Where it all Began

I thought the best place to start with a journal is to share with you all a bit about my story and where I live.

People are always fascinated when you tell them that you live on a sheep station in the Outback of WA. It’s like we’re a rare dying breed.  The first question I always get asked is “But where do you do your food shopping and how often do you do it?”. Clearly a lot of people can’t imagine living without a supermarket down the road and are fearful of not being able to just pop out and grab a missing ingredient. Which is funny to me, because this is such a minor aspect of life out here. 

Station life is always interesting, there’s always something going on. But like everything, it can at times be tough. It’s HOT in Summer and the kids can’t play outside for a big chunk of the day (It really does take a long time to grow a tree that gives shade). You sacrifice catching up with friends, playgroups or mothers groups, playing social sports, Eating out, or Takeaways, going to the latest exhibition, or movies… whatever it is the list goes on.

But you also gain a lot of things. You have Space. Freedom. Time. 

The space to do whatever you want, a garden as big as you want, To walk where ever you want.
Freedom to be yourself, no one to keep up with, no one watching you, no rules to follow.
And time, you have more time to do the things you love because you never wait in queues, or at traffic lights, or for someone else to make you a coffee. I swear it all adds up. Life is slower, more grounded and real out here.

Best of all though you have an opportunity to live alongside nature, in a way that many never do. I grew up on a farm and it’s even different to that. You see the seasons so clearly, the impacts of weather, the boom and bust of animals at different times, it’s the unexpectedness that I love- you never know what each season will bring and it will always be different to the last.

My husbands family has owned the station since the 20’s and instantly I fell in love with its history and untouched, old worldly charm. It’s like stepping back in time when you enter some of the original buildings. No one has ever thrown anything away, it’s fascinating. Living here you also get a really strong sense that your time in this place will be embedded in history forever. 

We’re in the Murchison, a place famous for it’s wide arid landscapes, red dirt, bight night skies and carpets of wildflowers. From an outsiders eye it can appear to be a dry, harsh place but it’s so full of life and beauty if you know where to look for it. And even though it has a very small, sparse population, it still has a strong sense of community with lots of quirky characters and people from all walks of life.  

So this is where I create everything, by myself (mostly while my kids nap), in a small studio overlooking our garden. 

A little bit of my story and the story of the clothes I create.

Julia x