Caro Telfer, Our Founder
When Caro looked back at her childhood growing up on her family farm, she wanted to share that with her children. The farm had been sold, and she had nothing to show her children of her previous life. She took the children back to the farm and there was a desolate farmyard, abandoned houses, and empty, falling-down sheds. There was no evidence of the lush garden her mother had lovingly tended, the bamboo patch where she and her sisters played cowboys and Indians, or the tools in the workshop where her father had welded and soldered to fix farm equipment.
The first farm album was made when Caro learned that her friend’s family was going to be forced to sell the family farm. The end of an era deserved to be marked by something special, and the family heritage needed to be preserved for the children so that they would have a record of the farm when they got older.
A Farmer
I’ve been farming for nearly forty years. After school I came home to the farm for a year to decide what I wanted to do. My dad had about 1,200 acres cleared back then and I helped him tidy up some of the new land. We cleared another 600 acres and bought merino sheep. Until then Dad was running beef cattle and only had a few sheep. We have developed our merino flock to produce high quality fine wool.
I never found anything that I wanted to do more than farming, so I stayed on. I did some courses through TAFE – welding and agricultural mechanics – and I travelled, including an overseas agricultural exchange in Minnesota. More study saw me earn a Diploma in Financial Management (Financial Planning) and a Cert III in Commercial Cooking!
Eventually my parents retired to the coast and I married a farm girl from further out. We have made a lovely home on the farm for our kids, and our eldest son is now home on the farm too. In recent years we have been re-fencing paddocks and doing some land conservation work in salt affected areas. I’m really proud of what I have achieved on our family farm.
A Farming Background
Karlene worked in media before becoming a mother, when she and her husband moved back to his family farm. Now with her three girls away at boarding school, and having completed a term as a local shire councillor, she was looking for some part-time work. So with that in mind she approached us at AFA with a proposal of how she could help our business.
Karlene grew up as a farm kid on her family’s farm “Karlinka” near Darkan as the youngest of three girls. But when her father became ill, and ultimately passed away, there was no family member to continue the family farm, so it was sold. She and her sisters go back to the farm annually, on the anniversary of their father’s death, but the farm is not the same as it was, as inevitably there have been changes over the years.
Despite having plenty of photos of their father, most of those photos are from special occasions like weddings, birthdays or Christmas. They regret that they have no photos of their father working on the farm. Her children will never see photos of her father the way she remembers him – with his farm clothes on, stubble on his chin, and grease on his hands.
This is why Karlene is passionate about Australian Farm Albums! This is why she is encouraging all farming families to invest in a farm album, so that there will be a record for future generations of what life is really like on the farm right now.
Do more with your farm photos
We also provide general photography services
Wall Art
+ framed photos
+ your photos on canvas
+ acrylic mounted photos
+ images on aluminium panels
Magazines
+ promoting your farm
+ promoting your produce
+ keepsake for visitors
+ corporate business document
Commercial
+ photos for your business
+ photos of property for sale
+ photos of produce or products
+ photos for your website