Australian Country

Grab your picnic rug, fold-up chair and your friends and head to Cloudehill Gardens in the Dandenong Ranges for an evening of chamber music. The Evergreen Ensemble will present Tree of Strings, the evocative music of Ireland, both traditional and bar

Bill Gebhardt is a part of history in South Australia’s mid-north. He lives on Mokota, a farm that’s been in his family for five generations. Following tradition, Bill and his wife, Peg, handed over the original Mount Cone homestead to Bill’s son, Wi

It’s lunch time at Anthony and Wendy Hoy’s home behind their jewellery showroom in the NSW southern tablelands town of Braidwood and Anthony rustles up something he prepared a little earlier — a plate of sandwiches that would do the CWA proud. All th

Will and Ali Gebhardt are a young couple living on Mokota, Will’s family farm near Burra, 230 kilometres north of Adelaide. They both have a strong family history with rural South Australia: Ali grew up on her family farm between Victor Harbor and Ca

They say you have to go away to appreciate what you have at home. For Peter and Roberta Doneley, who live on Dunraven station near Barcaldine in Queensland’s central-west, it was a group tour to WA’s Kimberley that prompted them to open their home to

There are many reasons people who grew up in the country feel the urge to return to their childhood hometowns — proximity to family and childhood friends, more affordable housing prices, the chance to breathe clean air and live a simpler life. For Le

If it’s not a rude question, how on earth did Robert Aernout, the son of a Dutch-Indonesian tea planter, end up as Australia’s foremost purveyor of antique lamps? Like most good stories, there are numerous twists and turns before reaching the conclus

There’s a sign in the living room at Pokalong, the home Queensland artist Sandra Allen shares with her husband, Tim, that reads: ‘‘Next time you’re afraid to share ideas, remember someone once said in a meeting let’s make a film about a tornado full

Vicki Jones blames her parents for her peripatetic lifestyle. Both enjoyed airline careers — her father with TAA and her mother with ANA — before her dad took a job as the chief electoral officer for what was then the Australian-administered Territor

It seemed like a good idea at the time. In a wave of post-WWII euphoria, the Queensland government bought vast areas of central-western Queensland, on which, in partnership with the Queensland British Food Corporation, they planned to grow sorghum, b

By her own reckoning, Katie Riddell has been an interior decorator since childhood. She constantly rearranged furniture and has clear recollections of her nine-year-old self disliking the wallpaper in her bedroom so much that she peeled it off. In he

The exclusive Hotel range of tapware is finished in a stunning Champagne colour. meir.com.au Deisgned with your choice of Tasmanian oak or blackwood, Caroma’s Elvire collection of vanities comes with matching tapware. caroma.com.au The Vernie

It may be hard to imagine now, but when Anne Ward arrived at Gayton, her newly minted husband, Mark, was inordinately proud that there was wheat growing up to the front verandah. Anne suggested that a garden might be nice and, at the time, constructi

While much has been said and written about the impact of drought and bushfires on our rural communities, scant attention has been paid to the impact it is having on the younger generation, the farmers of the future. An attempt was made to address tha

Balneotherapy, or taking a bath in mineral-laden mud or water, is an ancient practice. Remains of bathing rooms in the palace of Knossos dating to 1700BC indicate that the Greeks knew the value of a good soak in the tub. The early Egyptians also enjo

A wave of white washed over the Marist College oval in Emerald, central Queensland, as more than 200 guests dressed in glamorous white attire to experience the unexpected at the inaugural P&F fundraiser, aptly named Marist White Night. Guests teamed

So that’s it. In the split second that it takes for the auctioneer’s hammer to fall, my childhood home now belongs to another family. How is it even possible to feel so emotionally attached to a place where I haven’t lived for close on 50 years? Fami

Coomber Bros has been supplying customers with quality giftware and handcrafted jewellery since 1919. This gorgeous pink sapphire and diamond ring is set in 18-carat white gold. The company also specialises in cattle- and horse-brand jewellery. coomb

Fashion editor, stylist, art director, TV producer and restaurateur Victoria Alexander has experienced being part of a family of six, living on her own and everything in between and reflects on the experiences in this classic compilation, which is be

... we again showcase the amazing diversity of the Australian countryside with stories from the coast to the outback. We start in Victoria, where we visit Virginia and Bernie McIntosh at their beautiful Romswood peony farm in the Macedon Ranges. Then