Halfway through a family viewing of the hot new show “The Newsreader” my 17-year-old daughter Sophia exclaimed, "life seemed so simple back then, uncomplicated.”
Set in 1986, the drama had the flavour of a far-off, ideal era for her.
Nostalgia makes everything seem better than it was. I lived through the eighties. It wasn’t simple. There were challenges, problems and chaos but it was vastly different from today's plights.
What was it about the setting that caught the attention of a Gen Z, pop culture devotee? How does someone who thrives on a diet of Tik Tok likes feel drawn to a time so far gone? Could it be a case of cultural primitivism - a discontent with her present life and a secret inner longing for a simpler time from the past?
After some prodding, Sophia revealed her desire for human connection free of technology, such as walking to someone’s house and knocking on the door rather than texting.
"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." - Hans Hofmann
Unfortunately, Sophia and Claudia, the two younger children, were raised in urban Sydney. Their three older siblings spent their childhood frolicking on a farm in Jamberoo on NSW’s South Coast.
We lived the dream of an alternative, country lifestyle. The backdrop to our bread baking and seed sprouting were the rolling green hills of Saddleback Mountain where we, less enviously, homeschooled.
There were things about farm life that felt almost magical. Intimacy with God and peace with nature.
It conjures visceral memories of the springtime blooms, more numerous than a florist, beds of Autumn leaves and year-round scents of freshly mowed fields.
I distinctly remember being weighed down by a womb housing an almost full-term child while rounding up goats and cattle that had escaped through a broken fence.
The next day while writhing in pain and shouting commands to my partner, “Hurry up! Get me to the hospital,” my cleanly dressed toddler had wandered off and fallen into a cow trough.
That muddy firstborn, Nathan, came to be known at age four as “The Bull Whisperer” - confronting bulls in fully-fledged staring competitions. I will never forget the day I saw a tractor coming up the driveway with Nathan blissfully asleep in his father’s lap after a long day at pre-school.
The three children are all adults now but when individually asked about their favourite childhood memories they all shared the same moments.
Freely exploring paddocks which were like drawing cards, filled with something new each time they played there.
Turning head-height grass into a maze by making grass tunnels and dodging snakes. Picking fresh fruit from the trees. “Hanging out” with chickens, goats and horses.
They also all fondly remember engaging in more dangerous activities including learning to ride two and four-wheeled motorbikes. Or shall I say, crashing motorbikes … into barbed wire fences (Liam still proudly bears the scars on his thigh) and piles of polystyrene boxes full to the brim with compost worms.
Child number two, Bianca, was the cat with nine lives after copping a tyre print to the face after falling off the bonnet of the quad bike and being bitten by the redback spider.
When not narrowly escaping injury from native insects or machinery, they were independently fleeing the torment of annoying siblings by finding refuge in the branches of the enormous Moreton Bay fig tree.
After 10 years, we relocated to Sydney to spend more time with my parents. I have to say the grass can be greener on the other side. Despite leaving the green vistas, I have still aimed to incorporate rural simplicity into my urbanite lifestyle.
Do I miss it?
Well, I don’t miss the mosquitoes, flies, and cold wind blowing through the weatherboard house.
But I do miss the spectacular scenery of Saddleback Mountain, wild spring lilies and no traffic lights. It was peaceful in the country but peace can be found anywhere; it comes from within. It's a choice that can be made in the city or wherever you find yourself.
Would I make another exodus to the country if I had the opportunity?
City life promises eternal work opportunities and cultural experiences but heck, if the chance presented itself, I’d seize it.
And as for Sophia and Claudia, they feel somewhat ripped off not having experienced farm life.
But it’s never too late.
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