Sue Clohesy has spent most of her life going with her creative flow in the Victorian River Town of Mildura.
After almost three decades in retail selling homewares, antiques and flowers, Sue Clohesy says she’s never short of inspiration and props for updating and rearranging her home. Sue and her electrician husband, John, bought their 1930s weatherboard cottage on five acres (two hectares) at Iyrmple on the outskirts of the fruit-growing city of Mildura on the Victorian side of the Murray River in 1989. Readers with long memories may recall that Australian Country has visited the Clohesys several times during the past. The first time was in 1997, when their youngest son, Conor, was just a baby. He now works in retail administration in Melbourne, while daughter, Siobhan is a Pilates instructor, also in Melbourne and Rhiannon is a graphic designer in Adelaide, where she runs her own company making original cards, planners, calendars, printed T shirts and other gift items.
Sue says the house has evolved with the times and the needs of the family and while it is barely recognisable from the original, the footprint and basic structure have not changed.
“It was very dark when we first moved in,” she says. “It had great bones with timber floors, high ceilings, lots of leadlights and French doors. But we needed to open it up and add skylights and extra windows. Plus built in some of the verandah space to make more rooms for our young family.” Through the years, the house has evolved with changing tastes in interiors and the needs of the family. From 1995, Sue ran her business, Rose Harvest, from a shed in the grounds and vintage pieces melded beautifully with flowers, including blooms more than 500 bushes she planted in the rambling cottage garden that remains an outstanding feature of the property today.
“It’s been a natural progression,” she says. “When I started out, the house, like the business, reflected the taste of the time for Victoriana. That evolved into a more folk-oriented style, but these days, my style is more pared back and earthy. I’ve always appreciated handmade and artistic objects, and these days, I’m able to follow my passion for art and I’m more likely to visit a gallery or a pottery studio than a retail shop. There is however, one pine dresser that I’ve kept through all the changes I’ve made at home. If I had my time over, I might not buy it now, but I’ve always made it work.”
In 1999, Sue moved Rose Harvest to a downtown location and in 2011 into the Mildura CBD, where she ran it until she sold in 2021. “I feel lucky to have had all those years in retail,” she says. “But after almost three decades working hard seven days a week and a decade birthday, it was time for a change. I made a lot of friends in my customers and it still gives me a thrill when I see their houses advertised in real estate pages and I recognise pieces they bought from the shop.”
These days, Sue runs an Airbnb in Mildura and one in Adelaide, which is four and a half hours drive down the Murray away. Regular visits to the South Australian capital give her an excuse, as if one were needed, to catch up with Rhiannon and the grandchildren. Her less demanding life also allows time to indulge her passion for painting, which was shelved during the hectic years working in retail and raising the family.
“I loved art at school but the need to make a living meant I didn’t pursue it seriously,” she says. “Through the years, I did a few TAFE courses, but it’s only now that I’ve time to smell the roses and I can take it more seriously.” Sue works mainly in acrylics and enjoys painting still life’s of fruit and flowers as well as interiors, plus the odd portrait. She’s collaborated with Rhiannon on imagery for greeting cards, which are sold through her Rhicreative website. John has converted the shed that housed the original shop into a studio and Sue sometimes spends all day painting to her heart’s content. “Six or seven hours can go by and I’m barely aware of the passage of time,” she says. “I don’t see it as work as it’s so enjoyable. I don’t have to look beyond the house and garden for inspiration, so I’m never short of subjects to paint.”
She remains grateful that her hometown has allowed her the space to pursue her creative bent. “When I was at school, Mildura was a grape growing town for sultanas,” she says. “These days, it’s diversified into table grapes and other fruit and vegetables but were lucky to have a strong Italian community that makes it such a vibrant place to live. [Chef] Stefano de Pieri really put the town on the map and he and his family still have a big impact on the hospitality industry in Mildura. It’s the kind of town that encourages people to find their niche and I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities it’s given our family.”
