
A watchful Goanna
Getting ready to run
I am watching
On the western side of the Bunyas, the grass trees abound
Golden orchid nestled in the rocks Bunya Mountains
Hey mum, have you heard this one?
Rare and endangered grasses are conserved using fire on the Bunya Mountains
Are these strangler vines parasitic on symbiotic with trees in the bunya Mountains
Ambling through the Bunya rainforest
Time for a feed on grass tree pollen and nectar, Bunya Mountains.
Mt Kiangarow, the highest point in the Bunya Mountains
Sunset Bunya Mountains, Fishers Lookout
Light fading as sunsets in the Bunya Moutains
Sunset silhouette bunya pines Bunya Mountains
Fishers Lookout sunset, Bunya Mountains
Sunset Fishers Lookout.
A visit to the Bunya Mountains 200km NW of Brisbane is a must if you like bushwalking in the world’s largest stand of bunya pines, birdlife, cool air and learning a little bit about country special to Australia’s first people.
A Queensland high school student has found her connection to farm animals has helped her through the anxiety she’s felt during the coronavirus lockdown. Bella Schilf is a finalist in the Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Women’s Network Strong Women’s Leaders Award. Despite the lockdown and time away from school Bella is determined to become a vet and a spokesperson for agriculture. She is one of 48 award nominees and finalists announced on October 15, the UN’s International Day of Rural Women.
Kids love picture books, so imagine how they feel when they write and illustrate their own story and it is published for the world to read!
I was lucky enough to catch up with children’s author, publisher and founder of the Child Writes Fund Emma Mactaggart as she worked with primary school students at the Darling Heights State School in Toowoomba.
Emma’s journey as an author, illustrator and publisher started 15 years ago, when as a mum with three young children she decided to give writing ago. She registered her publishing business Boogie Books and the adventure was underway!
Emma Mactaggart with budding authors at Darling HeightsListen to Emma Mactaggart tell the Child Writes story
From little things big things grow and Boogie Books has grown to become the the largest publisher in the world on Amazon of children’s picture books written by children for children.
Emma has honed her craft and has been teaching writing and illustrating to children and adults for the last fifteen years via her Child Writes program. The success of this program was the inspiration for the formation of the registered charity THE CHILD WRITES FUND which is supported by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR).
“The Child Writes Fund is about empowering children to navigate their future through story,” said Emma.
The Garden City Zonta club donated funds to support a Child Writes project at the Darling Heights State School in Toowoomba with the theme of ‘harmony in the garden city’.
Darling Heights is Queensland’s most ethnically diverse primary school with students speaking over 40 different languages. The school is known for its English language programs and support for refugee families.
Making a colour palate for harmony story
Emma worked with the students to develop and illustrate a story around the harmony theme. Her unique methods draw all the students into the project, developing characters, building a story and then illustrating it.
In the Darling Heights story, four friends from different countries and backgrounds go in search of a place to hide a very precious necklace . They encounter many challenges but in the end find the safest place to keep the necklace it as at home.
It’s a rollicking story, with many twists and turns and will be a terrific picture book for youngsters once Emma’s team of put a professional touch to the work before publication by Boogie Books.
Four friends on a mission
The book will be released on Harmony Day 2021 and you will find out what the story is called
