Life on the Land

Australia is on the cusp of the largest transfer of intergenerational wealth the country has ever seen with nearly $5 trillion to be transferred from Baby Boomers over the next 30 years, with around 65 per cent of that wealth to be controlled by women. Ivy McGufficke is the youngest of three daughters and the fifth generation to live on Greendale Merinos – nearly 5,000 hectares running 15,000 head of merino, eight kilometres outside Cooma on the Monaro in Southern NSW. Ivy's excited about the changing of the guard in Australian agriculture and brings a dual perspective to the succession experience as she goes through the process herself alongside her sisters and parents.

There can be some impressive distances covered in boardingschool drop offs across Australia, but surely Julia Creek to Switzerland takes the cake? Belinda and Wayne Murphy are preparing to send their incredibly talented daughter Maddie overseas to dance on the world stage. Hailing from the small outback town of Julia Creek in northwest Queensland, Belinda has long been an integral part of the Julia Creek community and the wider region serving as mayor of the Shire of McKinley for eight years. Alongside her husband, Wayne, and their two children, Liam and Maddie, the family owns and operates a cattle trucking business, as well as the local Julia Creek hardware store. In this delightful conversation with Sammie O’Brien Belinda talks about her passion for her community, the sacrifices worth making to see her children thrive and the financial realities of stepping outside the traditional school system to allow her children to follow their dreams.

Jenny Jenner's inspired consideration of sunflowers as a drought alternative for her Scenic Rim farm has cumulated in not just a commercial success, but a driving force behind cancer care support in Queensland's south-east. Jenny is the founder of the Kalbar Sunflower Festival, which welcomes 13,000 visitors over three days to Jenny’s farm every May in Queensland’s Scenic Rim.  Here, guests wander through one million sunflowers grown across 10 hectares, enjoying scrumptious food and farm activities while raising vital funds for cancer care in south east Queensland. In this delightful conversation with Emily Herbert, Jenny talks passionately about her rural lifestyle, her partnership with husband Russell and what drove her to continue working the farm after his devestating death.

This story started with a chance encounter between students in Western Australia and has ended with one of the greatest success stories in Australian farming. Julie and Sandy Cameron have pivoted from their early years as a nurse and a vet respectively, to wool growers to now one of the most recognisable boutique cheese brands in the country, Meredith dairy. In this episode our host Sammie O'Brien explores the development process with Julie, whose vision, expertise and passion for agriculture and land conservation is sure to leave you with something to think about.

Six months ago, Millie Hardie had just started her small telehealth psychology practise. Looking for more clients, and to share her knowledge, she started an Instagram page, called @the.pocket.psychologist One hundred and eighty two days later, the teacher and psychologist has nearly 700,000 followers. This engaged and tight knit community adore her viral videos that have been described as a cross between psychology and Play School.  In this conversation, Millie explains to Em Herbert how her practise has expanded, and she's discovered a new direction for her business. All of this, around parenting her two small children and helping her husband Dave farm nearly 4000 hectares near Cootamundra in the Riverina region of New South Wales.Graziher is celebrating a milestone with our 50thissue on sale now. Please support independent media in the bush and buy the issue from your local newsagency or jump online to graziher.com.au to subscribe now. There is a great offer, never to be repeated again, to celebrate our 50thissue — a two-year subscription for $50 a year.This is a Graziher podcast, produced by Jayne Cuddihy.