STEPHANIE Trethewey was busy building a career as a television journalist, when one slow news day she attended an agricultural event for work.

Through that event there was a chance encounter, that ultimately led to her marrying a farmer and moving with a husband and young son to a beef farm in Tasmania.

The change was so over-whelming for Stephanie that she desperately yearned for the family, friends and connections (as well as the coffee shop just down the street) that she had left behind.

Now, Stephanie is made of stern stuff. Although she experienced almost crippling isolation - with a husband working long days and a second child to care for - she is both resourceful, skilled and courageous. She has that innate ability to trust and follow her gut.

In 2019, Stephanie set up a National Charity ‘Motherland’ to connect mothers raising children on the land and her podcast Motherland Australia - but her work was not done.

Gathering support and a very appreciative audience, in 2021, she went on to create Australia’s first online rural mothers’ group program - ‘Motherland Village.’

The six-week online program matches rural mums to their own small support group to relieve isolation and improve wellbeing.

In less than two years, Stephanie’s online program has 20 virtual villages and is supporting over 200 rural women.

In 2022, Stephanie won the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award for her trailblazing work - and she’s just getting started.

Last month Stephanie the rural women’s advocate and Motherland founder was given the honour of being named Tasmania’s Australian of the year - 2024.

Going from strength to strength she reflected on the journey she has trekked and said that “becoming a mum was a baptism of fire for me, and I wasn’t at all prepared for the unique challenges that come with raising kids on the land”.

“With no family, friends, or mother’s groups nearby to support me, it soon became very clear that too many rural mums are raising their children without a village, and they desperately need one.

“So, I created Motherland to celebrate and connect rural mums around the country by providing a platform and online community dedicated to supporting rural mothers and reducing the isolation many of us feel.

“Rural mums are some of the most under-valued, under-supported, and under-celebrated women in the country.

“And while we are all so different, there is much that ties us together.

“It’s my mission to put rural motherhood on the map and enable the incredible mothers who are the backbone of our rural communities, to form meaningful connections with each other.

“Through the podcast, I share the raw reality of rural motherhood, and through our online program Motherland Village, we are connecting country mums around Australia and enabling them to form meaningful connections that last.”

Stephanie Trethewey has just produced what I can only hope will be the first of many books.

‘Motherland’ shares the stories of fourteen rural mothers from across our great land, through cultures and multiple generations.

It shares heartaches, tragedies, and personal triumphs of real rural women, facing so many different challenges with the sole purpose of uniting us in our similarities, to forge connections of our hearts.

This book has given a voice to the isolation, the pain, despair and sometimes the danger - which women can face in our rural environments. You will identify with, and undoubtedly feel all the emotions of these women as they have faced and conquered their challenges and grown through the experience.

You will laugh, and there will be tears, but above all there will be admiration for these great, strong, and tenacious, rural women.

Bring on the next book.