Australian Traveller Editors Through The Years

Australian Traveller has been shaped over the years by a roll call of passionate editors. Here, our stellar alumni share their thoughts, memories and favourite covers during their tenures.

Greg Barton

Too many moments stand out for me during my time as editor at Australian Traveller magazine. It was such a joyous, chaotic, exhausting and rewarding period of my life. I learned to write, learned to shoot, got married, had kids and felt as though I gained enough experience to fill five careers. In terms of covers, I was there for exactly a third of them, with stand-outs including the epic, inaugural ‘100 Things’ (Issue 08); the time when I was talked into wearing boardies and a Santa hat and chucking a ‘bombie’ into an ocean pool (Issue 05); and the time at Uluru (Issue 27) when the Hamish Blake asked me for a few handy hints on using his DSLR camera (he owned a Nikon, so no), while our cover model asked me for a few handy hints on picking up Hamish Blake (also no).

the cover of issue 8 of Australian Traveller — The cover of Issue 8.

Most memorable experience

I owe so much to [co-founders] Quentin Long and Nigel Herbert for trusting me to help launch and, for a brief time, lead such a special magazine. But I have to say perhaps the single most memorable moment, and it was such a random one, was capturing a fleeting photo of an honest-to-God cowboy during a thunderstorm midway across the Nullarbor. Award-winning Getty shooter Ezra Shaw had been showing me how to use the company Canon while on a cross-country journey aboard the Indian Pacific.

an outback man in Akubra — A trip to the edge of the outback puts the focus on some of Australia’s most colourful characters. (Image: Greg Barton)

One of the scheduled stops was at a desolate railway siding and there, under the awning of a plain brick outhouse, one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever met took shelter as the pelting rain began to pepper his wide-brimmed hat. That image has remained with me. There was something about finding such a colourful and interesting figure against such a nondescript backdrop that summed up, for me, everything that Australian Traveller stood for. It’s a moment I’ll never forget, owed entirely to a magazine I will always treasure.

an aerial view of the iconic Indian Pacific travelling past Lake Hart — The iconic Indian Pacific whisks passengers between the cities of Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. (Image: Andrew Gregory)

Elisabeth Knowles

My most memorable issue was the first one we released after changing the editorial direction of Australian Traveller from a bloke-focused camping and 4WD mag to a women’s lifestyle magazine (with more comfortable stays). It was a big risk to readership that has paid off in the long run! The cover story was the Kimberley, and we featured luxury lodge El Questro (Issue 37). It was my first glimpse into just how world-class domestic travel can be. (Not that there is anything wrong with camping.)

the issue 37 cover of Australian Traveller — The cover of Issue 37.

Most memorable experience

The variety of experiences was simply incredible and so it’s hard to pick just one stand-out. From jumping into swimming holes in the NT to hiking the Great Ocean Walk, scenic flights on K’gari, in Hobart and Sydney Harbour, eating my way around Bruny Island and going on a hard-hat tour of Mona before it opened… I felt pretty lucky to have any of those experiences. But if I was going to swap my life now for one of my past Australian Traveller adventures, I’d buy a property on Kangaroo Island.

a scenic view of Kangaroo Island. — Kangaroo Island remains an unforgettable escape.

Georgia Rickard

I have many cherished moments from my time as editor at Australian Traveller, but my favourite cover memory just might have to be shooting sass & bide co-founder Sarah-Jane Clarke on the eve of the relaunch of Hayman Island (Issue 58). The layering of one Australian icon over another was enough – and the results were beautiful (I think SJ was born to be photographed on an island). But there was an added layer of context that made everything more significant, as both location and talent were on the cusp of life-altering announcements.

the issue 58 cover of Australian Traveller — The cover of Issue 58.

Our shoot took place just prior to Hayman’s global unveiling as Australia’s first property in the six-star One&Only portfolio – literally, we were there, shooting the day before the launch party. This meant the Australian Traveller team were the first media in the world to preview the island in its new incarnation, which was a huge privilege… but also meant that the island was a hive of last-minute landscaping, room furnishing, construction crews and more.

Meanwhile, SJ was on the cusp of a public announcement that she and business partner Heidi Middleton had sold final stakes in their flagship company to fashion conglomerate Myer – a major moment for the Australian fashion scene and a spectacular ending to a legacy that had a sizeable impact on Australia’s creative identity. None of that made any difference to the amazing Australian Traveller team, who were committed to getting the results no matter what, and SJ herself was a champ. You’d never have known, from the images, how many duck legs were paddling frantically underwater to make that happen.

a portrait of fashion designer Sarah-Jane Clarke on the beach — Fashion designer Sarah-Jane Clarke.

Most memorable experience

For me, the year 2012 marked an incredibly special time to be at the helm of Australian Traveller. That was the year qualia was awarded Best Resort in the World and QT Hotels had just made waves with the opening of its first property (the avant-garde, design-led QT Sydney). And while Australians had typically looked overseas for aspirational holiday experiences, collectively, it seemed, in 2012 we looked around, realised that we were worthy of celebrating… and all started standing a little taller. Together.

the bedroom at QT Sydney — Bed down at design-led QT Sydney. (Image: QT Sydney)

It was also the year that Instagram exploded, bringing with it a whole new means of telling travel stories, and the year that low-cost carriers – which were democratising travel in a way we hadn’t really seen before – filled the skies. All of these factors converged to create an industry that was exhilarated, inspired and excited about the possibilities that lay ahead of us. I’d say 2012 was a year that we were all that little bit prouder to be Australian; a trend that has only grown every year since.

a private tub at Qualia luxury resort in The Whitsundays — The Whitsundays, as framed by qualia. (Image: Jason Loucas)

Lara Picone

Unbeknownst to me, when I first stepped into the editorship at Australian Traveller, I was thoroughly under-prepared for the task. Not for the role itself, but rather for the breadth and bracingly wild beauty of this country. Initially, I was rather casual about it all (except for the woefully ignorant panic that I wouldn’t be able to fill a whole issue with Australian content alone). Australia? I’ve got this. I know places. I know Australia. But, no. I did not know Australia. For one cannot know Australia until they’ve trudged through a forest-festooned wilderness under persistent Tasmanian precipitation. Eyeballed a latent croc in a waterlily-strewn billabong in the Northern Territory. Or stood on a rust-red cliff and gazed out to the cerulean waters of the Kimberley Coast from Gantheaume Point, WA (as featured on the cover of Issue 67). This cover has a special corner in my heart, because it captures the essence of the country as wild, bold and offering limitless revelations. Cover by cover, issue by issue, I fell deeper in love with this magnanimous land, her people and her endlessly shifting spectrum of colours. I could edit a lifetime’s worth of the magazine and never reach the terminus of inspiration.

the outback issue 67 of Australian Traveller — The cover of Issue 67.

Most memorable experience

I felt quite unhinged as I ‘whooped’ at the darkening sky. Glowering Mt Gower was backlit with a deep pink hue and swirling with winged silhouettes, while the company I was keeping enthusiastically bellowed into the sunset like lunatics shouting at the moon. When on Lord Howe Island, you do as the locals do and you ‘whoop’ at dusk to lure down a preternaturally curious providence petrel. I don’t know if it was the balm-like effect of the island itself or the actual whooping, but this incredible moment penetrated my soul and has remained wedged there since. Graceful in flight, but ludicrously ungainly on land, these fat-bodied birds flopped to the ground to see what all the noise was about. Bewildered, they’d lurch into the grasses or just loll where they landed, distractedly pecking a nearby boot. The whole scene was extraordinary: the hulking mountain ebbing into the dusk, the diminishing glimmer of the waves and these insane sea birds dropping from the sky. It was like Angry Birds – just no pigs or catapults. I will never forget it.

an aerial view of Lord Howe Island — Tthe rugged Lord Howe Island. (Image: Destination NSW)

Leigh-Ann Pow

‘The Outback Issue’ in 2018 (Issue 78) is the cover that stands out the most for me. Photographer Elise Hassey’s images of the singular event that is the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival (accompanied by a wonderful story by writer Steve Madgwick) were filled with so much joy and beauty they couldn’t be contained within a single story inside the magazine.

the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival — The Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival is Australia’s longest-running cultural festival. (Image: Elise Hassey)

This exuberant celebration of culture by dance troupes from across Cape York and the Torres Strait produced so many breathtaking shots that it was hard to decide which ones were going to make it onto the pages of the story; we really were spoilt for choice. But when it came time to decide which one best encapsulated the pride and spirit of the event – and of the issue as a whole – this one stood out.

the cover of issue 78 of Australian Traveller — The cover of issue 78 of Australian Traveller.

Most memorable experience

While so many of us make our home at the absolute edges of the country, close to the seemingly infinite waters that surround us on all sides, I never felt more inspired and privileged to be Australian – and the editor of Australian Traveller – than when I was lucky enough to be at its heart. Standing at the base of Uluru humbled by its behemoth form; flying over a vast interior to reach Watarrka/Kings Canyon, which feels like it hovers at the edge of infinity; driving out of Mparntwe/Alice Springs alongside the soaring, undulating heights of Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges for what feels like forever, and, most importantly, hearing firsthand the stories of the First Nations people who have lived and thrived here for millennia. These are the journeys that strengthened my perception of what an honour it is to call Australia home.

the scenic Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges — The dramatic landscapes of Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges.

A timeline of 100 Australian Traveller covers…

What makes a great Australian Traveller cover? For our 100th edition, we’ve looked through the archives to find all the wild and wonderful ways we like to explore the nation. The magazine’s former editors pick their favourites below. What’s yours?

the glossy covers of the previous issues of Australian Traveller — A look back at the history of Australian Traveller through its glossy covers.

Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park — The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd — Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain — Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

wildflowers in Grampians National Park — Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola — Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

dining at Pomonal Estate — Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

Salingers of Great Western — Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

Kookaburras on a tree — Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .

Playing there

abseiling down Hollow Mountain — Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors . Visit Wama , Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium .

Eating there

steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate . Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock , can’t be beat.

Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park — The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe . Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines , Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines .

two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.

Former Australian Traveller editors share their most memorable moments

Australian Traveller has been shaped over the years by a roll call of passionate editors. Here, our stellar alumni share their thoughts, memories and favourite covers during their tenures.

Greg Barton

Most memorable experience

Elisabeth Knowles

Most memorable experience

Georgia Rickard

Most memorable experience

Lara Picone

Most memorable experience

Leigh-Ann Pow

Most memorable experience

A timeline of 100 Australian Traveller covers…

A Snow Moon is rising over Australia this weekend – here’s where to spot it

The ultimate guide to summer festivals around Australia

Australia’s most remote and unknown beaches have just been revealed

What’s on around Australia in February 2026

This scenic Victorian region is the perfect antidote to city life

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Playing there

Eating there