Take Me Back To The Country

In the aftermath of a personal “year from hell”, ABC presenter Heather Ewart re urns to the country to revive and unwind. She takes Wendy Squires on a tour of the back roads of Murchison, her childhood home town.

Talk about a warm country welcome. Wags, the family dog, is a tornado of excitement upon spotting Heather Ewart, bounding towards us as fast as her stumpy legs can carry her, all drool and smile. Suddenly, Heather is at dog level, kneeling in dust, cuddling the ecstatic mutt and savouring being back in her sanctuary, a rambling property in rural Victoria’s Murchison, the place she will always refer to as home.

“It’s always so good to get back here,” Heather, the veteran journalist and host of the ABC’s hit series Back Roads, explains, nuzzling Wags before adding that it has only been a few days since she actually left, having attended a large family party the previous weekend.

“This is where I grew up, where all my early memories were made. In that dam we passed on the way up, I used to hunt yabbies with my brother and sister and cousins, and over there, in the big shed, we used to make cubby houses in the haystacks and I remember rounding up sheep on an old motorcycle with a sidecar. I feel sorry for city kids who don’t get to grow up with that sense of freedom and autonomy. I still know everyone who lives around here and they were all at the party on the weekend. It was a big one.”

Heather admits the party was a joyous occasion, a 60th for her cousin, Gordon, and a welcome change from the last get-togethers the family endured, having lost Heather’s beloved younger sister, Lizzie, and her mother, Honor, within months of each other last year.

“I guess you could say last year was hell, yes,” Heather admits solemnly. “I don’t think it could get worse than that.” But the ebullient 61-year-old is not one to dwell on hard times. In fact, it would be hard to meet someone more upbeat and life-loving. She is a human dynamo of positivity.