Rachael Treasure is an Australian journalist, sheep dog breeder and trainer, author and bestselling novelist[1] She resides with her husband and children on a sheep farm at Runnymede near the small Tasmanian farming community of Levendale, where they breed and train kelpies, border collies and waler stock horses.[2]
A former jillaroo and reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on rural affairs, she is a passionate working dog trainer and in 2007 received Tasmania's rural woman of the year award.[3][4]
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In the early 1990s Rachael worked out of the ABC Sale office in Victoria. She met her 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.[5]
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 and John Treasure then moved to Queensland to work on a cattle station, which provided Rachael with the opportunity to write her first novel, Jillaroo. They then moved to Tasmania to develop their interests in sheep farming, dog training and breeding, and breeding waler stock horses on Rachael's family property at Runnymede.[5]
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.[3] Random House signed her to a 4 book contract for British release during 2008.[6] Two of her novels, The Stockmen and The Rouseabout, have been translated and published in German as Tal der Sehnsucht : Australien-saga(München : Blanvalet, 2006) and Wo der Wind singt : Australien-Saga (München : Blanvalet, 2008).[7] 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.
In 2008 Levendale Primary School 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.[8][9]
"Like 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.[10]