Face to Face
Most photographs Tony Sheffield
2018 OCT/NOV: Twelve well-known Highlands locals were special guests at a fundraising lunch for Wingecarribee Adult Day Care Centres.
Back: former politicians John Fahey and John Hewson, actors John Gaden and Geraldine Turner, comedian Anthony Ackroyd, fashion couturier John Papadopoulos, mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape and actor Reg Livermore. Front: Actor Noeline Brown, artist John Olsen and composer Ann Carr-Boyd. Former politician Brendan Nelson, who was director of the Australian War Memorial at the time, was also a special guest.
2006 OCT/NOV: Here’s award-winning British-Australian actor Miriam Margolyes in her study at Yarrawa Hill, the Robertson home she and lifelong partner Heather Sutherland have owned since 2000.
Miriam fell in love with Robertson when voicing the sheepdog Fly in Babe (1995), which was filmed in the town. She’s appeared in Highlife several times since 2002, most recently last year when she was back at Yarrawa Hill.
2013 FEB/MAR: We photographed fashion designer Leona Edmiston and her husband and business partner Jeremy Ducker for a cover story on their renovated 1940s weekender just outside of Moss Vale. They’ve recently revamped it, so stay tuned – we’re photographing it for a future issue.
2016 AUG/SEPT: We interviewed Reg Livermore and Robyn Nevin on the eve of the 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady, directed by Julie Andrews. This September they’ll reprise their roles in the 70th anniversary production at the Sydney Opera House and later at Arts Centre Melbourne (playing Arthur P. Dolittle and Mrs Higgins). Reg has lived in Burradoo since 2007 and Robyn and husband Nicholas Hammond bought in Sutton Forest in 2013.
2011 JUNE/JULY: We photographed Ben Quilty in his studio shortly before he won the life-changing Archibald Prize for his portrait of Margaret Olley. One of Australia’s best-known artists, Ben and wife, author Kylie Needham, moved to Robertson in 2006. Ben lobbied for and drove the opening of Ngununggula, the Southern Highlands Regional Gallery (he is currently on the board of directors). He became patron of the Bowral and District Art Society in 2023.
2011 OCT/NOV: Long before radio and television presenter Craig Reucassel co-founded satirical team The Chaser, he was a model student at Bowral Public School and Bowral High School (he was dux of both, graduating in 1993). This photo ran with an interview about The Chaser’s The Hamster Wheel. Craig still has family in the Highlands but lives in Sydney, where he has hosted Breakfast on ABC Radio since 2024.
2014 AUG/SEPT: Jimmy and Jane Barnes have appeared multiple times in Highlife, in recent years discussing their successful cookbooks. Back in 2014, the famous Berrima locals were interviewed by fellow resident Judith O’Connell (who was with Highlife from its inception until 2020). Back then, it was a surprising insight into their love of the country, gardening, family and food – passions that led to their two books. But Jimmy the rock star rocks on, often with Jane.
2022/23 DEC/JAN: Nicholas Hammond has starred in more than 250 film, television and stage productions internationally, notably including The Sound of Music – he played Friedrich von Trapp at the age of 14. He was playing Lord Chancellor Sebastian in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella when we talked to him. This photo was taken at the Sutton Forest property he and wife, actor/director/producer Robyn Nevin bought in 2013.
2016 FEB/MAR: We spoke to conductor Brian Castles-Onion in the lead-up to his fifth outdoor Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour – Turandot (he regularly conducts at big events, most recently at the BMW Opera For All in Melbourne in March). Brian and wife, actor and singer Geraldine Turner (see group photograph) have lived in Moss Vale since 2002. “Geraldine loves to garden and she wanted to live in a place that has four seasons,” said Brian.
2004/05 DEC/JAN: These four photos introduced a story called ‘Part-time Southern Belles’ with profile pieces on fashion icon and television presenter Maggie Tabberer and (from top) Pru Goward, who subsequentially served in the NSW parliament, former federal politician Ros Kelly, and businesswoman and activist Wendy McCarthy. All had properties in or near the Southern Highlands. Maggie Tabberer (1936-2024) was pictured at her home in Exeter, a converted barn previously owned by singer Anthony Warlow. She lived here from 2001 to 2011, after moving from her Glenquarry home, which featured in Highlife in December 1998/January 1999.
2013 AUG/SEPT: John Olsen (1928-2023), one of Australia’s most celebrated artists, lived in Glenquarry for 24 years, first at Owlswood and then at Hidden Lake, where he painted in his studio up until his death (it’s now his daughter Louise Olsen’s studio). Our first big interview with him was titled ‘John Olsen at 75’. We took this photo when he was 85 and painting the eight metre by six metre King Sun mural for Melbourne’s Collins Square, his largest piece since Salute to the Five Bells for the Opera House.
2023 FEB/MAR: The irrepressible music legend Leo Sayer stood still for a moment in his Berrima garden, shortly after returning from a three-month tour of the UK celebrating 50 years since his first solo album, Silverbird. Leo and wife Donatella Piccinetti have lived in Berrima since 2015 (Leo became an Australian citizen in 2009). We first interviewed Leo in 2016 and in 2025 featured a story on the couple’s beautiful garden.
2016 JUNE/JULY: Melbourne Cup winning trainer Gai Waterhouse and husband Robbie Waterhouse have owned Alpine property Fiorente since 2014. Asked to pick a favourite location to be photographed for our 20th birthday issue, Gai chose Lydie du Bray Antiques (which has since moved from Braemar to Welby).
2025/26 DEC/JAN: Internationally renowned fashion and interior designer Collette Dinnigan showed us her beautifully renovated Bowral home for a recent cover story. She and husband Bradley Cocks purchased the five acre property with its 1886 house in 2018; in the same year she sold Springfield, the 20 acre property she had owned in Avoca, near Moss Vale, since 2016.
2013/14 DEC/JAN: John Fahey (1945-2020), former NSW Premier (1992-1995) and federal Minister for Finance (1996-2001), was hugely connected with the Highlands. He grew up in Picton and boarded at Chevalier College in Burradoo. We spoke to him in the Burradoo home he and his wife Colleen built in 1988, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 2013, aged 68, he spoke of his role as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
2016 JUNE/JULY: Actor and musician John Waters and his family had moved from Leichhardt to an 1880s farmhouse in Robertson a year before we interviewed him, but he was already very at home here. John was touring his acclaimed show John Lennon: Through a Glass Onion. Known for TV series including Offspring, as well as 20 years on Playschool, John is currently starring in the musical Waitress, coming to Sydney in August.
2020 AUG/SEPT: Renowned artist Tim Storrier and his wife Janet have lived at Hopewood House, one of Bowral’s most magnificent historic estates, since 2013. Our story on their home included an interview with Tim in his studio, where you’ll find him most days, painting his symbolic landscapes. Tim became the youngest winner of the Sulman Prize in 1968 when he was 19. He won the Archibald in 2012 for his self-portrait The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch).
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