Dannielle Lees is determined to show her kids a world beyond the farm gate

Take a seat at the Lees family dinner table and you’ll likely discover the topic of conversation is one that’s close to home: farming.

“I’m not on the farm day-to-day like I once was,” says Dannielle, who now works for a regional television network, “but it’s very much a part of our life, to the point that sometimes we’ll be at the table and I’ll say, ‘Okay, enough farm talk. Let’s talk about something else.’”

She tells me this from the home’s media room, where her youngest son, Max, has set up an elaborate model farm complete with fences, yards and sheds full of headers and other machinery. The family has moved to Dubbo, away from Yeoval, on the Western Plains of New South Wales. Dannielle works in town; from her office in Dubbo, she creates advertising campaigns for business owners in the region. Even at work, she’s not spared the farm talk: “I have a lot of ag clients,” she says.

Her husband, Jonathan, still manages the mixed farming business in Yeoval. He does the hour-long drive five days a week, and their three boys (and their motorbikes) are there with him every chance they get. At eight years old, Max can already drive a ute. His older brothers, Will, 14, and Charlie, 12, help with all the farming operations in the school holidays. Although Dannielle can’t hide her pride as she marvels at their professional skills, she’s firm when she says she wants her boys to experience life beyond the farm.

It’s one of the reasons she and Jono chose to send their eldest two to boarding school in Sydney. Her boys will probably end up in the ag industry, she says, “but had they gone to a local high school, it would have been easy for them to leave school at the end of Year 10 if they were presented with an appealing on-farm opportunity. That might have been a bit too attractive to them.”

Neither Dannielle or Jono attended boarding school, so it was uncharted territory for both. But Dannielle, who grew up in Nyngan, about two hours’ drive north-west of Dubbo, says it didn’t take long for them to settle on St Joseph’s College in Hunters Hill.

“I deal with a lot of people in my work and Joeys just has this phenomenal reputation locally,” says Dannielle.

One aspect that appealed to them is Joeys’ Extended Day program, which means the day students stay on campus until 8pm each weeknight. About 80 per cent of the school’s 300 dayboys participate. After classes finish for the day, they join boarders in the dorms, where they get changed for sports and other co-curricular activities, followed by supervised study sessions and communal dinner.

“It’s a united front, I believe; there’s no ‘us and them’ and I love that because, let’s face it, country boys are very different to city boys.”

“I love that my sons connect with boys they wouldn’t meet if they were to go to school in Dubbo,” Dannielle continues. “My sons have the opportunity to make friends from all over the world, which has been an incredible experience, broadening their horizons and giving them a global perspective.”

For Dannielle, who had been a hands-on stay-at-home mum for 10 years up to that point, it has meant learning to parent from a distance. While her boys experience the best of Sydney — including sport, beach days and Sunday outings to water parks and shopping malls — she keeps in touch by sending them photographs of that night’s home-cooked dinner or old family holiday snapshots.   

With Will and Charlie away, Dannielle has been able to throw herself into her career. She’d worked at the TV network before having kids and her old job happened to come up just before Will started high school.

“It has been great to rediscover myself as a professional and remember those strengths and skills I had before children. It was a huge adjustment, but one I was ready for.”

The family has nothing but praise for St Joseph’s, but Dannielle admits the first drop-off is always tough. “It’s challenging for everyone: not only for the child, but for the whole family.” Before Will started in Year 7, she and Jono had had all the tough conversations — were they doing the right thing? Was it what Will needed, or what they wanted for him? — but she says they never considered the effect it would have on his siblings.

“We just thought, ‘Oh, it’ll be right. They’ll say goodbye to their big brother and we’ll be on our way. They will be able
to ride his motorbike and have access to his bedroom.’” In fact, Max cried uncontrollably on the drive home and it took time for everyone to adjust.

The Leeses travel to Sydney frequently. At St Joseph’s, country families have access to the Country Club, a 31-room self-
contained accommodation option that’s over the road from the main campus. About 25 per cent of Joeys boys come from regional Australia and, through the Country Club, Dannielle and Jono have made friends with parents from all over the country — a network of mums and dads who check in on their boys when they can’t be there.

For more information about boarding at St Joseph’s College, visit the school’s website: joeys.org.