Thomas, Patrick and Joseph Goodwin have known that their mum was pretty special long before she became one of the country’s most famous mothers as the very first Australian MasterChef.

The brothers, who belong to Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic parish in Wyoming, are proud of Julie Goodwin’s success but say it was hard being without her for four months while she competed in the hugely popular reality TV show.

Conditions of the show meant that they weren’t allowed to see her, and phone calls were limited as well.

Then, after their reunion on the day of Julie’s triumph, they had to keep her win a secret from everyone for two weeks until the finale was aired on TV.

“They were asked a lot of questions about it,” says Julie, who won $100,000, the opportunity to publish her own cook book, and a chance to gain more experience in the industry.

“We just said to them, look it’s our family’s secret and you’ve been trusted with a really, really big secret. We want to let everyone know the outcome but the reason we’re asking you to keep it secret is that we don’t want to spoil it for anyone by telling them yet.”

The boys did keep their secret, later celebrating with more than 100 family and friends. Now they are coming to grips with sharing some of the spotlight themselves.

Paddy, 10, describes being “kind of ambushed” by a crowd of excited well-wishers when he returned to school after Julie’s win was revealed.

“Everybody knows me, and who I am,” says his brother Joe, 13, “Complete strangers are saying, ‘Hi Joe, what’s up?”

They all agree it was exciting when they went to Sydney for a surprise reunion with their mum in the show’s finale, and when they watched the finale with their delighted family and close friends.

“I missed her a lot,” recalls Paddy.

“It was very tough without her,” Tom, 12, agrees. “But the best things are knowing that my mum’s the very first MasterChef -  and having her back home.

Joe adds: “And knowing that there’re no more secrets.”

“The most amazing thing for me was actually going down, and meeting the judges and the contestants,” he says. “It’s something I’ll never forget.

“Though I have to say I feel sorry for the janitors of that place, I mean, so much confetti fell down!”

Julie and her husband Michael say they drew upon their Catholic faith and support from family and friends, especially their friends in their parish, to get through the hardest times.

While Julie was in Sydney on the show, Michael was at their home on the NSW Central Coast, looking after boys, the couple’s IT business and the household.

“Being without her was almost like losing a vital organ,” says Michael. “l just struggled from day to day.”

The family are involved in the Parish’s music ministry (they both play guitar and Julie sings), and also in the Family Group Movement, where they have been members since it started in their parish 14 years ago.

“It’s a group of families, we get together once a month and share a meal together,” explains Michael.

“It’s kind of like a support network and it’s inclusive so it’s also for families where, for example, mum’s Catholic but dad’s not.”

“We got a lot of support not only from our own family group, but the leaders from the other groups. The support of that core group of friends, some are in our family group but some aren’t, with meals, and popping in and saying, ‘G’day, how’s it going?’ is really what got me through it.”

“The majority of our friendships are based around our family and our parish,” says Julie.

“And our faith is something that nourishes and comforts us both and it was a source of strength that we were both able to draw on.

“I think that without having that faith life and support from our community it wouldn’t have been possible really.”

Michael says he also received support from the boys’ schools, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary, Wyoming, and St Peter’s Catholic College, Tuggerah.

“I made their teachers aware of their circumstances and asked if they noticed anything that they were concerned about, if they could let me know. And I was told that they would keep an eye out for them and report back to me any issues or anything that they thought they needed to.

“At the primary school on the noticeboard out the front they put three separate messages up in support of Julie, which was nice. And after she won they gave her a bottle of wine and chocolates.”

The couple met through a St Vincent de Paul youth group just after they had completed Year 12.

Michael, who had attended St Leo’s Catholic College, Wahroonga, and Julie, who had been school captain at Hornsby Girls’ High School, had both been invited to join the group by a mutual friend.

While winning the competition has brought Julie lots of opportunities it has also brought extra demands on this busy working mum’s time.

Apart from the training and writing a cook book, Julie will also write a regular cooking column in the Australian Women’s Weekly. And there are other obligations and opportunities relating to her MasterChef title while she ultimately works towards one day opening her own restaurant on the Central Coast.

“It’s opened up a whole new world,” she says.

But the family always come first.

“Since Julie was away for so long, it’s important that we have family time and certainly that’s a factor we always consider,” says Michael.

“Some of the other contestants have been invited to go overseas and work in restaurants and things like that, where they are not things that Julie would take up, so those kinds of offers aren’t really coming through.”

During the competition Julie had some opportunities to talk to other contestants about her faith.

“Everybody’s got different ideas about things and I’m not preachy, but if I’m asked about it I tell people about my faith,” she says.

“It’s a big part of our family’s life. We say grace every night. We consider dinner time as a really important time in our family’s day and we bless the food and the company, and in that time we talk about our day.

“While I was away, the boys had a sign up on the wall telling them that I loved them and to brush their teeth, do their homework and say their prayers.”

“They are good boys,” she adds proudly. “They’re beautiful.”

 

Julie and Michael Goodwin, pictured at right, with Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Priest, Fr Jack Robson.