such as sisters Andrena Smith and Rochelle McKillop—who’ve endured almost 10 years of drought on their western properties—are now sculptors, transforming old barbed wire into art. They’ve exhibited at Sculptures in the Garden every year. It’s the reason Rosby is now an arts workshop venue, connecting printmaking, painting and welding teachers with those who want to learn (and who want to eat Kay’s famous stew and drink Gerry’s wine). And it is the reason Kay’s daughter Amber moved back to Mudgee with her own young family. In chasing her own dreams, Kay has created opportunities for many others. Today Amber Anderson is sitting next to Kay at a wooden table in the green kitchen of the Rosby farmhouse where she grew up. They both have a steaming cup of tea in front of them and the exposed mudbrick walls of the Rosby house behind. They look into the computer to talk to me, Amber steering her mother back to my questions after Kay goes off piste. Kay’s husband Gerry, an accountant-turned-vigneron, and Amber’s Cameron, an architect who now runs his regional practice from Mudgee, are there too, but out of frame. When I ask them what it’s like to work together, as mother and daughter, they both laugh. ‘Mum is a fiercely independent woman,’ says Amber. ‘She’s definitely softened now she’s a grandmother.’ Kay looks into the computer with a deadpan shrug and then laughs, at herself, I think. In 2010 Amber returned to Mudgee with her then boyfriend Cameron for six months to help her parents
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fix up a guesthouse. They had no intention of leaving their Melbourne life and careers behind. Eleven years on, a marriage and three children later, they are still there. ‘There was a period when I didn’t know how it was going to go,’ said Amber about her move back home. ‘I was pregnant. Cameron was away working in Sydney. I was living with my parents. I didn’t know how I was going to fit into this town and how I was going to be anyone other than Kay Norton-Knight’s daughter. It was a weird time.’ But Amber eventually found her way, becoming a crucial
‘I THINK PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO REALISE WHAT THEY’VE BEEN MISSING OUT ON’ member of the Rosby team, while Cameron established his own architecture firm in town. ‘Now I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else. Having Mum and Dad be so much a part of my children’s upbringing and this property being loved and enjoyed by them as much as it was by me and my sisters, it’s pretty special.’ While Kay is the face of Sculptures in the Garden—she’s got the contacts with the artists and the big ideas—Amber, who had a career in film and TV production, handles the back end and makes these big ideas happen. Together, with the support of Gerry and Cameron and a dedicated committee and volunteers, they make a
formidable team. As well as Sculptures in the Garden and the residential workshops, they have recently built a permanent gallery and cellar door at Rosby, which will host a series of exhibitions throughout the year. ‘To Mum and Dad’s credit, they are very open to our suggestions. We all respect what each other brings to the table. We still have our barneys and disagree immensely, but we have learned over the past 11 years exactly what each other’s skills are.’ The art workshops started as a way to for locals to learn skills, but last year it was mainly people from the city and the coast who booked out all the classes and the guesthouse too. ‘I think people are beginning to realise what they’ve been missing out on and what we can offer them,’ says Kay. Amber speaks of the changing culture in towns like Mudgee and how she sees more people her age moving there. ‘And everyone who comes brings something with them— knowledge, experience, style, the ability to make great coffee.’ She also thinks regional towns are good places to experiment with new businesses. ‘You can start in your garage or garden with very little outlay or pressure, unlike in the capital cities. That’s how all our Rosby businesses have started. We can do this ourselves, we say, and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world, we just move on.’ n Sculptures in the Garden runs from Saturday 9th to Sunday 24th October 2021. Visit sculpturesinthegarden.com.au or @sculpturesinthegarden for more information.
