GROWING TOGETHER

SUS AND DEREK BUSH USED RECYCLED MATERIALS TO TURN A PADDOCK SHED INTO A STYLISH FAMILY HOME IN SOUTHERN NSW.

Sus and Derek Bush used recycled materials — and relocated 5000 rose plants — to establish a family home and business in southern NSW.

A DRAMATIC ABSTRACT artwork hangs over the fireplace at Old Bogalara, the home of Sus and Derek Bush. You cannot see them but the words of Persian poet Rumi — “I want this music and this dawn and the warmth of your cheek against mine” — are delicately inscribed into the contemporary acrylic on canvas, painted by good friend Sara Cusack Cox. The painting was a Valentine’s Day gift from Sus to Derek and echoes all that they hold dear in their life at Bookham, 32 kilometres west of Yass in southern NSW. The painting is aptly placed in the centre of the kitchen; an open and airy space under a cathedral ceiling with views to the east and west. Featuring a large window seat, butler’s pantry, charming old-fashioned meat safe and long servery table, it’s an inviting room that lends itself to occasions, from family dinners and quiet Sundays to bubbly parties. While local builders from Yass did most of the structural work, Derek cut and installed the second-hand herringbone floor by hand. When Sus couldn’t find suitable cabinetry, she asked the manufacturers to leave part of the cupboard unlaminated so she could add her own style and colour. The couple say it is their final — and favourite — addition to their unconventional home. “I love this house, mostly because it was built on the smell of an oily rag,” says 52-year-old Sus. “The kitchen is the only part we didn’t scrimp on. We decided we’d have a grown-up kitchen with grown-up stuff and I chose the artwork because it’s very special to have a piece of art when you are connected to the artist. Sara is forever in my kitchen.” When Sus married Derek, now 50, in 1992 and moved to 40 hectares of land at Old Bogalara, their home was a mere >

“I love this house, mostly because it was built on the smell of an oily rag.”

tin shed with a lone eucalypt keeping guard. “When Mum and Dad saw where I was going to live I think they wondered why they had spent so much time and money on my education, just for their daughter to live in a tin shack in the middle of a paddock,” Sus says with a laugh. “But I believed in the family rose business and I was excited to be part of that; the house always had, and still has, a warm presence. I can’t explain it but I have always loved it here.” The primitive tin shack provided a humble starting point for the creation of a truly custom-made five-bedroom home. “The cottage just evolved over time. There wasn’t a plan, really; we did what we could afford at the time,” explains Sus. “We are very good recyclers. No doors match!” The bedroom wing was added as their family grew: eldest daughter D’arcy was born in 1994, Jock in 1996 and Max in 1998. The wide hallway connecting the bedrooms was used as a cricket pitch by the children and now holds photos remembering those times. “We have happy memories of dragging the children to Coonamble [in western NSW] and salvaging timber, doors and windows from a falling-down homestead owned by my parents,” Sus says. “It all has beautiful connections for me.” But it’s not just a family home that the couple have built at Old Bogalara. When the newlyweds first moved to the >

property, they also took with them the flower business, Bush Roses, that Derek’s mother Dee had established on the family’s sheep property at nearby Bowning. They relocated the entire rose farm, including a shed, coolroom, wooden greenhouses and 5000 rose plants. “It was a massive undertaking,” recalls Sus. Growing roses is not for the fainthearted; for nine months of the year, Sus and Derek spend seven days a week picking and packing roses in the greenhouses. They have over 20,000 hydroponically grown hybrid tea roses, all bred for cut-flower production. Valentine’s Day is their busiest time. Although there’s plenty of unmet demand for Australian roses, they are happy with the current production levels. “We’ve talked about getting bigger but I just like the idea of us working together. We’re getting better at it all the time.” When Sus can manage some time away from the rose business, she loves to spend time in her own garden. With her two dogs by her side, she’s constantly dreaming up new designs. “Every season and every year gives me different ideas and I love that it keeps me interested and fit,” she says. The garden is rambling in parts, with vines creeping over the house, while there are also formal areas, such as the paved courtyard with a waterlily pool surrounded by manicured walls of jasmine. A sweetener to their long working days is the surplus roses from their business, which the couple love to share with family, friends and the close-knit residents in Bookham. “The Bookham community is family,” says Sus. “The people here and the land and the history are magical.” “It’s nice to have a business where you can give a bit away and be a bit generous,” adds Derek. Sus nods, then smiles when she says, “I’d love to know how many babies have been born because a bunch of our roses went somewhere!” The season for roses starts in October. Visit bushroses.com.au

“Every season and every year gives me different ideas and I love that.”

In the kitchen at Old Bogalara, Holophane glass dish pendant lights from Edison Light Globes are suspended over a wooden table that Derek bought for $14 at a clearing sale. Pale-blue Warwick fabric from Bowning Upholstery was used to cover cushions on the window seat. The colour complements the painting over the solid ironbark mantel by Sara Cusack Cox. FACING PAGE Derek and Sus in the garden with Georgie the golden retriever. For stockist details, see page 160.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Flowers from the garden; Derek and Sus with dachshund, Beans, their son Jock, 23, a student in Canberra, and daughter D’arcy, 25, an artist; the meat safe in the kitchen came from Sus’s parents; only one hectare of the 40-hectare property is currently used for the rose farm. FACING PAGE An arrangement by Flowers From The Garden has dried out to great effect. For stockist details, see page 160.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Georgie waits by the door; the house is made of mostly recycled materials: “no doors match!” says Sus; the kitchen table is a place for sharing; the vista over the paddocks and creek; a cubby house built for the children years ago still stands in the garden. FACING PAGE The kitchen floorboards came from an old nursing home and were painstakingly refinished and individually laid by Derek.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Medlars in the garden; the pond is a feature of the formal paved courtyard; Derek and Sus in the garden with Beans; the formal courtyard; produce from the kitchen garden; the courtyard outlook; Sus with an ISA Brown chicken. FACING PAGE A bedspread from Merchant Campbell in Yass picks up the colour of a handmade cup by Samantha Robinson. For stockist details, see page 160.

HOME BOOKHAM NSW The original house at Old Bogalara was a shed. FACING PAGE The silverware in the bookcase has been handed down. Sus believes the fabric on the window seat is a discontinued design from Sanderson.