What does it take to ride at four Olympic Games, win three medals, and get back in the saddle just weeks after breaking your pelvis, femur, ribs and vertebrae?

On this episode of Keys to Macarthur, host Stuart Davies from McGrath Camden sits down with local legend Shane Rose, a four-time Olympic equestrian based at Bimbadeen Park in Menangle. Shane explains the sport of eventing (think triathlon, but with a horse), shares what a 50-horse working day looks like, and talks through his Olympic medals at Beijing, Rio and Tokyo.

He also opens up about beating thyroid cancer, his remarkable recovery to compete at Paris 2024, the bond with his champion horse Virgil, and yes, the infamous mankini moment that went global. Plus, why Camden could be the next big home for elite eventing, and whether LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 are on the radar.

Chapters
0:00 Welcome & eventing explained
2:17 From pony club to a crossroads: rugby or horses?
6:24 Bimbadeen Park & a day in the life
12:03 Second careers for off-the-track thoroughbreds
21:11 The Olympic journey: Beijing, Rio & Tokyo
31:27 Virgil, All Luck & CP Qualified
35:32 The Camden Equestriad & bringing big events to Macarthur
45:05 The horse–rider bond & building an Olympian
53:02 Beating cancer & the road to Paris 2024
1:07:07 The mankini, LA 2028 & advice for young riders

About Keys to Macarthur
Conversations with the people, businesses and stories that make the Macarthur region special. Hosted by Stuart Davies, McGrath Camden.

#ShaneRose #Eventing #Equestrian #Olympics #Camden #Macarthur #KeysToMacarthur #McGrathCamden #LA2028 #Brisbane2032

This week on Keys to Macarthur, Stuart sits down with Tim Pickles, the nurseryman behind Tim’s Garden Centre in Campbelltown and one of the most recognised faces in Australian gardening on social media.

Tim bought his Campbelltown nursery in 1986. He tells how a poor HSC result led him into an orchid nursery, then night classes in horticulture, then running Flower Power Fairfield, where one simple pricing rule lifted sales by 25%. He looks back on 40 years of change in Campbelltown and why fewer people garden on today’s smaller blocks.

Tim also explains how he built an audience of millions by telling stories instead of advertising specials. He shares his easy roast potato soup recipe and the right way to start a garden on Macarthur clay: don’t dig a hole, build up on top. He finishes with the potting mix trial that showed half the “Australian Standard premium” mixes tested couldn’t grow a lettuce, and why bad potting mix is turning would-be gardeners away.

📍 Tim’s Garden Centre, 2 Queen Street, Campbelltown (corner of the Moore Oxley Bypass)
🌐 timsgardencentre.com.au
📱 Follow Tim’s Garden Centre on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Tim's move to Campbelltown in 1986
00:59 From a poor HSC to a career in horticulture
03:03 Flower Power Fairfield and the pricing rule that lifted sales 25%
07:56 How Campbelltown has changed over 40 years
10:38 Small blocks, busy lives and fewer gardeners
15:19 Spring planting, cordylines and choosing plants by aspect
19:03 Privacy, trees and why leaves are tomorrow's soil
25:00 Spring rush and gardening as therapy
29:13 Tree canopy, heat and a new idea for street trees
34:26 Native trees, mangoes and avocados in Macarthur
42:55 Social media, storytelling and Tim's potato soup
54:48 Starting a garden on clay, compost and Tim's Best Potting Mix

Keys to Macarthur is brought to you by McGrath Camden.

For 33 years, Tanya Whitehouse OAM has stood beside women navigating the court system at the Macarthur Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service. She joins Keys to Macarthur to talk about establishing Blue Wren House, the state of the sector, and why she keeps showing up.

Content note: this episode discusses domestic and family violence. Support details are below.

Tanya Whitehouse OAM has spent 33 years at the Macarthur Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service — long enough to have watched the law, the language and the community's willingness to talk about domestic violence all shift around her. She was integral to establishing Blue Wren House, Camden Women's Shelter, and today convenes the Camden/Wollondilly DV Committee while sitting on the Campbelltown DV Committee.

In 2020 she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community through welfare initiatives, the highlight among multiple awards across her career. Her focus hasn't changed in three decades: being the voice for women who haven't yet found theirs.

Chapters

• 0:00 — Welcome, and introducing Tanya Whitehouse OAM
• 0:37 — Seven hours a week, two small kids, and shorthand
• 1:26 — Tea ladies at court: what's changed in 33 years
• 4:42 — What a WDVCAS actually does: Safer Pathway and 130 referrals a week
• 7:18 — Working alongside police, prosecutors and the courts
• 11:06 — The forms DV takes: coercive control, financial, spiritual abuse
• 12:19 — Older women, lifetimes of abuse, and "can I go and have a cup of tea now?"
• 17:20 — Tanya's challenge to faith and community leaders
• 23:46 — Resilience, and the privilege of watching a woman find her voice
• 41:20 — The biggest gap in the system: housing and cost of living
• 49:46 — The OAM: "I'm just little old Tanya from Campbelltown"
• 55:50 — If you're in a DV situation: first steps, safety planning, hidden apps
• 1:02:44 — The Say No to DV Breakfast, and closing thoughts

Support

• NSW Domestic Violence Line: 1800 656 463 (24/7)
• 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732 (24/7 national counselling)
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491