Australian Farming Families

Through fires and floods, droughts and dramas, these multi-generational families thrive and survive in some the harshest conditions in the country. As they say, there's no sick pay out in the bush. On million hectare properties hours from the nearest town, these families face the elements as they plant, harvest, graze and muster battling the bush to eke out a living from the toughest climate of them all.In this moving and enjoyable portrait of bush battlers, Deb Hunt explores the spirit of the outback through its hardworn inhabitants. From ringers, gardeners and cooks to jackeroos, jillaroos and stockmen all are like family and everyone has a story to tell. From the fighting French family, whose connection to the bush goes back seven generations. To Philip the Philosopher, at fifteen he started work as a jackeroo and by 29 was managing a property of more than one million hectares carrying 20,000 head of cattle. And rowdy Roma Britnell who was awarded Australian Rural Woman of the Year in 2009 who was told she would never be able to afford her own farm by the banks and now has three dairies and a herd of over 1,000 cows.Lifelong friendship, close family bonds, mateship and the strong beating heart of the land are what keeps these extraordinary families going. Their endurance, spirit and love of this great brown land are an inspiration to us all.