Asa Wahlquist
Asa Wahlquist was born in Adelaide and grew up in Sydney. She returned to Adelaide where she completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Adelaide and later went to art school in Melbourne. Moving back to Sydney in 1979, she worked as a proofreader for Fairfax and Sons for 5 years and furthered her studies in Botony at the University of Sydney in an attempt to complete a Master of Science. In her words 'I excelled at the literature review, but did not have the necessary aptitude for the painstaking fieldwork and laboratory work'.
Facing retrenchment as a proof reader due to computerisation, she turned to journalism and began working in the ABC's rural department.
Asa worked on the NSW and Queensland Country Hour, Australian Today and Australia All Over on ABC Radio as well as Countrywide on ABC TV.
It was in 1991 that Asa decided she wanted to write about rural matters for city dwellers and joined the Sydney Morning Herald as their rural writer. She later moved to The Australian, where she still writes today.
She has won several awards for journalism in radio, television and print. These include: Walkley Award in 1996; Australian Government Peter Hunt Eureka Prize for Environmental Journalism in 2005; European Community Journalist Award in 1993; and several Dalgety Awards and McKell awards for rural journalism.
In 1999 she gave the keynote address at the Regional Australia Summit, in Parliament House Canberra and has spoken at more conferences than she can count.
Among her many achievements, Asa made the first vintage of wine at her family's vineyard, Botobolar Vineyard at Mudgee in 1974. Making her the second woman in Australia to make wine. Botobolar was, and still is, an organic vineyard, the first in Australia to have full organic accreditation.
Asa is Iyengar Yoga devotee, a community garden member, avid reader and keen knitter. She dislikes synthetic odours but loves dogs.
Visit Asa Wahlquist's website here: www.asawahlquist.com
