Motherland Australia

• 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 wasn’t just beautiful, it was meaningful. And it was made by today's guest, Nikki Atkinson. Nikki is the founder of Horrocks Vale Collections, a rural fashion brand crafting one-of-a-kind wedding and formal gowns from Australian merino wool. She’s a mum of three, a hands-on designer, and the 2024 South Australian winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award. She lives with her family on a sheep farm in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges,  a region currently in the grip of a crippling drought. Over the past two years, Nikki’s designs have gained national and international attention, from magazine features to London Bridal Week. But behind Nikki’s success is another story - one she’s never shared publicly. Until now. While raising her kids and building her brand from the bush, Nikki has been facing the biggest challenge of her life: her husband Dallas’s diagnosis with stage 4 cancer. In this episode, we talk about building a brand with purpose, the power of wool, the grit of rural life… and what happens when your world falls apart, but you keep showing up anyway. This is her story.A big thank you to our Autumn sponsor, Telstra - championing regional, rural, and remote families across Australia. From next-gen networks to local community support, they’re redefining what’s possible. To learn more about their 5-year strategy, Connected Future 30, and what it means for you and your community CLICK HERERural Health Connect has more than 400 psychologists available to provide support across a broad range of areas. Sessions are done under a mental health treatment plan - simply share this flyer with your GP and request a referral. If accessing a GP is a barrier for you, you can see one bulk billed through RHC (for MHTPs only) here: https://ruralhealthconnect.com.au/general-practitioner/https://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

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• 263: "No warning" - Shonelle Turner on the reality of rural flood recovery

  At the start of this season we dropped a bonus episode about what it was like living through the devastating floods in outback Queensland. Two months on, that devastation is still being felt. But the aftermath isn’t getting a lot of media coverage. Shonelle Turner lives with her husband and five kids in the rural town of Eulo in outback Queensland, between Cunnamulla and Thargomindah - the floods absolutely ravaged properties and uprooted the lives of many families around her. Now, as floods continue to devastate parts of New South Wales, there’s simply not enough talk about what happens after the water goes down. Shonelle is a proud indigenous woman and has an incredible story that spans being a teen mum, to changing the lives of young Indigenous women through her work. Today she joins me to talk about everything from life as the only female in the shearing sheds, to her children being frequent flyers on the Royal Flying Doctors Service, and the ongoing impact of the floods on the community she loves. This is her story.Our Autumn sponsor Telstra is here to help you stay safely connected. Domestic and family violence can happen to anyone and staying connected is especially important if you’re in a volatile environment. If you are experiencing or have left a domestic or family violence situation, Telstra can help. CLICK HERERural Health Connect has more than 400 psychologists available to provide support across a broad range of areas. Sessions are done under a mental health treatment plan - simply share this flyer with your GP and request a referral. If accessing a GP is a barrier for you, you can see one bulk billed through RHC (for MHTPs only) here: https://ruralhealthconnect.com.au/general-practitioner/https://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

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• 262: 11 years since becoming a mum, Steph Wanless has finally faced the trauma she tried to forget

  Steph Wanless is the founder of FOUND Regional, a magazine in the New England area of NSW, and digital platform REGGIE, that focuses on showcasing the best of regional NSW. While she’s committed to sharing stories from across her region, she has one of her own that deserves to be told. Steph’s birth experience and her motherhood journey didn't exactly go to plan. Both her children were born premature –  they were rushed away in incubators before she got to hold them. The first time she saw her son was in a photograph, covered in tubes.  She said she lost count of the number of times she watched him stop breathing – and still wakes in the night remembering the machine's alarms beeping, doctors running and the smell of bleach. Fast forward 11 years and Steph and her husband have moved to her hometown of Armidale. They’ve been busy running businesses and their kids are approaching their teen years. But as Ted has gotten older, Steph realised that she’s been pushing down a lot of trauma from all those years ago.  11 years on, Steph has only just been diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD from her early NICU and premmie birth experiences. Steph is super generous with her time and her experience is incredibly eye opening. This is her story. This conversation touches on PTSD, anxiety and birth trauma. For support: PANDA: 1300 726 306birthtrauma.org.auOur Autumn sponsor Telstra is here to help you stay safely connected. Domestic and family violence can happen to anyone and staying connected is especially important if you’re in a volatile environment. If you are experiencing or have left a domestic or family violence situation, Telstra can help. To learn more about Telstra’s support for victims of domestic and family violence head to: https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/support-in-times-of-need/domestic-family-violenceWe are so excited to introduce Heritage 365 by our incredible partner, CABLE. This Woolmark-certified knitwear collection celebrates Australia’s iconic Merino wool with timeless pieces like cardigans, jumpers, singlets, beanies, and gloves—available year-round in Cable stores and online 365 days a year. To explore the new Heritage 365 collection CLICK HEREhttps://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

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• 261: How city girl turned pilot & farmer Debbie Dowden has "seized life by the throat"

  Debbie Dowden arrived in Australia by boat when she was just 3 years old. Her family were ‘10 pound poms’ in search of a sunnier life in Australia. Little did she know that life would see her raising 4 children 600kms from Perth in Outback Western Australia. Debbie was working as a theory instructor at a flight school when she decided that she actually wanted to fly the planes, not just teach people about them. It was here that she met her husband Ash- and she approached her relationship with Ash the same way she did with learning to fly, getting out of her comfort zone. As a young single mum at the time, all of Debbie’s family lived in Perth. But when she met Ash Dowden, the owner of Challa Station in the Southern Rangelands of WA, she knew she needed to go bush. And bush she went. She packed up her life, her daughter and quit her job and arrived at Challa with limited experience. Fast forward to 2025 and she’s now running it alongside her husband. This is her story. Our Autumn sponsor Telstra continues to support communities with free calls from public phones to all standard national and mobile numbers, plus free Wi-Fi at over 4,000 sites. These phones are vital in emergencies, natural disasters, or when your mobile is out of battery, credit, or reach - A true lifeline, especially in rural and regional areas. To learn more about Telstra Public Phones including a new initiative underway to heritage list three public phones, and how you can share your own payphone story -  CLICK HEREWe are so excited to introduce Heritage 365 by our incredible partner, CABLE. This Woolmark-certified knitwear collection celebrates Australia’s iconic Merino wool with timeless pieces like cardigans, jumpers, singlets, beanies, and gloves—available year-round in Cable stores and online 365 days a year. To explore the new Heritage 365 collection CLICK HEREhttps://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

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• 260: Ingrid Matthews is raising a sick child 700kms from a major hospital

  Ingrid Matthews and her husband manage 4 beef cattle stations in Northwestern Queensland. They also have 4 kids, aged 12, 10, 7 and 6. But Ingrid and her youngest daughter Olivia have spent 6 weeks maximum at home over the last 15 months. Olivia is living with a chronic condition she was born with that impacts her stomach and her blood sugars. When she was just 8 days old she was rushed into surgery. And there were many more after that. These surgeries take place some 700kms away from their home and often see Ingrid away from her older children for weeks and months on end. When Olivia was 10 months old, Ingrid left for what she thought would be a 2 week stay in hospital. But they didn’t return for 10 months, and during that time she only saw her older kids 4 times. Now at 6 years old, Ingrid never knows when Olivia is going to need to go to hospital. During this interview Ingrid had to stop and check her blood sugars to make sure that they were stable enough. The mental load on Ingrid’s shoulders is huge but her strength shines through. Despite immense challenges, she somehow still manages to meet her family's needs. But, not always her own. This is her story.Thanks to our Autumn sponsor Telstra, cyber support is available to regional small businesses for free. Cyber Wardens is a cyber security program run by the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA) with the support of Telstra. It helps regional small business owners and their teams learn how to protect themselves from cyber threats. To learn more about Telstra's work with the Cyber Warden's Program CLICK HERE. We are so excited to introduce Heritage 365 by our incredible partner, CABLE.  This Woolmark-certified knitwear collection celebrates Australia’s iconic Merino wool with timeless pieces like cardigans, jumpers, singlets, beanies, and gloves—available year-round in Cable stores and online 365 days a year. To explore the new Heritage 365 collection CLICK HEREhttps://www.instagram.com/motherlandaustralia

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