As a rural women’s advocate, Stephanie Trethewey created the Motherland Australia national charity in 2019 to support isolated families with agricultural backgrounds.
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00:00 When I moved to the land, after marrying a farmer with a little baby in tow, I was just totally untethered.
00:07 It was a total baptism of fire. I lost my village. I had no services or support nearby.
00:13 And I really had two choices, to fall into a heap or to pick myself back up.
00:19 And that's the idea where Motherland was born.
00:21 Motherland is a national charity that supports rural mums across Australia.
00:25 So Motherland started as a very simple podcast on my kitchen table where I still often record it.
00:31 And the podcast shares real and raw stories of rural mums told by women on the land from across the country, every state and territory.
00:38 And the podcast has recently hit over 750,000 downloads.
00:43 After the podcast, I had my second baby, Evie. I had two under two.
00:46 It was in the middle of the pandemic. My mental health plummeted again.
00:50 And so I realised that I needed to find connection.
00:53 That's when it clicked and I created Motherland Village, which is Australia's first online rural mothers group program.
00:59 And we've connected over 200 mums through our six week program, building meaningful connections and friendships with other mums who just get it,
01:07 who know what it's like to raise kids on farms.
01:11 There wouldn't be a week that goes by that I don't get a email or a message from a rural mum in Australia talking about the impact Motherland has had.
01:20 There are so many women like that and so many stories. They're not splashed all over the news.
01:25 These are private conversations that are changing lives.
01:30 And the fact that these women feel safe enough through the Motherland platform to do that is just incredible.
01:36 Motherhood is the hardest bloody job in the world. Coupled with life on the land, we need to take our hat off to these women.
01:43 You know, they're in the cattle yards. They're physically out farming as well.
01:47 They're full time stay at home mums. They're station cooks.
01:50 They are wearing so many hats and for so long they have been invisible.
01:55 They are ordinary women with the most extraordinary stories and they literally are the linchpin of our farming communities.
02:02 There was no platform or organisation fighting and advocating for rural mums.
02:07 Motherland is filling that void.
02:09 Our mission is to end that crippling isolation that so many women on the land face and we do that through our podcast,
02:16 our online mothers group program, our events, our online community, our scholarship fund
02:22 and all the advocacy that we do to show that rural mums matter and rural mums need more support.
02:29 [Music]