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PODCAST

Motherland Australia

Stephanie Trethewey

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.

kids & family parenting

All Episodes

61:06

Father Land S2E5: Jack Kennedy on Muster Dogs, mental...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/10/01

Jack Kennedy is a livestock contractor in Western Victoria, a dad of two little girls, founder of a local Tough Guy Book Club chapter, and someone you may recognise from season three of Muster Dogs. But behind the TV cameras, Jack was navigating a much bigger adjustment. Becoming a dad changed everything. He was managing a busy farming operation, working 60-plus-hour weeks, trying to be a good partner and father, and beginning to understand firsthand the pressure that can come when farming an...

en-au

54:05

Father Land S2E4: Country singer Tom Curtain on the...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/24

Tom Curtain always dreamed of living and working in the Northern Territory. What he didn’t know was how much that dream would ask of him. After heading north, Tom built a thriving horse-training business across the Top End and discovered an unexpected talent for music. Then the 2011 live cattle export ban hit. Almost overnight, the work dried up. Under immense financial pressure, Tom did whatever he could to stay afloat, shoeing horses, working around the clock and singing at caravan parks fo...

en-au

78:05

Father Land S2E3: John Murdoch on reaching breaking...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/17

John Murdoch likens people to rubber bands. You can only stretch them so far. And for him, the breaking point came during the drought and bushfires of 2019 and 2020. Years earlier, he’d left a career in accounting to return to the family farm in the Monaro region of New South Wales. He wanted to work alongside his dad, and build a future with his wife, Kate. Now, he was feeding livestock through drought, helping his parents through their separation, and raising a young family of his own. He f...

en-au

59:36

314: Nikita Hayes on Station Life, Raising Irish...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/13

In June this year, Nikita Hayes was home with her two little boys when their house caught fire. They escaped, but within hours, almost everything they owned was gone. Just a few months on, she’s speaking publicly in depth about what happened for the first time. But Nikita’s story begins long before that — growing up on a sprawling cattle station outside Alice Springs, going droving, meeting her husband Luke and, just eight months later, being the one to propose… and trust me, where and how sh...

en-au

69:34

Father Land S2E2: Charlie Arnott on family legacy,...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/10

Charlie Arnott’s great-great-great-grandfather founded Arnott’s Biscuits. His grandfather helped create the Tim Tam. And Charlie became the first in five generations to forge a different path. At just 25, he unexpectedly took over his family’s farm near Boorowa in New South Wales. But behind Charlie’s life on the land is a deeply personal journey of figuring out who he is, what makes him happy, and the kind of man, husband and father he wants to be. Today, Charlie opens up about the beliefs h...

en-au

40:09

313: Kristie Bargenquast on Mothering on the Land...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/06

Kristie Bargenquast was pregnant with her son, Mitchell, when she went searching for answers about her own health. Everyday movements were becoming harder, and when Mitchell was just over a year old, Kristie was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic condition causing progressive muscle weakness. Suddenly, she was navigating new motherhood alongside a disability that was changing what her body could do. Today, Mitchell is 11 and has become her beautiful right-hand man, ...

en-au

76:08

Father Land S2E1: Brendan Cullen on Facing His...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/09/03

Brendan Cullen lived 600 kilometres from the nearest beach when he decided to become an open-water swimmer. Training before dawn in lakes and dams, he went on to swim the English Channel in 2022 - spending 17 hours in the water and covering 64 kilometres. But Brendan will tell you that wasn’t the hardest thing he’s ever done. A lifelong sheep and cattle farmer from Broken Hill, Brendan spent decades carrying childhood trauma he didn’t speak about. In 2015, struggling with depression, he walke...

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45:17

312: Amie Penny Left Sydney With No Job & No Farming...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/08/30

Amie Penny was born and raised in suburban Sydney and was building a promising career at Macquarie Bank when one weekend on a family farm near Cowra changed everything. Within a month, she’d quit her job and moved into a rundown farmhouse with no job, no real plan and no idea how to farm. It was there she met her husband Jason, but building the life they wanted would take almost 15 years, countless moves and plenty of sacrifice. Amie raised their two children largely without a village while J...

en-au

41:34

311: Fiona Bryant's Secret Fight to Become a Mum of...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/08/23

Fiona Bryant always knew she wanted to be a mum — she just didn't know how hard she'd have to fight for it. After a polycystic ovaries diagnosis, Fiona faced years of fertility treatment, multiple miscarriages and gruelling trips to IVF appointments, all while keeping much of her struggle private. Today, she and her husband Mark have five children and run a farm in central New South Wales. In this episode, Fiona reflects on raising her family, embracing her role as a stay-at-home mum, and sup...

en-au

52:07

310: Jess Guthrie On Finding Love on Farmer Wants a...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/08/16

During one of Melbourne’s lockdowns in 2020, Jess Guthrie’s friend convinced her to apply for a little show called Farmer Wants a Wife. Jess and Andrew met on the show, spent 11 months navigating a long-distance relationship and eventually built a life together in Dalgety, in the Snowy Mountains. They married in March 2024 and soon began trying for the baby Jess had dreamed of for years. But becoming parents wasn’t straightforward. At 23, after more than a decade of debilitating periods, Jess...

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48:23

309: How Young Farm Manager Liz Escaped a Coercive...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/08/09

At 21, Liz thought she was building a business, a relationship and a future. Three years later, she walked away carrying debts in her name that she hadn't created and questioning everything she once believed about herself. Liz grew up in Queensland's cattle industry, studied agribusiness and built a career in feedlots and property management. But as her relationship became increasingly toxic and controlling, she slowly lost confidence in herself. Leaving meant rebuilding financially and emoti...

en-au

52:14

308: Georgie Cavanagh on the Chance Meeting at a...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/08/02

Nine years ago, Georgie Cavanagh was living in Sydney, working in influencer marketing while building her French linen and homewares brand, Carlotta + Gee. Farm life was the furthest thing from her life plan. But during a work trip to Orange, she met a bloke named Curtis at the local pub. After a year of long distance, Georgie fell pregnant with their first child and packed up her Sydney life to move to his family’s cattle and cropping property near Narromine. The isolation hit hard after the...

en-au

47:03

307: Jo Edson On Her Wild Adventures From Sheep...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/07/26

Jo Edson first met her partner Nathan at a country rodeo in South Australia more than a decade ago. Before life brought them back together, Jo spent years chasing adventure across Australia. She worked on sheep stations, milked cows in Tasmania, became a head stockman, chased a bodybuilding dream on the Gold Coast, worked in shearing sheds, lived in the Top End, and never stopped saying yes to the next opportunity. But after finally finding everything she'd been searching for, Jo faced her bi...

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49:40

306: Lezli Burgess on Leaving Texas for Love and...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/07/19

Lezli Burgess was living in Austin, Texas when she met the love of her life. The only problem? He was from Tasmania. Just six months later, she moved to the other side of the world for a man she barely knew. Today, she's raising two young sons with her husband, Cameron, on Bruny Island. But motherhood in one of Australia's most remote communities hasn't always been easy, with no childcare, no hospital, and neighbours who become your lifeline. On today's episode, Lezli shares her extraordinary...

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49:40

305: "Why Not Me?" Kirstin Fox's Extraordinary Story...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/07/12

By the time Kirstin Fox was 35, she had been married twice, lost a daughter to stillbirth, and rebuilt her life more times than most people ever will. Growing up on a small farm outside Young in regional NSW, Kirstin never imagined the heartbreak that would shape her life. At just 25 years old, her daughter Phoebe was stillborn – a loss that changed her forever. In the years that followed, Kirstin navigated unimaginable grief, divorce, single motherhood and the challenge of starting over agai...

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64:20

304: Rodeo Champion Shianne O'Donoghue-Kent on...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/06/21

Shianne O'Donoghue-Kent entered her first rodeo at five and by 25 had won Australian rodeo titles, spending most of her life in the saddle. What she didn't expect was becoming a stepmum to four children before 30, or facing a pregnancy that nearly left her unable to walk. At 20 weeks pregnant, Shianne could barely move. Doctors said the pain was normal, but an MRI later revealed two ruptured discs and severe nerve damage that had left her unable to move her right leg. Surgeons warned she coul...

en-au

61:11

303: Jess Reynolds on Raising Neurodivergent Kids,...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/06/14

Jess Reynolds lives in the Snowy Valley region of NSW, helping run her family’s Angus stud while raising four daughters with her husband. Warm, funny and incredibly jovial by nature, Jess also has a deeply reflective side that shines through in this conversation. But behind the demands of farming, motherhood and community life, she was struggling in ways she couldn’t explain. It wasn’t until her eldest daughter was diagnosed with autism and ADHD that things began to make sense. Since then, Je...

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33:23

302: Lacey Long on Building Buck Wild Country,...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/06/07

At just 19, Lacey Long launched her first online clothing store—long before online shopping became the norm. A proud indigenous woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, Lacey later founded Buck Wild Country after struggling to find the kind of country clothing her husband wanted to wear. What began as an idea has grown into one of Australia’s best-known western fashion brands, with a deeply personal mental health story behind the name. In this episode, Lacey shares the story behind the business,...

en-au

75:09

301: Katie Craig’s Incredible Journey Raising Her Son...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/05/31

Katie Craig thought she knew what motherhood might look like. She and her husband Lachy were building a life together in Biloela, Central Queensland, and after years of worrying endometriosis might affect fertility, they were overjoyed to be expecting their little boy, Dougy. But at just 27 weeks pregnant, Katie went into labour. Dougy weighed only 1.1 kilograms at birth, and Katie was then separated from him for the first seven days of his life after testing positive to COVID. What followed ...

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79:56

EPISODE 300: Lottie Rae’s Most Honest Conversation...

Motherland Australia ·

2026/05/24

You might know Lottie Rae from Australian Survivor. Or from Portrait Artist of the Year, where she painted Ken Done. Or maybe from the time Gigi Hadid slid into her DMs and bought one of her paintings for Bella. Perhaps you follow her art online or listen to her podcast. But behind the art, the TV appearances and the wild stories, is a deeper side to Lottie you’ve probably never heard before. Until now. Lottie was just 22 when she unexpectedly fell pregnant with her eldest son, tw...

en-au

350 results

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