Motherland Australia
Hosted by Stephanie Trethewey. Motherland shares real, raw, and unbelievable stories of motherhood told by women on the land. Each week, a rural mum from somewhere in Australia shares her motherhood journey. You'll hear stories of true grit, resilience, grief, and pure joy. Motherhood is the most life changing and transformative journey a woman can go through, and it's not always easy. No matter where you live or what you do, we're in this together and you're not alone.
Episodes
303 episodes
Episode 279: From the Outback to Switzerland and Back - Megan Holzwart’s Story of Motherhood, Grit & Adventure
From a childhood spent building fences and mustering cattle on her family’s remote Northern Territory station, to life in a Swiss city where she could see France from her balcony, Megan Holzwart’s story is one of grit, adventure, and deep refle...
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1:06:15
278: The Jungle Doctor: Chloe Buiting on Motherhood, Belonging, and a Life Between Continents
Before she was known as The Jungle Doctor, travelling the world as a wildlife vet, dehorning rhinos in South Africa and fitting elephants with prosthetics, Dr Chloe Buiting was a barefoot kid in the bush on Lord Howe Island. That tiny ...
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1:02:47
Father Land #8: AFL Legend Tom Hawkins on Grief, Footy, Farming and Fatherhood
Once upon a time, in the small farming town of Finley in southern New South Wales, there was a boy who spent his afternoons chasing footies across dusty paddocks and helping his parents on the land. That boy grew up to be one of the greatest AF...
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1:17:31
277: Claire Brett’s Journey Through Five Miscarriages and the Courage It Took to Keep Going
Claire Brett’s story begins in a country pub on the NSW/QLD border — a lively, dusty place where everyone knew your name. But after losing her dad at just five, grief became a quiet thread through her life. Years later, on a farm in Kentucky, N...
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58:45
Father Land #7: Facing Himself First: Dave Woods on Fatherhood & Challenging our Approach to Mental Health in the Bush
What does it really mean to do the work before becoming a dad? For today's guest, Queensland farmer Dave Woods, fatherhood wasn’t something he wanted to just stumble into. He wanted to be prepared. So, long before he and his wife Alice we...
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1:06:43
276: Virginia Tapscott on Why All Mothers Work and Why It’s Time the World Valued Care
When journalist Virginia Tapscott became a mum, she thought she’d be back at work within six months. But motherhood had other plans. Raised on a cattle and cropping farm near Narrabri, Virginia had built a career telling stories that mattered, ...
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1:12:15
Father Land #6: Sobriety, Vulnerability & Masculinity on the Land with Matthew Tonkin
What does it mean to be a good man in the bush? For Matthew Tonkin, the answer has transformed over time. Growing up the youngest of five on his family’s farm near the NSW–Queensland border, Matthew believed a man’s worth was in hard work and p...
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1:13:33
Father Land #5: Piers Dumaresq — Rebuilding After Divorce and Putting Fatherhood Before Farming
12 years ago, Piers Dumaresq walked away from the high-flying world of Sydney wealth management, to return home to the family farm in Tasmania with his future wife. On paper, it looked like a tree-change success story: a 200-year-old family far...
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1:01:51
Father Land #4: Dolly’s Dad Tick Everett Speaks on Fatherhood, Family and Fighting On
Tick Everett is a man who never imagined he’d be the face of a national movement. For decades, he worked the land, raised his daughters, and built a life around family and farming. But in January 2018, that life changed forever. At just 14, Tic...
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1:14:21
Father Land #3: Ben Wundersitz — From Fat Farmers to Fit Fathers, A Movement Saving Rural Lives
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 q...
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55:20
275: From Anxiety to Author: How Renae Black Wrote Her Way Through Motherhood
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....
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47:03
Father Land #2: From Rock Bottom and Back — Stuart Austin on How Fatherhood Saved His Life
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 ...
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1:34:25
274: Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng’s Extraordinary Lifelong Work of Healing and Fighting Her Demons
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 A...
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59:06
Father Land #1: NFF Vice President John Hassell on his journey through depression, succession and showing up as a dad
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 abo...
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48:42
273: Kirsty Evans swore she’d never have kids. Then came motherhood, farm succession & floods
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 ...
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57:38
272: Paige Schmidt on Motherhood, Medical Emergencies, & Managing Chronic Illness Remotely
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 mo...
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50:36
Father Land: A special series launching September 3rd!
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
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271: Country Music Artist Shenai Johnston On Finding Her Voice Again After Loss
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...
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51:57
270: Diann Hawkins has fostered over 100 children over the past 35 years
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 ...
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48:25
269: Why Kylea Hodgkinson-Jones Swapped Life in the Navy for Life on the Land
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 d...
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1:02:11
268: Kath Chiverton on Love, Loss, and Preparing for Boarding School Goodbyes
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 ...
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1:03:18
267: Why Ash Napolitano wants to talk about the worst day of her life
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. T...
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1:10:38
266: Christina Baehr on Raising 10 Kids Off-Grid (And becoming a bestselling author)
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 find...
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1:04:18
265: The axe-wielding nurse - inside Katrina Head's incredible double life
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...
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46:21
264: Fashion designer Nikki Atkinson shares the private pain behind her merino masterpieces
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 wa...
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1:01:42