Rural living no impediment to launching a fine art publishing career

As a wife to her husband Ed, a cotton farmer originally from Boomi, and mother to their children she was satisfied in her family role but as a former career journalist she feared her chance to tell other people's stories was over.

"I'm hopeless on the farm and useless with the books," she admitted. "But I wanted to tell the stories of rural and regional Australia as I had experienced it. I wanted to tell the stories of innovative people."

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As the author of a best selling internationally acclaimed book about flower arrangements, Mrs Hickson used her experience to launch her dream - a seasonal magazine with a book like feel to its 140 pages dedicated to the arts and culture of regional Australia.

It was a big call, considering her humble base in the Dumeresq Valley, where she and Ed bought a farm with irrigation to grow pecans. Until very recently internet reception was compromised.

"All of this is only just possible now," Annabelle said. "I am using modern social media to bring back print, which is a quiet medium that's not yelling at you. And I wanted to read something about a modern voice from the bush that didn't need to be charged from a wall plug."

Preparing a draft first copy required some time in the car, as the nearest printer was at the Tenterfield library, an hour away. However, being centrally isolated - Inverell is nearly two hours' drive - helps feed Annabelle's imagination for content, with stories in the first edition hailing from Lightning Ridge and Menindee Lakes to Nundle and beyond to the Blue Mountains.

One carefully crafted obituary about Les Murray was written by an Australian investment banker currently working in Dubai. Annabelle and the writer met online through Instagram. In fact, Annabelle's 70,000 strong following on her own "Insta" account helped propel her back into the world of the printed page and continues to feed the publication's voracious appetite for content.

"I would like this publication to be a bridge between city and country. I want it to be so beautiful to city people and get them to go out and visit the country regions," said Mrs Hickson. "I want to show the capability and sophistication of the regions.

"The perception that country people live in a backwater is just not true. I look around at all these capable people. Country living defines us. Here are innovative people who advance in the face of adversity and we desperately need to tell their story."

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