AUGUST 2017AWW.COM.AU 61
[ Exclusive at home]
THESE IMAGES HAVE BEEN RETOUCHED.
A
gentle, drizzling rain
drifts across green-grey
hills and collects in tiny
pearls on Bob Brown’s
hand-knitted jumper. The
retired Senator and former Australian
Greens leader has quite the fan-base
among women of a certain age who
provide him with a treasure-trove of
homespun knitwear. While Bob feeds
the chooks, his partner of 21 years,
Paul Thomas, dashes off to put a
roast in the oven. A neighbour has
whipped up a lemon and poppyseed
cake for afternoon tea. It would be
fair to say that Bob Brown is enjoying
a comfortable retirement. “I’ve never
been happier,” he says earnestly.
Bob, 72, and Paul, 61, have invited
The Weeklyto spend a day with them
on Paul’s property, 43 hectares of
rolling sheep country and bushland
on the Huon River, south of Hobart.
Further downhill, they have built a new
house on the water, which looks out
across the D’Entrecasteaux Channel
towards the Southern Ocean and
Antarctica. Without companionship,
one could feel precariously balanced
on the edge of the world here, but
there’s no risk of that.
Paul’s family has been tilling the
soil along the Huon for five generations
and his brothers, sisters, nieces and
nephews are dotted throughthese hills,
alongside the sheep and apple trees.
Paul’s father passed away last year, but
his mother still lives a stone’s throw
away. And Bob and Paul have gathered
around them a warm, supportive circle
of friends, some of whom will be
arriving later to share that roast.
“We’re a family that accepts you,
whoever you are and whatever you
do, and Bob has become part of our
family,” says Paul’s youngest sister,
Mary. “I think it was initially a bit
of a struggle for our parents – being
Catholic – to accept a gay son and his
partner, and have them sitting around
the family dining table.”
There were some in the local area
who struggled with the fact that Paul’s
partner was “the famous greenie”, too.
“It was a bit of a double whammy,”
says Mary,laughing, “but ultimately,
getting to know Bob and accepting»Bob Brown (right
and opposite) with
his partner, Paul
Thomas, at Paul’s
farm on the Huon
River, Tasmania.