Beach Shack

“I idolised my father and initially wanted to be a wool classer just like him,” the designer and owner of contemporary country label BullRush explains. “So I guess it was inevitable that I was going to do something textile based. From my very earliest memory, I was interested in fashion and loved looking at fashion magazines. I idolised Maggie Tabberer.”

Beach Shack Beach Shack

These days, the BullRush label has stores in Hamilton in Victoria’s Western District, Kerry’s hometown of Burra, Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula and Broken Hill in outback NSW. Kerry also sells through stores across the country and has developed a substantial online and mail-order business.

However, the present scale and scope of the label, which includes garments and accessories for men, women and children, belie its very modest beginnings.

Beach Shack

“I had to fund my way through college so I took a job in a fabric store,” Kerry recalls. “They were kind enough to let me buy fabric at wholesale prices so when I saved my first $1000, I spent it on fabric and started making kids’ clothes. I doubled my money and just kept on expanding as I kept selling. To this day, I’m proud to say I did it all without ever having to take a loan. After I graduated, I supplemented my income by teaching CAD [computer-aided design], pattern making and machining at TAFE. Somewhere along the line, a friend’s aunt, Helen Clarke, who used to be a buyer for DJs, took me under her wing and taught me how to be more professional. I mean, she even had to tell me I needed swing tags. It’s hard to believe it, but I actually made the leather labels myself, with a bucking bull branded on with a soldering iron.”

Beach Shack Beach Shack

After years of working from spare rooms, garages and living areas, Kerry finally has a studio on her own on the property and a dedicated space for designing her ranges, which cater for every event from polo to picnics and parties.

Click here to see Kerry’s ranges.

Read more about Kerry’s hectic lifestyle in the June/July 2015 issue of Australian Country magazine, available for order now!

Click here for more home and interiors.

Words Kirsty McKenzie
Photography Ross Williams
Styling Bronte Camilleri

More Like This

The Great Ocean Road’s Greatest Stays

The Great Ocean Road’s Greatest Stays

The Great Ocean Road is famous for the 12 Apostles and iconic rugged coastline, but there’s a whole lot more to […]

The Blooming Legacy of Treloar Roses

The Blooming Legacy of Treloar Roses in Portland Victoria

Just outside Portland Victoria, at the edge of the great ocean road, sits approx. 50 hectares of paddocks that are quilted […]

A Rising Phoenix: Rae and Guy spent 15 years developing their garden in the NSW Mid-West

The spectre of the bushfires of summer 2019 looms large over the garden at Keewaydin, the home of Rae and Guy […]

What Goes Around: Susan Duncan has learnt that the secret to life is as simple as surrounding yourself with good people

If the accepted wisdom about adversity revealing a person’s true colours is correct, Susan Duncan’s bushfire plan delivers the full rainbow. […]

A drive through the seaside town of Victor Harbor

A Sunday Drive: A drive through the seaside town of Victor Harbour, SA

This house has been waiting for me,” Tania Norman says as she recalls a conversation she recently had with a tradesperson. […]

On the bright side: Find a work-life balance in Victoria's high country

On the bright side: Find a work-life balance in Victoria’s high country

Find a work-life balance in Victoria’s high country: when Matt and Britt White decided to return to Australia after years living […]

A bed and breakfast with warm tones and wooden features, Hospitality Haven: Creating a home away from home for visitors to India

Hospitality Haven: Creating a home away from home for visitors to India

Creating a home away from home for visitors to India, as Caroline Gabriel recalls returning to India at the end of […]

Light and airy contemporary living space in Victoria's picturesque Hepburn Springs.

A New Stage: Aussie actor transformed a cabin in Victoria

Aussie actor transformed a cabin in Victoria Hepburn Springs, Hannah Fredericksen is not normally one to sit still. She chases her […]

Follow Us on Instagram