Evie Farrell was drowning in the Sydney rat-race, disconnected from her five-year-old daughter and yearning for something more. After the unexpected death of a friend she decided enough was enough. She quit her job, rented out her house and embarked on an 18-month travel adventure to reconnect with her daughter. She has gained so much from the experience that she now urges other mums to unleash the chains of convention, swap possessions for memory-making and embrace the rich tapestry of experiences that travelling as a family can offer.

Carina Hoang fled South Vietnam in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, endured a traumatic escape from which she barely survived, and now returns to the Indonesian isles to which she once escaped on an annual pilgrimage to uncover the lost graves of other Vietnamese refugees. Guided by faith, spiritual belief and the knowledge it was so nearly her laying in an abandoned grave, her efforts are bringing desperately awaited relief to families yearning to give a proper burial to long-dead loved ones.

Patricia Lavater has saved hundreds of lives through her work with troubled and drug-addicted young women. She takes women who’ve given up on life, and counsels them, helps them detox and, perhaps most importantly, reminds them of their inner potential.

When Karen Winnett’s daughter Eleanor was four months old she was advised her baby would unlikely live past two years old. Go home and love her while you’ve got the chance, she was advised. Or, worse, don’t get too attached as she won’t be with you for long. But this fiercely determined mother refused to listen. Through sheer grit, unflinching determination and steadfast denial Karen has kept her bright and intelligent daughter alive. This year Eleanor celebrated her 22nd birthday.

Jenny Bowen’s charity OneSky, formerly Half the Sky Foundation, has transformed the lives of more than 130,000 Chinese orphans by showering these unwanted children with the most important ingredient missing from their lives – love. How did one woman make such a difference to so many?

After enduring the death of her mother to cancer and brother to suicide, Sally Lucas was not prepared for her own cancer diagnosis and consequent hysterectomy. But thanks to the love of her sister Anne Barbour, she not only survived but flourished to become a mother – a dream she’d thought life had denied her.

This 18-year-old Brisbane model is turning the fashion world upside down by showing that true beauty comes from within, and this often-fickle industry is falling in love with her for offering the reminder.