Sonia Kruger on life growing up in the bush, Channel Nine’s drought-relief fundraiser

FOR country-born Sonia Kruger, the drought gripping the nation is personal, with the TV presenter set to host Channel Nine’s upcoming fundraising concert and telethon.

HER career has taken her around the country and around the world, before making her home with her TV executive partner Craig McPherson and their daughter Maggie, in a harbourside suburb of Sydney.

But Toowoomba-born TV presenter Sonia Kruger has felt her heartstrings pull her back to the bush where her mother, Margaret and her large family were raised - in a rural community, like many, which has done it tough through the lean years of drought.

The drought has pulled at country-born Sonia Kruger’s heart strings, but she reflects fondly upon her time growing up in the bush. Picture: Dylan Robinson

It was 1915 when Kruger’s maternal grandparents, Harry and Winifred Franklin settled in Kingaroy, peanut country in Queensland.

‘She was a war bride and came out from England. He was injured as a soldier in Gallipoli and so ... they went to Kingaroy and she never left because she got pregnant every year,” Kruger tells TV Guide.

Seventeen children and 75 grandchildren later and the expansive Franklin family are spread far and wide around the Sunshine State - in one way or another feeling the effects of the devastating drought.

Kingaroy itself, is one of the 23 local government areas across Queensland affected, with record low rainfall and very little to fill its catchment dams.

But as a little girl, Kruger remembers it in happier times, spending holidays on the “tiny farm” and relishing the freedom of country life.

“Let’s just say there was not a lot of cotton-wooling of children back then,” she recalls. “I remember getting on these horses one day, bare back, my sister and I and the horse she was on just took off. I’m not sure how old we were, but they were heading straight for the clothes line and we were like, ‘duck, duck!’ Luckily, Deb fell off before we got to the clothes line, but we just ran riot. We played by the dam, we explored, it was wonderful.”

It’s personal then for Kruger to be co-hosting Nine’s fundraising concert and telethon, Hay Mate: Buy A Bale, next Saturday night.

Broadcast live from Tamworth’s Scully Park, the benefit concert will be headlined by former Australian of the Year and multiple-ARIA winner, John Farnham.

Daryl Braithwaite, Guy Sebastian, The Veronicas, Jon Stevens and Andrew Farriss from INXS have also thrown their hat in the ring to rock the stage; raising money for Rural Aid (a charity which provides support for bush communities).

For a lot of city slickers, the drought can be ‘out of sight, out of mind.’

But as Kruger’s experience on her family’s remote property, the mod cons of 2018 aren’t within easy reach for farmers and their children - strapped for cash and access.

“We went up to the farm as kids and I remember what it was like ... how remote it was, how difficult it could be. As a city kid, when you grow up, you have cars with power windows and colour televisions and everyone’s got an iPad,” she says.

“You go out to farms like that and it’s super basic and you are literally living off the land. You can’t be popping down to Coles or Woollies.”

The drought has devastated farmers across the country. Picture: Supplied

Kruger moved to south Brisbane at the age of three, and teases her 75 first cousins were the reason she fled the state and headed south to establish her showbiz career 25 years ago.

“I was scared I might accidentally marry one of them,” she joked.

Determined to bring some of the sparkle she first did on Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom to the drought concert stage, Kruger is already planning the wardrobe of her co-hosts, Richard Wilkins and David Campbell.

“Richard will come as Johnny Cash, dressed in black, obviously,” she explains. “And I’m trying to convince David to do the Rhinestone Cowboy, but he’s into being the Electric Horseman. Either which way, I want to see some Swarovski crystals up on that stage because, ‘that’s showbiz.’”

She has another reason to dress to impress and that’s the return of ‘Farnsy.’

Kruger will co-host Nine’s fundraising concert and telethon, Hay Mate: Buy A Bale. Picture: Dylan Robinson

While it’s become a running joke that the You’re The Voice singer has made a career later in life out of farewell tours, Kruger was front and centre as host of his very first ‘Last Time’ concert, which was televised more than a decade ago.

A celebrity phone bank will take donations across Australia, with Nine Network talent and industry favourites lining up to lend a hand.

Nine has already kickstarted its drought appeal, raising $10.5 million from Today and Today Extra’s audience support.

“This is a devastating time for our farmers, so it’s a privilege to be involved with the Hay Mate: Buy A Bale benefit. Our aim is to raise a huge amount of money and provide some much-needed relief to the farmers and families suffering out there.”

* Hay Mate: Buy A Bale airs 7pm, Saturday, Nine