Can you share a moment or experience that highlights the strength and resilience you’ve shown as a woman in rural Australia, and how it has shaped your role in your community or on your farm?

Rural life is not for the faint hearted and like any job it certainly has its trying moments. Although, in saying that, it is also beautiful in its simplicity. 

The last 11 years has paved a road of unprecedented events that would test the strongest of character.  The droughts of 2013, 2015 & 2017 saw us move a large portion of our herd onto agistment whilst the rest of the herd were feed at our home properties. I named the three properties the Bermuda Triangle, all situated in a triangle and it seemed like you got lost in them every time you went on the feed run. The common question was, ‘Where are you today?” reply in the Bermuda Triangle!

The rain of 2019 started on the 30^th January which delivered 79mm which was a blessing. The 31^st saw another 71mm fall and over the next 8 days we endured another 507mm of unprecedented rain.  It was cold and unrelenting on the stock.  Every vehicle on the property lay bogged up to the axles trying to get hay out to feed cattle. Choppers were in the air dropping hay to stranded stock although this would eventually prove to be a fruitless exercise, but we had to try. We had our young stud bulls close to the house and we would be in the yards daily trying to keep them alive by any means possible. To me, this was the most soul-destroying event of my entire life.  Watching your beloved animals die whilst holding them. They were cold, their skin was peeling off their legs and you felt completely helpless. We were not able to save one of those animals.  This was to test any resilience we may have had left. We had to accept our circumstances by finding the strength to adapt to what was happening. The situation was less than ideal but we faced it. The comradery of our neighbours and from people we didn’t even know was a godsend.  Humanity in that moment was restored and we somehow got through it all. The lesson learnt here is that you have options with a drought, not with a flood!

Through all of these years Drought Angels/Farm Angles were always there to offer support.  They provided that helping hand, the ‘Are You Ok’ phone call, the endless gifts of generosity that made you feel thought of in every way.  They were and are still, thoughtful beyond belief and I will be forever grateful to them all.

Any other important messages you may want to convey?

Would I change my way of life?  The simple answer to that is a NO!  I love what I do (even through the testing times) and you get to work in one of the best jobs in the world. When you can look outside and see the serenity that bush life can deliver, it’s something that not everyone gets to enjoy. I feel I am one of the lucky ones. They say, to have the good things in life we must sometimes endure the bad. So, I guess we become resilient through adversity.

“You can do the impossible because you have been through the unimaginable”