Photographic Essay: Paulina Eaborn
Article & Photography by Paulina Eaborn
In this ongoing series, we showcase the role photographers play in our relationships with, and perceptions of regional Australia – the places, spaces and experiences that we call home.
They call her Mrs Paulie — a title delivered with affection (and a few cheeky giggles from the neighbourhood kids). She answers to it with a smile, because here, in this dusty patch of southern Queensland, Paulina Eaborn has found a rhythm that feels just right.
Born in Poland, raised in Denmark, and now raising three wild-hearted boys with her Aussie husband on a little farm outside Goondiwindi.
“We only moved here four years ago,” she says, “but it’s already hard to imagine living anywhere else. There’s just something about the space, the light, the way people show up for each other. It gets under your skin.”
For Paulie, photography is where her voice is clearest. Her images are quiet and unfussy, often pulling focus on the small details others might miss: an old fence line, a sky full of birds, the soft slump of laundry on the line.
“I still get stopped in my tracks,” she says. “It might be a shed glowing gold in the afternoon sun, or a stretch of road no one’s talked about before. There’s this everyday beauty that sneaks up on you — especially when you’re not rushing.” This photographic essay is an ode to the humble clothesline.
Her fascination with the clothesline — particularly the Hills Hoist — began, unexpectedly, in the thick of domestic chaos.
“We’d all just been through a brutal tummy bug. My husband was working away, the kids were little, everything needed washing. I was exhausted. But then I stepped back from the line and something shifted. The blankets, the soft toys, the mess of it all — it looked like love. Like proof we were surviving.”
That instinct to pause, reframe, and find meaning in the mundane is what makes Paulie’s work resonate. “I think the clothesline tells the truest story of a household. It holds the rhythm of our lives — the routines, the seasons, the care. And when I see one out in the wild, I can’t help myself — I take the photo.”
Photography, she says, is not just about making something beautiful. “It’s about inviting people to look again. Even at things they think they already know. A street corner, a paddock, a clothesline — it can all be quietly extraordinary if you let it.”
Her images often reach well beyond the region, shared on social media by curious travellers and locals alike. “I love that a photo I take here can spark something for someone miles away. It might make them want to visit. Or just change how they think about life out here.”
And Lavinia says that this constant travel may not be sustainable long term. “I realise eventually I might want to settle down. As a woman in ag, you have to think about it because we have a biological clock. ”
Lavinia says being a woman in ag has its own sets of challenges, “you have to be aware of your surroundings, who you are with, what you say and how you articulate things.” But this has never held her back.
Lavinia’s attitude and values are reflected in the AgSocial team – consisting of Elly, Bec, Charlotte and Charleton – and their understanding and approach to business. Together they understand the ins and outs of working within the ag industry.
As she points out, farming is a lifestyle.“People who are farming or in agriculture, their attachment to it is so much deeper and more connected than any other industry or business.”
That deep understanding makes all the work worth it – whether it is six hours of back-to-back meetings, tackling the behind-the-scenes tasks no one tells you about like “insurance, payroll, taxes, Xero, all of that”, or being out on the road. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been on over thirty-five flights this past year,” Lavinia laughs.
“We’re definitely still in the thick of it, but there’s a lot of pinch-me moments that we have now that just make it all worth it.”
Lavinia says being a woman in ag has its own sets of challenges, “you have to be aware of your surroundings, who you are with, what you say and how you articulate things.” But this has never held her back.
Lavinia’s attitude and values are reflected in the AgSocial team – consisting of Elly, Bec, Charlotte and Charleton – and their understanding and approach to business. Together they understand the ins and outs of working within the ag industry.
As she points out, farming is a lifestyle.“People who are farming or in agriculture, their attachment to it is so much deeper and more connected than any other industry or business.”
That deep understanding makes all the work worth it – whether it is six hours of back-to-back meetings, tackling the behind-the-scenes tasks no one tells you about like “insurance, payroll, taxes, Xero, all of that”, or being out on the road. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been on over thirty-five flights this past year,” Lavinia laughs.
“We’re definitely still in the thick of it, but there’s a lot of pinch-me moments that we have now that just make it all worth it.”
