Women Of The Outback

Some have thousands of years of history here; others blew in just a decade ago but the red dust has seeped into their veins. Samantha Trenoweth meets six women who have made Central Australia their home.

- Samantha Trenoweth

Anika and Lindy MOLESWORTH

SHEEP STATION OWNERS

Lindy Molesworth manages more than 4000 hectares of marginal country outside Broken Hill in the far west of NSW. Her daughter, Anika, is working on a doctorate on the impacts of climate change on agriculture with a plan to return to the property and steer it through the challenging years ahead.

The Molesworths are no newcomers to challenge. Lindy and her husband, Simon, bought the property back in 2000, at the start of the decade-long millennial drought. Their introduction to marginal country farming involved destocking at the get-go, then waiting … and waiting for rain. Finally they were able to restock gradually with hardy African breeds of sheep.

Anika was 12 when the family bought the land and it was love at first sight. “I love the colours – those deep reds and blue skies and incredible horizons,” she says. “I love the rugged, ancient, fragile landscape. People think of desert country as lifeless but go walking through the paddocks and you’ll see lizards, emerald budgerigars, white paper daisies. There’s amazing biodiversity.”

Anika has established an award-winning website, Climate Wise Agriculture, a group called Farmers for Climate Action, and in 2015 she was Young Farmer of the Year. Her goal remains “to further my knowledge and skills and try to ensure a vibrant and resilient future out here in some very beautiful but also very challenging country.” 

Veronica DOBSON AM

AUTHOR, LINGUIST, BOTANIST, ELDER