“It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle”: Leah Bailey documents life on Telopea Downs

LEAH BAILEY

At 21, Leah was living and working at Telopea Downs, a 47,677 hectare aggregation located 50 kilometres north-west of Kaniva in Victoria near the South Australian border.

In the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, where the grass grows green, I grew up wearing hot pink gum boots, hand-rearing lambs and chasing cows. Throughout my final year of schooling, my classmates were applying for university and studying to achieve the best ATAR. I applied for none. Tossing and turning, teachers asking what’s next, my parents were pushing for a trade. In my final month, peak Covid pandemic, I packed my car and drove 12 hours to far west New South Wales, where my agriculture career began.

I pushed myself to the limit to not only showcase what I’m capable of, but also to prove myself as a female in the industry. Through the long days of mustering sheep and processing cattle, as the sun faded all I had to show was the red dirt on my face and the pictures on my phone. After a year and a half of building friendships and proving myself to men stuck in their old ways, my heart desired something a little less remote, but just as intense through busy periods. In 2022 this brought me to Telopea Downs on the Victoria–South Australia border.

During my travels, I met people from far and wide — with different cultures, genders and opinions, exchanging stories on the way. I love bringing my audience into this amazing lifestyle through my images. Ultimately, I use photography to showcase that life in the agriculture industry is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.

CAITLYN GRANT

Caitlyn, 22, lives on a small farm near the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.

I am the youngest of four and the only girl, which has definitely given me a stronger backbone, that’s for sure. I grew up surrounded by nature and animals.

I spend a lot of time at my family’s holiday house that backs onto the Grampians. It is just over 50 hectares of mostly bushland and is off grid. Some of my favourite childhood memories were made here.

There was a cottage powered by an old diesel generator, but we usually ate dinner by candlelight.

We lost the cottage in the 2006 fires and rebuilt a house that has less character, but a better chance of surviving bushfire.

It is here that I developed my love of photography, taking photos of all the wildlife I could see, using only an iPod until I got my first camera at age 15.

When I’m up there I spend my days getting up early to catch sunrise and taking day trips scouting for locations to shoot. I travel through as many towns and down as many dirt roads as I can, because you don’t know who you’ll run into or what you’ll see. I hope to start doing portraits of local farmers in the future. At the moment I’m saving up and finishing working on my old Hilux (Betty) so I can travel more and one day go around Australia. 

RIKKI WALLS

Rikki is a locum nurse who travels around rural and remote Australia. She’s currently based at Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem.

I was born and raised in the beautiful Grampians region of western Victoria. My nursing journey began just over a decade ago and I’ve been working as a locum nurse for four of those years, travelling and working in Indigenous communities across rural and remote Australia.

My photography journey began midway through my travels, as a means to document my adventures to share with family and friends, and soon become my passion. I’m drawn to the beauty and diversity of our vast landscape, in the places I’m lucky to call home. The image above was taken at Hutt Lagoon, Western Australia, using a drone.

VALENTINA ALIPRANDI

Originally from the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, 24-year-old Valentina now lives with her partner Charlie Thurgate, 22, near Tamworth in the north of the state, where they operate the Kamilaroi Cattle Company.

We are a family owned and operated cattle business that focuses on sustainable and ethical farming practices. Our goal is to manage the landscape responsibly while growing top-quality grass fed and finished beef. The farming operations are managed by Charlie, while I handle the marketing.

Recently, we launched our first round of pasture-to-plate beef boxes directly into Sydney and its surrounds, with our next opening planned for the end of this year.

We are passionate about changing the way people think about and purchase their food, emphasising the importance of sustainability, quality, and ethical farming.

Charlie is a second-generation farmer originally from Canowindra, New South Wales. After leaving agriculture to pursue a trucking business, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident in which he suffered serious burns. Following that, he decided his place was in agriculture and connecting people to healthy food from a healthy landscape.

I’m now working  full time in marketing for an agricultural company in Wagga Wagga while being based in Tamworth. I also manage all the photography, videography and marketing for Kamilaroi Cattle Company, along with helping out whenever I am needed, which usually involves breaking in or working with the horses to get them ready for mustering.

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