Alpine Berry Farm

Alpine Berry Farm was established by the Hatcher Family in 2002 producing award winning handmade jams, marmalades, sauces and vinegars. Located in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, three generations live and work on this 25 acre property.

Alpine Berry Farm products are produced in small batches with no artificial colours or flavours. The family keeps things simple with good ingredients, a tried and tested method and an emphasis on quality over quantity.   Find us on the web.

Bush Babes – Handmade Leather Goods

As a mum and wife living at Dirranbandi in Queensland, Leisa McGahan found it very difficult to find quality leather belts that didn’t cost the earth. In 2006, with a book, some kangaroo leather and a whole lot of determination she taught herself how to make little plaited leather belts to hold up the pants of her growing boys.

What started as “Bush Babes – plaited leather belts for little people” has now turned into “Bush Babes - Custom designed leather goods, hand crafted with love, for the whole family”. They now hand craft plaited leather belts, cowhide work belts, log book covers, cheque book covers, document wallets, passport pouches, bookmarks and key rings.  Find me on the web.

Maggie Brockie - Artist

Black Cockatoos, Tawny Frogmouths, Pardalotes, Red Necked Wallabies and ‘roos, share the bush and boulder surroundings of Maggie Brockie’s home and studio on Queensland’s Granite Belt. The inspiration she needs to create realistic and stylized clay sculptures is drawn from the antics of these wonderful characters observed from her studio. Aware of their diminishing habitat Maggie’s focus is on both common and endangered species and through her sculptures she hopes to create awareness to the plight of these beautiful creatures.

Maggie runs inspirational workshops for small groups in her home studio and tutors community groups in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. Many sculptures are held in collections, nationally and internationally.

Eyzer Designs

Sue Jurd has been painting and dyeing silk scarves for over twenty years and has developed her own techniques and runs workshops in silk painting and dyeing, at her home near Tenterfield. Her love of the Australian bush and its people is captured in the colours and designs of her scarves.

Having fallen in love with the Japanese “Shibori” dyeing, Sue will feature a range of silk crepe de chine scarves featuring this dyeing process, along with her usual habotai neck scarves and both crinkle and plain chiffon scarves. Sue also has created a new range of neck ties featuring the unexpected. These make great gifts for the men in your life, but also look good with a summer shirt for the trendy lady.   Find me on the web.

Green Tea Frog - Organic tea blends and drinking chocolates

Green Tea Frog was created in response to a need for products that are gentle on the body, and gentle on the Earth.

Our teas have put us on the tip of many a tongue after building a wonderful local business in the Hunter, as well as throughout wider Australia after our travels in 2009. Our products are certainly good for you, but they are a treat for the taste buds as well.

As a herbalist, I have worked very hard to establish Green Tea Frog, with much support from my family team. We do everything ourselves, from sourcing raw materials, to packaging the final products. We are very proud of what we have created, and love to share it with our customers.
Find us on the web.

G.VIE - vintage inspired jewellery

G.VIE by Genevieve Windley will be unveiling a collection of vintage inspired jewellery at Bush Christmas this year. Genevieve began creating personal, hand-made jewellery while living in Emerald in Central Queensland. It was there that she met her husband, and they now produce a variety of vegetable crops (and chase two small boys around) in the Scenic Rim.

The predominantly pearl collection has been inspired by the elegance, glamour and fun of 1920’s fashion. She became interested in the era while designing a necklace to donate to a Prohibition themed fundraising dinner her sister was organising in America. Throughout the collection of necklaces, earrings and bracelets, Gen has teamed timeless pearls with vintage components, sterling silver, crystal and natural stones.
Find me on the web.

Tracey Hewitt - mixed media art

Tracey Hewitt’s family think she’s weird…apparently not everyone saves their empty tomato paste tubes to clean up and stitch into mixed media art! She has embarrassed them by picking up rusted, lost jewellery in a car park and fascinated the commercial laundry supplies people by ordering soluble hospital bags to make scarves.

Her days alternate between meeting the needs of their cattle business (which means she cooks for hungry men, washes really gross clothes, takes care of loads of bookwork and occasionally administers first aid for concussions, broken bones and open wounds) and working in the studio to create pieces that she hopes will make your heart sing.  Find me on the web.

Koolaman Designs

Inspired by the love for their children, sisters Stacey and Lisa of Koolaman Designs, create timeless jewellery to celebrate the important occasions in life such as the birth of a child, a christening or a special event. Each of their designs is simple yet chic and includes: pendants, bracelets, cuff links, earrings and bead necklaces in an assortment of shapes and sizes: from hearts and flowers, to circles, rectangles and dog tags. Selected pieces are available in both gold and silver.

What makes these precious heirlooms unique is that they are individually hand stamped with special words, names or the birthdays of children or grandchildren. Celebrate the love for your children today – and treat yourself or someone you love with one of their precious keepsakes.
Find us on the web.

the lead pencil

Melissa Simmonds is the owner/designer of a small and personal stationery business called the lead pencil. She is inspired by all beautiful paper products and the small pleasures that they give. In a world where communication is often electronic, there is no better feeling than to open your letterbox to discover an exquisite handmade creation that oozes individuality. "There is nothing quite as personal and thoughtful as a handwritten note".

Melissa works with her customers in great detail to come up with a style or images that reflect what they are about. Her passion has been instilled into her two daughters Ruby and Edie. They have pots of seriously sharpened pencils and piles of their own personalised paper.   Find me on the web.

Jame Mclean - author

Jame Mclean is as country as it gets and ‘Mad ArSe Country Folk” tells you why. Born and bred in heartbreak corner and having worked on crutching trailers to cattle runs and everywhere in between, he has plenty of stories to tell.

After five years of taking outback fiction to the world he has now turned his hand to a thing called faction, half fact and half fiction... short stories from the bush about the wild and woolly, the outright dangerous and completely crazy events that fill the lives of our tremendous rural community.
Find me on the web.

Dennis Scanlon - author

A product of the Queensland bush, Dennis Scanlon grew up at Warwick, Pittsworth and Dalby. A real ‘Bushie’, he enjoys a yarn and is always ready to share his words and music. As Marketing Manager of the Australian Agriculture Co he was closely in touch with the great Australian outback and the wonderful people who know it so well.

Having worked amongst Bush people all his life, Dennis’ retirement hobby is sharing that spirit and heart of the Bush in words, images and music that all come together in his book “You Know You’re in Australia” and CD's. Encouraged by established Bush Bards, Dennis has had success in many arenas, and most recently won the Traditional Presentation Award at the prestigious 2010 ‘Oracles of the Bush’ at Tenterfield.    Find me on the web.

Albert Verschuuren

Stanthorpe potter Albert Verschuuren creates mainly functional stoneware thrown on the potters' wheel. His interest in using local materials developed after moving to the Granite Belt in 1978 and is influenced by the availability of suitable raw materials and firewood. It was also as a result of the belief that pottery historically has always been tied to a place and strongly influences the product and the shape.

Albert's forms have always very strongly referred to the vessel, with importance given to form and function in the Leach/Cardew tradition. The pots are fired to 1300 degrees Celsius with LP gas or wood. When wood is used as fuel, spontaneous vapour flashing occurs which is typical of the process.

Anni Washington

The watercolor medium continues to charm and excite Anni Washington, and her landscape miniatures develop and refine themselves almost with a life of their own - little 'gems' or 'glimpses' of our Australian landscapes.

The obsession of mixing and moulding bright polymer clays into wonderful multicoloured ‘funky’ beads goes on - dotty, marbled, folded, rolled, embossed, cut, chopped, pressed shaped and polished. Each bead is moulded and shaped, then ‘cured’ making each a unique work of art.

She never ceases to be amazed at the beauty of them. Each medium has its individual qualities…painterly watercolour using brushes and other tools or malleable polymer clay sculpting with her hands, every which way including 'loose'.    Find me on the web.

Washpool Farm

Washpool Farm is the home of artisan soapmakers, Warren and Melissa Thomas. From their base on the farm near Ballandean they work together to produce gentle, skin friendly soap products to meet the needs of their diverse clientele.

For Warren and Melissa, the beauty of being a small business is their ability to respond to the needs of their customers, making everything from custom orders for people with multiple allergies to wedding favours for couples with special colour and scent requirements. Washpool Farm makes every effort to source their ingredients locally, from freshly pressed extra virgin olive oil to creamy goat's milk.   Find us on the web.

Lynelle Zita Westlake

Children's picture book author and illustrator Lynelle Zita Westlake lives in the thriving rural community of Goondiwindi. Since retiring from teaching her time is spent enjoying her love of writing, drawing and painting, or conducting workshops in schools.

The foundation literacy skills and early science concepts remain the focus of her books for young children. Researching each animal, life cycles and habitats informs the early science concepts imbedded in each story. "Molog the Frog", "Ornella the Owl", "Trog the Book Frog" and "When Mackenzie Met Matilda" are available individually and in packs with book, e-book on CD and set of activities.  Find me on the web.