Cobar's matriarch on being a country mum

Send us a photo - email to jenna.cairney@fairfaxmedia.com.au with a few sentences about your mum - and we'll pick the best photo and story to run in our print edition on Thursday, May 8, just in time for Mother's Day.

We'll also be catching up with some of the State's leading ladies through the week, so stay tuned.

Lilliane Brady OAM, Cobar Shire Council mayor, mother-of-three and grandmother, talks about being a mum.

“I love being a mum. I think it’s part of you and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Mrs Brady lost two children full-term before Suzanne was born.

“When I woke up from the anaesthetic and they put that little girl into my arms I thought I was the most precious thing.”

She went on to have another daughter, Deidrei and then her baby boy, Allan Patrick, the fifth Allan Brady.

“When my son arrived the girls always said if the three of us were drowning, I’d pick my son,” Mrs Brady joked. “I’m very close to them all. My children ring me every day or every second day.”

Allan is the general manager of a mining company in Western Australia, Suzanne is in charge of a health care provider in Cairns and Deidrei is a school principal.

Her grandchildren have found equal career success and Mrs Brady dotes on them.

“I’m so close to my grandchildren. I’m called nan and nan goes drinking with them.”

As for what makes a good mum:

“I think listening to them, being part of what they do is important,” Mrs Brady said.

“Every Saturday my son would have half a dozen boys in my backyard and they’d all have lunch there. It’s just about being part of their lives. I’d go to Leeton every fortnight to watch him play football.”

As for the challenges:

“Being 'hard' is challenging,” she said.

“I remember when I put my son in school and I cried all the way from Leeton to Cobar.

“You have to set an example and I set high standards for my kids and grandkids. I just think everyone needs a challenge.

“I often tell them ‘get over it princess; suck it up.”

Mrs Brady won’t be getting many surprises this Mother’s Day.

She admits herself to saying she’s worse than a child, but when the presents arrive, she can’t stop herself from opening them immediately.

“I needed a nice pair of brown leather gloves to go with my Louis Vuitton bag and new coat and I got them – I already opened them and my son’s earrings.

“I can’t help it.

“My birthday is on December 29 and if I’m at home they send me two presents. Sometimes I get them mixed up and that’s how they know I’ve opened them both.”

Nominate your mum by emailing jenna.cairney@fairfaxmedia.com.au