Motherland Australia

12 years ago on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, three farmers looked in the mirror and didn’t like what they saw. So they founded Fat Farmers, a grassroots movement now inspiring rural communities to get moving, check in on each other, and quietly save lives. One of the founders is Ben Wundersitz, a fifth-generation farmer from Maitland, SA — a state still crippled by drought. Ben shares how those first awkward workouts grew into 35 groups nationwide, the mental health conversations that happen between reps, and what fatherhood means to him after raising two kids with his high-school sweetheart, Belinda. Last month...

When Renae Black stepped into her second maternity leave, she was in the thick of postnatal anxiety and overwhelm. Instead of letting it swallow her, she opened her laptop and set herself a challenge: write a book before going back to work. By the time she returned to the office, she had four manuscripts under her belt! Raised on a farm north of Wagga, Renae’s childhood was full of cattle, dogs, snakes and even the occasional ostrich. That sense of small-town grit and community never left her, and now, in Queensland’s Moreton Bay, she balances life as a mu...

There was a day when Stuart Austin picked up the phone and called his wife, asking her to come home because he needed her. He wasn’t sick, and he wasn’t injured…but he was in a very dark place, and he knew he couldn’t get through it alone. Stu is a cattleman, entrepreneur, and father of three. His story stretches from long days on Northern Territory stations, working on ranches in Canada, 8 years as General Manager of Wilmot Cattle Co, and now, his own advisory business, Audacious Ag. But this conversation isn’t just about his career in...

Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng is a mum, grandmother, academic and author. A proud Wakka Wakka/Wulli Wulli woman, she was born in 1958 in Longreach, central western Queensland. Her story is one of resilience across generations. Under the Queensland Act, Aboriginal people were controlled and forced onto missions — but her great-grandfather kept the family on Country by working the land and negotiating with station owners, ensuring their culture survived. From this foundation, Tjanara’s life unfolded — through Catholic schooling, champion swimming, and later, confronting the trauma of childhood abuse. She’s since built a diverse career, from her groundbreaking work on sacre...

John Hassell has spent his life farming in Western Australia, raising three kids, and now spoiling grandkids. As Vice President of the National Farmers Federation, he’s fought for fairer outcomes for farmers and sparked deeper conversations about rural mental health. His drive comes from lived experience — grappling with succession pressures, crushing financial stress, and a battle with depression that once left him collapsed on the shearing shed floor. Behind his grit and humour is a raw story of struggle and resilience. In this conversation, John speaks more openly than ever about marriage, fatherhood, and the determination to show up f...

Kirsty Evans swore she’d never have kids. Then came motherhood, farm succession, and floods. Raised in Dubbo by a single mum, Kirsty built a career in corporate law and imagined a child-free city life. But love (and a six-foot-five farmer from Orange) changed everything. Now a mum of three, solicitor, and partner in a farming enterprise, Kirsty juggles family, career, and life on the land. Her path into motherhood wasn’t smooth. After her third child she faced postnatal depression, learning the strength of asking for help. That resilience was tested again in 2022, when catastrophic floods hit her comm...

Paige Schmidt was just 23 when she became a mum for the first time, living and working on a remote cattle station in central Queensland. From the challenges of raising kids whilst so isolated, to managing her own chronic illness, she's faced more than her fair share of health hurdles. Living hours from the nearest hospital, she’s had to navigate her children’s unexpected medical emergencies while adapting to a life-changing diagnosis herself. Today, Paige shares her story with honesty and strength, from the realities of motherhood in the bush, to the impact on her mental health, and the less...

The secret is out.

Introducing... Father Land 💚

A special podcast series dropping Wednesday September 3rd right here on the Motherland Podcast channel!

Proudly supported by Nutrien Ag Solutions. 

https://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

Country singer songwriter Shenai Johnston grew up near Ongerup in WA with music in her veins — singing from the moment she could talk, winning competitions, and chasing her dreams. But at 19, she lost her mum — and with her, the music she loved. She put down the guitar, stopped singing, and tried to navigate life without the woman who had shaped her. Now, Shenai is a mum of three boys, two with autism, and is raising her family on a small farm in Boyup Brook while her husband works FIFO. Life has been chaotic, isolating, and at times overwhelming — but it als...

When Diann Hawkins saw a small ad seeking foster families, she couldn’t have known it would define the next 35 years of her life. A former nurse, bush cook, and mum of three, Diann had just farewelled her youngest to boarding school. The house was quiet. She was lonely. So she opened her heart (and home) to children in need. From their remote Queensland property, she and her husband Morris have fostered more than 100 children, welcoming newborns through to teens, saying painful goodbyes, and giving every child a safe place to land. Now in her 70s, Diann is still an...

Kylea Hodgkinson-Jones didn’t grow up on a farm - she trained as a maritime warfare officer. From life at sea to six months in Antarctica, her Navy career took her to the most extreme, isolated corners of the planet. But burnout and a medical discharge changed everything. Today, Kylea’s raising cattle, and her beautiful daughter Maggie, on a regenerative farm in Queensland’s South Burnett. Her journey from Navy officer to rural mum is raw, powerful, and full of surprises (including the kidney stone that led her to meet her husband). In our chat she opens up about...

When Kathleen Chiverton answered a random phone call from me one afternoon, she had no idea it would lead to this conversation. We’d only just met at Motherland’s Clermont event and I knew her story was one rural mums needed to hear. Kath grew up on a remote cattle station in Central Queensland, the youngest in a family of boys, before heading off to boarding school at 13…homesick and lonely. Years later, she fell in love with a butcher-turned-soldier, only to watch him deploy to Afghanistan while she held the fort at home. She’s endured the heartbre...

On August 12, 2020, Ash Napolitano’s world shattered when her little boy, Hunter, drowned in a dam on a family property. Today, Ash bravely shares the story of Hunter’s life and the heartbreak of losing him, along with the trauma of that day. The details, while very difficult to hear, are something Ash feels compelled to share in the hope of preventing this tragedy from happening to another family.

Ash also speaks about the purpose her and her partner have found amidst their unimaginable pain through launching the Hunter Boyle Children’s Swim Program, a life-saving initiative helpin...

Christina Baehr is one of the calmest, happiest women you’ll ever meet, which is remarkable, considering she lives off-grid in Tasmania’s Huon Valley, homeschools her 10 kids (yes, 10!), runs a hostel with her husband, and somehow finds time to write fantasy novels… five of them. Three were typed entirely on her iPhone during any spare moment to herself she could get. Today, Christina shares her incredible journey, from growing up as an only child in rural Tassie, to marrying an American, to building a life full of chaos, connection, and creativity. We talk homeschooling, mental load, motherhood, and how a...

Meet Katrina Head, a nurse, mum of three, and…a competitive woodchopper who lives life at full throttle! By day, she coordinates Queensland’s Intensive Care Clinical Network. By weekend, she’s swinging axes at shows across the country alongside her husband and kids. Katrina’s story starts on a farm near Dalby, where her deep bond with her dad shaped her work ethic and love for hands-on challenges. After the heartbreaking loss of her father to suicide in 2017, Katrina found solace and strength in her family, her career, and the woodchopping community. In this episode, she shares candidly about th...

Nearly two years ago, I stood on stage at Parliament House in Canberra, emceeing the National Rural Women’s Award. I wore a stunning hot pink gown, hand-dyed, made entirely from 100% Australian merino wool, and created just for me. That gown wasn’t just beautiful, it was meaningful. And it was made by today's guest, Nikki Atkinson. Nikki is the founder of Horrocks Vale Collections, a rural fashion brand crafting one-of-a-kind wedding and formal gowns from Australian merino wool. She’s a mum of three, a hands-on designer, and the 2024 South Australian winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award. S...

At the start of this season we dropped a bonus episode about what it was like living through the devastating floods in outback Queensland. Two months on, that devastation is still being felt. But the aftermath isn’t getting a lot of media coverage. Shonelle Turner lives with her husband and five kids in the rural town of Eulo in outback Queensland, between Cunnamulla and Thargomindah - the floods absolutely ravaged properties and uprooted the lives of many families around her. Now, as floods continue to devastate parts of New South Wales, there’s simply not enough talk about what...

Steph Wanless is the founder of FOUND Regional, a magazine in the New England area of NSW, and digital platform REGGIE, that focuses on showcasing the best of regional NSW. While she’s committed to sharing stories from across her region, she has one of her own that deserves to be told. Steph’s birth experience and her motherhood journey didn't exactly go to plan. Both her children were born premature –  they were rushed away in incubators before she got to hold them. The first time she saw her son was in a photograph, covered in tubes.  She said she lost...

Debbie Dowden arrived in Australia by boat when she was just 3 years old. Her family were ‘10 pound poms’ in search of a sunnier life in Australia. Little did she know that life would see her raising 4 children 600kms from Perth in Outback Western Australia. Debbie was working as a theory instructor at a flight school when she decided that she actually wanted to fly the planes, not just teach people about them. It was here that she met her husband Ash- and she approached her relationship with Ash the same way she did with learning to fly, getting out of h...

Ingrid Matthews and her husband manage 4 beef cattle stations in Northwestern Queensland. They also have 4 kids, aged 12, 10, 7 and 6. But Ingrid and her youngest daughter Olivia have spent 6 weeks maximum at home over the last 15 months. Olivia is living with a chronic condition she was born with that impacts her stomach and her blood sugars. When she was just 8 days old she was rushed into surgery. And there were many more after that. These surgeries take place some 700kms away from their home and often see Ingrid away from her older children for weeks and months on end. When Olivia...

Dr Rebecca West grew up in England—far from red dirt, heatwaves, and the howls of wild animals echoing through desert nights. She never imagined that by 40, she’d be raising three young children on one of the most remote properties in New South Wales, 450 kilometres from the nearest supermarket and hospital. But since 2017, Rebecca and her husband Reece—both ecologists—have called the edge of the Strzelecki Desert home. Together, they manage an ambitious conservation project on 86,000 acres in Sturt National Park, rewilding a former sheep station and reintroducing native species like bilbies, pushing back against Australia’s extinction...

Nicky Prosser lives on a station in the middle of South Australia that spans 1.2 million acres. She’s spent a lot of her life travelling around the state working in remote areas as a teacher and a principal. When Nicky was living in Maree, she met her property manager husband Nathan. They underwent one round of IVF to have their now 18-year old son, Ned. But now, at 50, Nicky is looking down the barrel of a possible heart and lung transplant due to a condition she was born with. But when you have a lung transplant, it’s often the...

Steph is a farmer, psychologist, and mum of three little boys who lives on a property in Worlds End, in South Australia. And right now, it kind of looks like the Worlds End is near because the state is in the midst of a horrific drought. Two weeks ago we released a bonus episode about the floods in central Queensland -  today, I’m sharing a story from the other end of the spectrum. Steph and her husband and their three little boys are feeding their sheep daily. They are in desperate need for rain across their properties and are...

When I say the name Liz Ellis, you probably think one of three things:

What you probably don’t think of is Liz Ellis the farmer. Liz, her husband of 25 years, Matthew, and their two children live on a farm in between Lismore, Ballina and Byron Bay growing beef cattle. Liz and Matthew bought the land 14 years ago when their professional sporting careers came to an end, Matth...

Outback Queensland is in crisis. An area more than double the size of Victoria has been hit by devastating floods not seen in 50 years. Properties have been inundated, More than 150,000 livestock have perished, with the death toll rising. Farmers are scrambling to save cattle, feed cattle, and salvage what they can. Behind the headlines, are the true stories of this unfolding crisis- the rural families at breaking point because of the emotional toll - the financial one is not something they’re even able to comprehend yet. And through it all- mothers continue to mother. Because they have no ch...

Em Armstrong is a glass half full kind of person. She’s one of those people who oozes positivity, you can see it on her socials, and hear it in her voice. Growing up in New South Wales’ Riverina district on a sheep grazing property, Em has always loved the bush. And she’s always been connected to it. Em has worked on stations in the Northern Territory, and lived in Sydney for five years. But it’s when she returned to the Riverina to move in with her now husband Hamish that she really found her calling. In 2018 she comp...

After Rosie Clements spent her gap year as a Jillaroo in the Northern Territory she knew she wanted a career that would enable her to help people in the bush. After starting degrees in law and teaching, Rosie finally landed on the right one for her... medicine. Now, she’s the only permanent GP in the Cunnamulla region in remote Queensland. She’s 500km from a CT scanner and 200 km from an ultrasound machine. So when she sees a patient, she needs to have a few backup plans! Rosie is also the mum of Lydia, who is 4 and Fergus who...

Phoebe White has had a lot of titles and lived in a lot of places in her 35 years. She’s been a PE Teacher in Sydney. A Fashion stylist in London. A High-profile real estate agent in Miami. But it’s the two she’s been given in the past eight years that light up her life, and have brought her home. The first is being a mum to her two daughters Camilla and Olympia, and the second, is being the custodian of a Mountain near her family’s property outside of Scone, NSW. Phoebe’s family have been farmers fo...

Weeks before Sonja Chrystal was born, her father was in a farming accident and became a paraplegic. Months after she was born, her mother packed her bags and left her paralysed husband and two little girls, and never returned. Her dad and her grandparents raised Sonja and her sister on a cropping and grazing property in the central west of NSW before Sonja found herself living and working in Sydney as a graphic designer. It was there that she met her fiance Jeremy, and the father of her son, Herbie, who just turned one. After her dad passed away...

From very early on in her career, Elise Petty was a go getter who wanted to make life better for rural people, no matter what role she was in. From working as Telstra Country Life’s General Manager in Armidale NSW, to being a Senior Advisor in Kununurra for Argyle Diamonds, whatever Elise has had a crack at,she’s excelled.  Which is why she thought she’d excel when she had a baby. But as we know, things don’t always go to plan. And very soon Elise found herself living on a property in the New England region of...

When you google Cathie Schnitzerling, you’ll be met with some remarkable career statistics. Not only was she Landline’s first-ever presenter in 1991 and the current Executive Producer of the show, but she is also an award-winning writer, producer, and media executive. Her career has taken her to Sydney, to Melbourne and to Brisbane. She’s worked across radio, TV and documentaries. But at the heart of everything she does is her love of the land and the love of her two kids who she raised as a single mum. 20 years ago, Cathie returned home from a work trip with h...

Connie Wood, her husband Matt and their 3 kids manage Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory. A property that spans 3 million acres and is a 5 hour drive away from the closest big town, Katherine. And the realities of living on a remote station? We’ll, they’re a lot. When Connie had her first child, she used to drive a 300 kilometre round trip just to get to a mother’s group for some support and connection. The groceries are delivered by a truck once a week, and if anyone forgets to order bread or milk, well, forget it! And when t...

Cindy Banks always thought she’d have two kids. She grew up in a two-child household. Her husband grew up in a two-kid household. Two kids was just the norm. Plus, when you live on a remote station in Queensland, 135km northwest of Cunnamulla, two kids is a whole lot easier to teach distance education to, instead of say…four. But for Cindy, four is now her reality. Because she gave birth to 2 sets of twins in just under 2 years! I met Cindy at Channel Country Ladies Day in 2024, and knew instantly I had to have her on the podc...

Hannah Speers was standing on a stage speaking when I first heard her story, and I knew instantly that I wanted to invite her onto the show. When Hannah met her husband Joe in Tumut near the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, she didn’t think she wanted to have kids. But she realised that she loved Joe enough to have his kids. And very quickly Liam came along in 2008, followed by Lulu, 12 months later. Hannah and Joe set up their family not far outside of Tumut in a small town called Adelong. Hannah had a successful career at...

You’ve probably heard of my guest today. But chances are, what you haven’t heard is the story she’s about to tell you. Holly Goodman is a regional powerhouse. She’s a teacher turned small business owner turned fashion designer, and now runs her own label, Peter Bill. Holly met her husband Ben while they were both showing cattle at the Sydney Royal Easter show in High school. They both knew they wanted kids, but it didn’t happen instantly for them. As her friends were getting pregnant around her, Holly was struggling to conceive. But, after two years...

At 56, Louise Taheny has lived a very big life. The twists and turns and setbacks have truly made her who she is today; a very remarkable woman, as you’re about to hear. Louise was born and raised in regional South Australia, and met her husband John, a farmer, in her early 20s. They knew they wanted a big family. First came Edwina, then Tom, Lucy, Will and then, their youngest, Hugo. After five children in six years, when Hugo was born, Louise knew instantly that things weren’t the same as her other babies. A few days after his...

Raechel writes songs about things that matter. Her childhood was spent performing in her family band and instilled a connection to rural Australia. She spent most of her early years living in a caravan while travelling and performing, before establishing herself as one of Australia's most promising new country artists. Her debut album ‘Finally Clear’ debuted at #1 on ARIA Australian Country Charts, and her highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘what a time to be alive’ was released in 2024.  I sat down with Raech to talk about motherhood, rural life, and importantly, why she wrote a song about her miscarriage. This is her st...

Shanna is the founder, CEO, and face behind Sober in the Country, a nationally respected grassroots not-for-profit, shifting the entire conversation around booze in the bush. Shan almost lost her life to trauma-linked alcohol addiction a decade ago and then chose to use her second chance to advocate for other rural and remote people just like her. In our very candid chat, we cover everything from Shan's childhood in Zimbabwe, her struggle with addiction, Sober in the Country's impact, and the toxic 'mummy wine culture'. Motherhood is also something we touch on, and it's very difficult for Shan to...

Kate McKittrick is based in Mudgee, NSW, and has three adult children (including twins). As her kids were growing up, her focus was on supporting them through boarding school, until one day it was Kate who needed all the support. After taking some very common over the counter medicine to help with the cold she thought she had, she had a severe allergic reaction. The outcome was catastrophic. A rare immune response caused her skin to blister and peel, and she spent 3 weeks in the burns ward, but unbelievably, the worst was yet to come. Weeks after leaving hospital...

Chris Bath has been a much loved and respected journalist since the late 80's and many of us, including myself, grew up watching her on our TV screens. She's interviewed Presidents, Prime Ministers and popstars, and pushed herself way outside her comfort zone when she carved up the dance floor on Dancing with the Stars! Chris met her husband Jim Wilson at work. The news anchor fell in love with the sports anchor, it's like something out of a movie, and very funny! In 2015, Chris resigned from Channel 7 where she'd worked for 20 years, and before she knew it, she'd...