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Motherland Australia

Stephanie Trethewey

313 episodes

1 day ago

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, ...

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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, ...

Show more...

Episodes (20/313)

Motherland Australia

THROWBACK: Sonja Chrystal on growing up with a paraplegic farming dad, no mum, & surviving PNDA

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, ...

9 hours ago

1 hour 10 minutes

Motherland Australia

THROWBACK: Queen of the jungle & netball superstar Liz Ellis on fame, farming & fertility

When I say the name Liz Ellis, you probably think one of three things: One of the greatest Netballers our country has ever seen A very funny media commentatorThe winner of I’m A Celebrity Get Me out of here a few years ago.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 sp...

1 week ago

56 minutes

Motherland Australia

THROWBACK: The heart-warming tale of how Phoebe White inherited a mountain

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 fa...

2 weeks ago

37 minutes

Motherland Australia

THROWBACK: Five Children, One Remarkable Woman: Louise Taheny’s story

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 h...

3 weeks ago

57 minutes

Motherland Australia

284: Whitney Spicer on Motherhood, Identity & How Art Changed Her Life

Whitney Spicer always dreamed of becoming a mum. What she didn’t expect was that a few sample pots of Bunnings paint would change the course of her life. While raising her babies, Whitney picked up a paintbrush again — and it grew into a thriving art career that now helps support her family. But behind the success is a huge identity shift: going from stay-at-home to the primary breadwinner, navigating guilt, grief, pressure and the constant juggle between creating and mothering. In this episo...

4 weeks ago

53 minutes

Motherland Australia

284: Amanda Ferrari & the Boarding School Journey That Changed Everything

Amanda Ferrari grew up in Sydney with no ties to agriculture, yet felt an undeniable pull to the bush. That path took her from nannying and ag college nights, to Warren, Trangie, the cotton industry, and eventually to a life with her husband, Ross. Motherhood began with a shock—discovering she was pregnant with twins during a “friends with benefits” chapter. Premature labour, weeks in hospital, a traumatic birth, and deep loneliness shaped her early years of parenting. Later, the arrival of h...

1 month ago

1 hour 9 minutes

Motherland Australia

283: Sarah Henney on Watching the Life She Built Fall Apart and Starting Again

What happens when the life you built falls apart? Sarah Henney moved to Longreach for love, leaving behind her Gold Coast life to build something new. But years of IVF, raising two little boys and feeling the weight of holding everything together slowly began to take a toll…not just on Sarah, but on her marriage. As the isolation deepened and her marriage broke down, Sarah was forced to rebuild. Now, from the coastal town of Yeppoon, she’s raising her boys and running Outback Linen Co, redefi...

1 month ago

57 minutes

Motherland Australia

282: Kelly Johnson on Motherhood, Miracles & the Grit Behind Her Purpose-Driven Enterprise

Kelly Johnson lives a purposeful life running a heartfelt food-waste enterprise from her houseboat on the Murray River. But the road here has been anything but smooth. As a mum to identical twins with autism and a youngest son who survived BECAUSE of a medical mistake, Kelly’s early motherhood years were filled with illness, and deep exhaustion… including one incredibly dark moment she’s bravely chosen to share. Through every challenge, Kelly rebuilt, adapted, and found strength. Now, that sa...

1 month ago

56 minutes

Motherland Australia

281: Demi Crooks and the fight for survival just weeks after becoming a mum during seeding

Demi Crooks always wanted to be a Mum. But she never knew that her journey into Motherhood would be so challenging nor that it would threaten to take her life. After two gruelling rounds of IVF - Demi successfully conceived her first son River. It was a mentally and physically challenging three years - Demi thought the worst was over but the journey was just beginning. After River was born, Demi developed what Doctors called the ‘worst case of Mastitis they’d seen in 25 years.’ It left ...

1 month ago

43 minutes

Motherland Australia

280: Jenny Lutz and her 11 year fight to find answers for her son

When Jenny Lutz became a mum at 22, she had no idea how profoundly her world was about to change. After a traumatic birth and months of sleepless nights, her baby boy Greg cried constantly, struggled to feed, and couldn’t be soothed. Living rurally in Queensland, Jenny faced exhaustion, isolation, and heartbreak, navigating early motherhood with no answers and little support. It wasn’t until Greg was 11 that she finally received the diagnosis she’d spent years searching for: autism. In a time...

2 months ago

51 minutes

Motherland Australia

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 reflection on motherhood. After years abroad, she’s now back in the bush, raising two young kids in Katherine and running KICS- the Katherine Isolated Children's Service, a remote, mobile playgroup for socially and geographically isolated children and famili...

2 months ago

1 hour 6 minutes

Motherland Australia

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 island sparked her lifelong fascination with the natural world and taught her what it means to belong...to live close to nature and be shaped by it. Today, Chloe is a conservationist and mother of two on Kangaroo Island, splitting her year between global work wi...

2 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

Motherland Australia

#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 AFL forwards the game has ever seen. Today, I chat with three-time premiership player, father of three and Geelong legend, Tom Hawkins. As you’ll hear, for Tom, life was never just about football. It was about family. About home. About the kind of hard wo...

2 months ago

1 hour 17 minutes

Motherland Australia

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, NSW, Claire and her husband Jake built a life together and welcomed their first child... until pregnancy loss changed everything. While trying for her second baby, Claire endured five miscarriages in a row, each one testing her strength, faith, and ident...

2 months ago

58 minutes

Motherland Australia

#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 welcomed their three children, Dave confronted his own mental health struggles head-on, determined to build the kind of stability he hoped his kids would grow up with. In this conversation, Dave opens up about growing up on his family’s farm, the pressure...

2 months ago

1 hour 6 minutes

Motherland Australia

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, first in the city and later back in the bush she loved. But once she became a mother, life on the farm with young children gave her a front-row seat to the invisible labour of care. Balancing paid work with childcare drop-offs, she realised what society...

3 months ago

1 hour 12 minutes

Motherland Australia

#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 providing for his family. But as farm debt and expectations mounted, he equated strength with silence—a silence that led to drinking, despair, and darkness. Seven years sober, Matthew now speaks openly about vulnerability, self-respect, and caring for yo...

3 months ago

1 hour 13 minutes

Motherland Australia

#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 farm, marriage, two children, and a future firmly rooted in the soil. But behind the original stone buildings of Mount Ireh, life wasn’t as simple on the family front. Piers’s marriage ended when his children were still little, and in the after...

3 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

Motherland Australia

#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, Tick’s youngest daughter, Dolly, died by suicide after an extended period of bullying and cyberbullying. Soon after, Tick and his wife Kate launched Dolly’s Dream. Today's episode isn’t the story you’ve heard before. With honesty and vulnerability, he open...

3 months ago

1 hour 14 minutes

Motherland Australia

#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 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 h...

3 months ago

55 minutes