Her Herd

This week on the Her Herd Podcast, we are heading right out to Cameron’s Corner to sit down with Peta, the woman behind IVF in the Outback.
Peta and her partner Dickie live and work in one of the most remote parts of Australia, where NSW, Queensland and South Australia meet. It is a life of red dirt, huge skies, long roads and some seriously big distances. And when Peta and Dickie decided they wanted to start a family, those distances took on an entirely different meaning.
After years of trying to conceive, Peta and Dickie made the decision to begin IVF. What followed was a journey that could really only happen in the outback, including an enormous drive to Adelaide to collect their IVF medication, only to discover that Peta was already pregnant.

Their very long-awaited little boy, Harry, was on his way.

But their journey through pregnancy and into parenthood was far from straightforward. At Harry’s 20-week scan, concerns were identified with his lung, turning an already emotional journey into a high-risk pregnancy involving specialist care, huge distances and thousands of kilometers on the road. Through IVF in the Outback, Peta has shared the reality of fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and raising little Harry while living a very long way from the services and supports so many families take for granted.

In this episode, we talk about Peta and Dickie’s road to Harry, navigating a high-risk pregnancy from Cameron’s Corner, the enormous distances rural and remote families travel for care, and what happens when becoming a parent means leaving home to access the healthcare you and your baby need.
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This week on the Her Herd Podcast, we’re joined by Rhianon, a rural mum from South Australia’s Mid Murray region.

After moving to the country for her husband’s farming career, Rhianon found herself navigating pregnancy and motherhood far from the support networks she had always known. She shares the story of believing she was expecting twins, two very different pregnancies, two beautiful births, and the heartbreaking experience of losing a pregnancy to an ectopic pregnancy between her children.

Rhianon also opens up about those early weeks of motherhood, when she knew something wasn’t right with her newborn but struggled to have her concerns heard. It’s a powerful reminder of just how important it is for women to trust their instincts and feel listened to.

What shines through most in this conversation is Rhianon’s appreciation for continuity of care and the midwives who walked alongside her, as well as her growing passion for ensuring rural families continue to have access to the maternity services they deserve.

It’s a conversation full of honesty, perspective, and hope, and we’re so grateful that Rhianon trusted us with her story.
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When we talk about family, we often think about the people we are born into.
This episode reminds us that family can also be built through friendship, generosity, courage, and community.
This week on the Her Herd Podcast, I sit down with Ben Brooksby, whom many of you may know as The Naked Farmer, and his husband, Mason, to talk about their journey to becoming dads. From growing up in rural communities to building a life together on the farm, Ben and Mason share the story of how a dream they once thought might never be possible became a reality through surrogacy.

What struck me most about this conversation wasn't just the complexity of the process. It was the incredible village that surrounded them along the way. A sister who offered to donate eggs. A surrogate who stepped forward to help them build their family. Family, friends, and a rural community who celebrated every step of the journey alongside them. Together, we talk about navigating surrogacy in Australia, the emotional and financial realities involved, the challenges of waiting, the heartbreak of miscarriage, and the moment they finally met their daughter, Cleo.

We also talk about something that doesn't get spoken about enough: what it means to be a gay couple raising a family in rural Australia.
For Ben and Mason, the overwhelming response from the agricultural community has been one of support, kindness, and acceptance. Their story challenges assumptions about rural communities and reminds us that belonging often exists in places we least expect.
At its heart, this episode is about hope.

It's about the power of sharing your dreams out loud. It's about the people who step forward when they hear those dreams. And it's about creating the family you once thought might be out of reach. We are incredibly grateful to Ben and Mason for sharing their story with such honesty, warmth, and generosity.
And to little Cleo, who is already proving that some of the best stories begin with a community that believes in you before you've even arrived.
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Some journeys to parenthood are straightforward. Others ask more of us than we ever imagined.

When Kirra first started trying to grow her family, she never expected it would lead her through years of fertility treatment, multiple surgeries, pregnancy complications, birth trauma, miscarriage, and countless hours navigating a healthcare system that often felt overwhelming and difficult to understand.

Living in rural Australia added another layer to an already complex journey. Accessing specialists meant travel, time away from home, financial sacrifice, and learning to navigate a system that was not always designed with rural families in mind.

In this deeply honest conversation, Kirra shares her experience of being diagnosed with endometriosis, undertaking IVF treatment, and eventually welcoming her son, Raymond, into the world. She speaks openly about the joy of becoming a mother, but also about the challenges that followed, including a traumatic birth, ongoing pelvic floor complications, and the physical and emotional toll that fertility treatment can take on a woman and her family.

Kirra also shares the heartbreak of subsequent failed transfers and pregnancy loss, reflecting on the grief that can accompany the loss of a future you had already started imagining.

What stood out most during this conversation was not simply what Kirra experienced, but who she became through it.

Over time, she learnt to ask questions. She learnt to keep records. She learnt to trust her instincts. She learnt how to advocate for herself when something did not feel right. Like so many women, particularly those living in rural and regional communities, she discovered that sometimes the loudest voice in the room needs to be your own.

This episode is a powerful reminder that fertility journeys are rarely just medical stories. They are stories about relationships, identity, resilience, grief, hope, and the extraordinary strength it takes to keep moving forward when the path ahead is uncertain.

We are incredibly grateful to Kirra for sharing her story with such honesty and vulnerability.

To anyone currently navigating infertility, IVF, pregnancy loss, birth trauma, or the complexities of rural healthcare, we hope this conversation reminds you that you are not alone.

Thank you, Kirra, for trusting Her Herd with your story.

Because stories matter. They help us feel seen, they help us understand one another, and sometimes they help us find the courage to keep going.
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In this second part of Jen's raw and honest re-introduction, the conversation dives deeper into the "authentic mess" of rural motherhood, personal health battles, and the relentless fight for better healthcare for country families. Jen opens the episode with a heartfelt tribute to her grandmother, Gwen, whose legacy of empathy and unwavering support serves as the foundational spirit for Her Herd.

The episode recounts the harrowing "s***show" of Jen’s pregnancy with Charlie, including a disastrous MRI experience where she battled claustrophobia and physical illness while trying to diagnose chronic bladder stones. This personal struggle is mirrored by Charlie’s own medical journey—facing 35 ear infections in a single year and a lack of immune response to vaccinations—which forced Jen to navigate a public health system that often leaves rural families waiting years for basic surgeries like grommets.

Jen also shares behind-the-scenes stories of her advocacy at the policy level, from attending 60 meetings with politicians in 2025 to "raw dogging" a high-pressure panel at the Bush Summit. She exposes the harsh realities of rural health, such as "bypass" and "non-operational" wards, where hospitals are technically open but lack the staff or resources to safely deliver babies
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