General News
10 June, 2025
New doco on Mareeba’s fashion sense
A NEW documentary launching tomorrow will feature the remarkable rise of a fashion business that began on a Mareeba farm and is now an internationally lauded online race-wear and millinery label.
The story of Sonlia Fashion is the second episode of a new series, YOU CAN’T DO THAT IN THE BUSH, a YouTube docu-series which launched in Cairns on 27 May.
The series highlights Australian regional innovation and celebrates its “unexpected brilliance”, associate producer Laticia Braving said.
“Sonlia Fashion is proof that you can build something world-class from the heart of the Tablelands - and look damn good doing it,” she said.
Sisters Liana Hastie and Sonya Alba-Miller started their creations 24 years ago, setting up in the family hall on their tropical fruit farm on Red Hill.
“We had no television; I ate out of the garden after school - we just ate off the land, pretty much. We were very self-sustainable,” younger sister, and now sole owner of the business, Liana said.
Her parents later sold the farm and built a stone house on the river, another idyllic setting where Liana stayed on and off until her 20s.
So how did two country girls transition to the cutthroat world of international fashion?
For Liana, it began late in high school.
“I was OK at school but ... I was never going to go to uni,” Liana said candidly. “Mum said, ‘ok, pick subjects that you’re going to enjoy, just to finish grade 12’.
“So I did photography, I did art, physical rec’ (she was an after-school fitness instructor), that was what I was drawn to.”
“Then I won a minister’s award for excellence for wearable art I made for a high school project.
“It was called ‘Return to Nature’, and it was completely made from palm fibre and palm trees. I cut all the fronds into little petals and made a head-piece with a palm flower.
“It went on tour around Queensland.
“So I thought maybe this is my strong point? Because I had no idea what to do.”
Liana studied fashion at TAFE and was drawn to millinery.
“I did a lot of millinery workshops with the amazing, inspirational woman Waltered Rainer from Melbourne,” Liana said
“She taught me the traditional ways of millinery, the really technical side.
“It was almost like I opened up this can of worms, and I’ve gone, ‘Oh wow! I can make that? I can actually make what is in my imagination and do it to a high quality’.”
In the meantime, Sonya had had a baby and was studying at TAFE – “tourism or something”. She, too, began to make dresses, and both were determined to craft unique, high-end clothing and hats. They opened a boutique in Mareeba and began selling interstate to clients online.
Sonya retired in 2016 to follow a new calling, working in disability care.
“She does come back in her own time and does a few dresses whenever she feels that creative aspect, and drops them to the shop,” Liana said.
Liana said her “best friend” Angela Mariponi runs her boutique, and she has three staff working with her in a “massive millinery work room at my house”.
“I’m so lucky to have such an amazing team around me.”
All of the label’s hats and dresses are “one-offs”, however, the boutique has also broadened its retail from just “racewear specialists”.
“After COVID with the races obviously cancelled, we did end up having a permanent store in the post office in Mareeba, where we now have a lot of other clothing, from casual and affordable items to the more extravagant stuff. We also carry other Australian designers’ work.”
“I do worry about the future of Australian designers, so we do like to really support each other,” Liana said.
“It’s such a challenging industry and each year it’s getting harder and harder with the competitive, cheaper-made clothing from overseas.”
Liana said the economy changes have also impacted a little, with people having less to spend on luxuries.
“But we do have a lot of clients who really appreciate that it’s Australian made and designed.
“And our niche is millinery, everyone wants to wear that beautiful piece.”
Sonlia also offers to fit garments and hats for online clients, which Liana said is a rare service in the industry, and offers a “complete look” from head to toe.
“We get a lot of international repeat clients, they say they don’t have anything like this in their country,” Liana said.
“It can be challenging with packaging, the dimensions and stuff like that,” she added with a laugh. “Sometimes when I design the international pieces I have to have the box there and say, ‘Liana, I need to fit this in this box, ... or I can’t post it’.
“I can get a bit creatively distracted!”
The main international clients are from England, the US and New Zealand, as well as across Australia.
Her favourite fashion successes are many, but the standouts have been a win in England at a race fashion event, and three Melbourne Cup wins in Melbourne.
“It’s still mind-blowing that we’ve had three,” she said.
“When you’re designing for clients who are entering at that level, you have to keep in mind what is on trend, what is going to capture the judges’ eye, what is classy or elegant. It has to tick all those boxes and then still be daring enough to stand out, but not too daring that they think it’s crazy.”
As for the documentary, Liana hasn’t seen a preview and was looking forward to seeing what she said.
“Someone nominated us, and at first I thought, ‘is this for real, they want to do a doco on us?”
Produced by Blue Clay Creatives in collaboration with HOLGRO, the series can be viewed by subscribing on YouTube: youtube.com/@YouCantDoThatInTheBush
