PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
Inside the Cassimatis General Store and family home, recently restored by locals.
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What did photographer Clancy Paine do when COVID-19 struck? Packed the kids into the car for a 1400 kilometre trip north to Longreach, Queensland.
Taking in the view.
Home on the road.
The kids making breakfast.
Photographer Clancy Paine finds hitting the road very grounding.
The Paine kids playing at sunset.
Kezz is the family's red-tailed black cockatoo.
Clancy capturing the landscape.
Rest stops along the way provided time to explore local attractions, including Cassimatis General Store in Muttaburra, now a museum.
The kids love being on the road with Kezz.
Making tracks.
Clancy and the boys at golden hour.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
Inside the Cassimatis General Store and family home, recently restored by locals.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
Hardy and Trader with Kezz the cocky.
The nine-year-old rescue cocky can’t fly and instead hitches a ride on the shoulders of the nearest human. She finds many a willing chariot within the merry ranks of the Paine children: eight-year-old Dolly, Daisy, six, Trader, five, and two-year-old Hardy. As they march around the confines of the 27 foot caravan they’ve been calling home for three weeks, Kezz’s black-plumed head bobs with every step.
The Paine family has travelled 1400 kilometres to Longreach from their small mixed farm just outside Narromine, New South Wales; spinning through the dust of outback Queensland as they took advantage of COVID-19’s 2020 homeschooling. The family worked along the way, with dad Mat’s liquid waste business and a little mustering. It was a school term their mum Clancy, a photographer, is unlikely to forget. “Going away in the caravan is incredibly grounding for me. I’m normally like a bull at a gate. Stepping away from the pursuit of excellence reminds me, ‘How much do we need to be happy?’ ” Clancy says. “We have minimal stuff — a few outfits, a pair of boots and thongs in case we stumble across a public toilet or shower block.”
The Paines bought the off-road van from a bloke who fitted it out himself. With plenty of storage, a pull-out barbecue, two fridges and 440 litres of water, the family can go five days camping in the wild — provided everyone sticks to bird baths. Away from routine and the creature comforts of home, it’s all about family time.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
Taking a break.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
Rest stops along the way provided time to explore local attractions, including Cassimatis General Store in Muttaburra, now a museum.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
The kids peek into the window at Cassimatis General Store.
“It’s so good to step away from the luxury of long, hot showers. In the van the kids turn on the tap, wet themselves, turn the tap off, do their soap, turn the tap on and rinse,” Clancy says. “They’re really diligent about where the water comes from and how to make it last. My grandmother’s generation had to understand how to be frugal and eat fruit and veggies in season and preserve them when they weren’t, and how to cart water. I want my kids to have the same appreciation.”
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
PHOTOGRAPHY CLANCY PAINE
For Clancy, there’s a deep, visceral love for the landscape behind the lens. She’s always chasing the light, watching how it scuds over country that can seem so mean and bleak in the heat of the day; relenting, then smouldering to something tender and golden come late afternoon.
“There’s inspiration around every corner,” she says, “and when we come home, we appreciate a roof that doesn’t leak and a fridge full of fresh food. Life on the road teaches gratitude.”
To hear more extraordinary stories about women living in rural and regional Australia, listen to our podcast, Life on the Land, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast platforms.
