Rachael Jennifer Treasure (; born 4 December 1968) is an Australian journalist, author and novelist.
A former
jillaroo, and reporter for the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
on rural affairs, she is a passionate
working dog trainer and in 2007 received Tasmania's rural woman of the year award.
[RIRDC Rural Woman Award Winner 2007 for Tasmania – Rachael Treasure](_blank)
', Rural Women's Award website. Retrieved 26 October 2008
Early life
In the early 1990s Rachael worked out of the ABC
Sale office in Victoria. She met her ex-husband, John Treasure, in 1996 while a reporter and started helping John and his brother with their High Plains Droving horse riding business on weekends. This entailed taking tourists on their cattle droving and salting trips on the
Dargo High Plains. The Treasure family has been droving cattle in this area since the 1870s.
[Janette Brennan, ]
A woman of many talents
' Tas Regions, Volume 13 Issue 1 March 2007, Department of Primary Industries and Water
In this period Rachael developed an interest in dog psychology and training with trainer Paul Macphail and became herself an instructor for training working dogs.
Rachael then moved to Queensland to work on a
cattle station
In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stat ...
, which provided Rachael with the opportunity to write her first novel, ''Jillaroo'', which became an iconic work of Australian fiction and began a flood of novels in the 'rural lit' genre. She then moved home to Tasmania to develop her interests in
regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, ...
, dog training and breeding, and breeding Waler stock horses on Rachael's family property at Runnymede.
Bestselling novelist
Her three novels, ''Jillaroo'', ''The Stockmen'', and ''The Rouseabout'', have all been bestsellers in Australia selling more than 100,000 combined copies by the end of 2007.
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
signed her to a four-book contract for British release during 2008. Two of her novels, ''The Stockmen'' and ''The Rouseabout'', have been translated and published in German as ''Tal der Sehnsucht : Australien-saga''(München :
Blanvalet
Blanvalet is a German publishing house, based in Munich, which was founded in 1935 in Berlin and is now part of the Bertelsmann's Random House publishing group. Blanvalet publishes entertainment literature and non-fiction, first in hardcover, and ...
, 2006) and ''Wo der Wind singt : Australien-Saga'' (München : Blanvalet, 2008). She has since gone on to write three further best-selling novels, The Cattleman's Daughter, The Farmers Wife and Cleanskin Cowgirls, two short story collections, The Girl & the Ghost Grey-Mare and Fifty Bales of Hay, a dog training manual Dog Speak and a book of inspirations, Don't Fence Me In. Her novels all deal with contemporary issues related to agriculture and life on the land including succession planning and rural youth issues and relationships set within the Australian rural culture and traditions.
Community activism
In 2008
Levendale Primary School
Levendale is a small housing estate in the south-east of Yarm, in North Yorkshire, England, which is bordered by the River Leven. It is also known as Ingleby Grange. The estate is built in former area occupied by Leven Mouth Farm.
Levendale ...
was under threat of closure due to low student numbers. Rachael Treasure proposed to the community that vacant farmhouses be put up for rent of $1 per week to attract more families to the area. The offer attracted interest from around Australia, New Zealand and as far afield as Japan and Singapore.
"It's the only thing Levendale has, we don't have a shop, a pub, or anything to fall back on, this is all we have, is our school, and it keeps the women supported and networking on behalf of the men as well, so it kind of flows through the whole community." Rachael Treasure told an ABC reporter.
Threatened school closure hits community
', ABC Hobart, 24 April 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2008
Books
Novels
* ''Jillaroo'' (UK title: ''River Run Deep''), Camberwell, Vic. : Penguin Books, 2002.
* ''The Stockmen'' (UK title: ''Timeless Land''), Camberwell, Vic. : Penguin Group (Australia), 2004.
* ''The Rouseabout'' (UK title: ''The Dare''), Camberwell, Vic. : Viking, 2007.
* ''The Cattleman's Daughter'' (UK title: ''Through the Fire''), Camberwell, Vic : Penguin Group (Australia), 2009
* ''Fifty Bales of Hay'' HarperCollins Australia December 2012
* ''The Farmer's Wife'' (Sequel to "Jillaroo") HarperCollins Australia April 2013
* ''Cleanskin Cowgirls'' HarperCollins Australia 2014
Other writing
* "Dog Speak" Self Published: Create Space USA 2007
* "Don't Fence Me In" HarperCollins Australia 2014
External links
Treasure's Tales– Rachael Treasure's website and blog
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treasure, Rachael
1968 births
Living people
Australian women novelists
Australian journalists
Writers from Tasmania
Dog trainers
People from Hobart
Charles Sturt University alumni