This interview was published as a collaboration by the team at Creative Consulting and Graziher is proud to support their month-long series of #ruralregional women.
” I THINK IF ANYTHING I HOPE THAT I CAN INSPIRE PEOPLE TO LIVE THEIR DREAMS TO GO FOR WHAT THEY WANT. IT IS NOT ABOUT MAKING A MARK I THINK FOR ME IT IS JUST ABOUT LIVING A LIFE THAT BRINGS ME JOY AND FULFILLMENT.”
What inspires you?
Everything inspires me. From seeing random acts of kindness to hearing wonderful stories of people defying the odds or chasing their dreams. I love meeting people and I am really open to learning and hearing what others have to say. Life’s little journeys inspire me.
How did your project/business idea come about?
The farm was always a dream I just didn’t think I would get there. It is so hard as a single female who at the time worked as a station hand to be seen as an eligible candidate by the bank. But I did. Farming is long term I purchased a rundown block and it is taking time but I am slowly moving it in the right direction. It has taught me incredible patience. But I am not very good at patience. I run Angus cattle and Merino Ewes producing beef and lamb and a wool clip each year. I still have to work on the farm to build up my business and support myself. 2 years ago I realised whilst I was incredibly happy that I did not have a very good work-life balance and needed to take the time to chill out or enjoy a hobby.
I have always had a passion for photography and often played around with my beautiful Minolta film camera that I had had for many years however I had stopped! So very impulsively I went out and enrolled in a photography course and purchased my first DSLR. My hobby grew into a business. I have always had this longing to have a bit of a creative outlet in my life I just never knew what it could be. I feel like I have created this wonderful balance between the farm and the photography.
What stage is your project/business in? Definitely growth. I am still establishing myself. The last 12 months have been crazy. I am not where I want to be I am not taking the sort of pictures yet I want to but I am a work in progress. The farm is also still growing. The farm is still developing into what it is capable of being. Every day is a step closer in building my dreams.
What were you doing before you launched your business/project?
Farming. I worked for an Angus Stud in Wallendbeen. I had been a station hand for some years prior to buying my farm.Pop over and read Rachael’s story published via Creative Consulting – the full interview here.
This interview was published as a collaboration by the team at Creative Consulting and Graziher is proud to support their month-long series of #ruralregional women.
THE IDEA OF SITTING BACK ONE DAY AND LOOKING AT WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED IS SOMETHING I OFTEN THINK OF AND CAN IMAGINE IT WOULD BE A PRETTY AMAZING FEELING. I HAVE A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE SET ASIDE FOR THIS DAY. FINGERS CROSSED IT STILL TASTES GOOD BY THAT STAGE.
What inspires you?
Sophie: My husband Josh (also a business partner) and our two kids (Charlie 4yrs old and Isobel 2 yrs. old). They always keep me focused and honest on life’s big picture.
We also have an incredible business group that is full of amazing business professionals. Each member of this group is running well respected and successful enterprises that we bounce ideas around with and keep each other inspired and accountable.
Katie: It would have to be my parents. They have built a business, career, and life that they can now enjoy. The idea of sitting back one day and looking at what you have created is something I often think of and can imagine it would be a pretty amazing feeling. I have a bottle of champagne set aside for this day. Fingers crossed it still tastes good by that stage.
How did your project/business idea come about?
Many wines. At the time of meeting each other, Soph was (still is) running a successful wedding venue in Wagga Wagga, St Edwards of The Riverina. Clientele began approaching St Edwards to build their venue remotely on family farms so brides could marry in a space that was special and unique to them.
In comes Katie, Katie was working as an Event Planner in the area and worked on many private properties building spaces using equipment that could be sourced from local hire companies. We saw a gap, an option that sat between a permanent venue and building a wedding from scratch in regional areas. We knew there had to be another option that had couple’s celebrating with their family and friends weeks out from the wedding and not running around trying to pull it all together. A stress-free, seamless and champagne filled wedding experience. A venue that comes to you.
What stage is your project/business in?
Officially we are only just over one year old under the White Top Venues name. Unofficially we have been doing this for years.
What were you doing before you launched your business/project?
Both working in the wedding/events game; either running a wedding venue or building weddings using what we could source from hire companies.
Running households, living on cattle stations and operating the country’s first national advertising website solely for cattle, Annabelle Woods and Elisha Parker are taking multi-tasking to a new level. Meet the women who just single-handedly redefined what is possible in rural business.
In a homestead on the red semi-arid plains of Dajarra, amid the ghost gums on the banks of the Wills river, a phone is ringing out through the silence. It’s an important call. This remote 660 000 acre cattle station, owned by McDonald Holdings, doubles as the North West QLD headquarters for a national online cattle advertising hub. But there are no corporate suits here, no secretaries or personal assistants to take the call. Cattlesales Co-Director, grazier and mother of three, Annabelle Woods, has just finished cooking up a storm for the mustering crew. Before that she was in the office managing cattle numbers. She brings new meaning to the term ‘career woman’, legging it across the yard and into the homestead, just in time for the daily teleconference with business partner Elisha Parker.
Follow the phone line 1000 kilometres to a cattle station west of the Central Queensland town of Clermont. It’s a different view for Elisha, looking out onto 120,000 acres on the opposite side of the state, but the challenge is the same. She has somehow managed to find the time to launch the revolutionary site while also working externally for a Brisbane law firm, raising a family and helping run a cattle station. Both based on remote cattle stations, conducting almost all their business by phone and email, Elisha and Annabelle built cattlesales.com.au from scratch. “Being in the industry ourselves we knew that it was going to be something that would work because it was something that we both wanted to use straight away,” Elisha explains. “We couldn’t believe that it actually didn’t exist. We were mustering in late 2015 and had sale cattle in the yards here at the time – over lunch with an agent we discussed our idea that he could further his market reach, even to other states, if there was a national platform to do it on. It was just so apparent that the website was needed. I also had a neighbour trying to buy cows at that time and every night she’d come in from the paddock and be online with 20 different windows open looking at every agency to see what was for sale.”
In a bid to help graziers have their cattle seen by more prospective buyers, or source particular cattle, the pair began researching how to build the first Australian site developed specifically for sourcing and advertising sale cattle. “We interviewed friends, agents, industry stakeholders and every single one of them just couldn’t believe this website didn’t already exist,” Elisha says. “We thought wouldn’t it be amazing if we were trying to buy cattle and we didn’t have to come in every night and check every agency website? And also when selling if we could reach a bigger pool of buyers and potentially get a better price, turn the cattle over quicker. From there it just escalated and next thing we knew we were talking code with web developers in Brisbane and had a tech team on board to custom build the site.”
Eighteen months later and Cattlesales is a high traffic online advertising hub changing the game for cattle producers and agents nation wide.
This interview was published as a collaboration by the team at Creative Consulting and Graziher is proud to support their month-long series of #ruralregional women.
I believe there is nothing more energising than feeling inspired to achieve something. Every day I am inspired to work on improving and maintaining my health so that I feel happy and energised
What inspires you?
To feel inspired is a great thing in life and I believe there is nothing more energising than feeling inspired to achieve something. Every day I am inspired to work on improving and maintaining my health so that I feel happy and energised, and this, in turn, motivates me to help others understand the importance of taking their health seriously. Given my concerns for the health, and in particular the mental health of farmers and rural communities I have become extremely enthused to provide a service that can help make rural Australian communities healthier, happier and more resilient.
How did your project/business idea come about?
I have always been very passionate about Agriculture and health, and given my concerns about the mental health statistics in rural Australia, I decided to combine these two passions and develop a program that provided a proactive and practical solution for the health, and particularly mental health of farmers and rural communities.
What stage is your project/business in?
Active Farmers was established in March 2015 and I ran classes at Mangoplah and Uranquinty for two years whilst working full-time elsewhere. In January, this year Delta Agribusiness came on board as both a sponsor and partner which enabled me to focus full-time on expanding the program, I therefore still consider Active Farmers to still be very much in a start-up phase.
What were you doing before you launched your business/project?
When I made the decision to expand Active Farmers I had to make the decision to leave an eight-year Agribusiness career, with my most recent position being a Rural Manager at Rabobank in Wagga Wagga.
This interview was published as a collaboration by the team at Creative Consulting and Graziher is proud to support their month-long series of #ruralregional women.
THE Rural Woman came from a feeling of isolation and desire for deeper and more meaningful connection with like-minded rural women…I wanted to stop complaining about it and do something instead.
What inspires you?
People living their truth! And authentically living their best lives and realising their dreams. I love the stories of real people achieving wonderful things…not necessarily ‘big’ things, but living conscious, meaningful, impactful lives.
How did your project/business idea come about?
THE Rural Woman came from a feeling of isolation and desire for deeper and more meaningful connection with like-minded rural women…I wanted to stop complaining about it and do something instead. I was also frustrated that there were these incredible rural women doing great work and being limited by their geographic reach and that there was no platform for them to discover their voice, connect with others and then amplify their voice/mission/work into the world! I’d been playing in the online world for a few years and saw incredible opportunities for rural women to expand all areas of their lives and create economic and social impact in their communities through harnessing the internet. I didn’t realise it at the time, but what I was launching was, in fact, a global tech company.
What stage is your project/business in?
We are in start-up, readying ourselves to scale.
What were you doing before you launched your business/project?
I was running a successful business and health coaching business working mainly with rural women. I was also volunteering my time to a national project on an almost full-time basis.
Pop over and read Rebel’s story published via Creative Consulting – the full interview here.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WITH SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE READY TO WORK REMOTELY, BUT MAJOR EMPLOYERS ARE STILL RESTRICTING THEMSELVES TO ONLY EMPLOYING PEOPLE THAT CAN PHYSICALLY COME TO WORK.
What inspires you?
My drive into town (Wagga). We live in the most beautiful spot. Our house is up on a hill and we have spectacular 180 degrees views. The drive down the hill and through the valley into Wagga looks different every morning. Frosty some mornings, lush green at other times or bone dry in the summer. The drive inspires me as it reminds me that every day is so different; a fresh start every day.
How did your project/business idea come about?
The idea for Pointer Remote Roles came about when discussing my employment needs for my sponsorship and event management company, Agri Alliance. I had been looking to outsource different roles within the company to people with a far better knowledge and understanding than myself. I began to look at my own network of professional friends who were living in regional areas. I realised that it was not only myself that would benefit from their skills and experience, but others would too. What was holding these professionals back from this sort of remote employment was the lack opportunity for them to be in the right place at the right time. I initially launched Go Remote in February 2017 and rebranded as Pointer at the end of June.
What stage is your project/business in?
When does a business stop being a startup? We have been online since February this year and we already have a large pool of candidates register. We are signing on more and more employers but of course, I would always love to be posting more jobs.
What were you doing before you launched your business/project?
I cofounded Agri Alliance with my business partner in September 2016. Previous to that, I started a comprehensive learning centre in Holbrook, and I went on to open in Finley and later Wagga. I sold the business in January. Prior to that, I was a learning support teacher in both primary and high schools. I’ve also snuck having two little girls in there somewhere too.
This interview was published as a collaboration by the team at Creative Consulting and Graziher is proud to support their month-long series of #ruralregional women. Pop over and check them out.
Graziher also featured Jo Palmer in our #08 Spring magazine, available for purchase here.
In April 2013, when Iain and Anneli Day purchased Beranlie which is adjacent to their other property Liddesdale, the house was a modest fibro cottage that had been unoccupied for eight years. Undeterred, eight months later Iain and Anneli and their children Ryan, 16, Jahna, 13 and eleven-year-old Ben, relocated from Iain’s family property Marylands, 62 kilometres in the east with hopes to transform the old house into a comfortable family home.
The Days initially lived in the house to get a feel for it and work out what alterations were required. “We thought it had reasonably good bones and with four bedrooms it was a fair sized house,” Anneli says. “Iain and I had some ideas and were prepared to reassess as we went along.”
Their brief was to make it a functional, practical and welcoming family home to fit with the landscape and their lifestyle. Renovations began in December 2013 and the family of five lived in the small, nearby school house for the seven-month duration. “It was cosy but we made it work,” Anneli recalls. “The kids slept in swags and we rolled them up each morning to make room so I could teach school. Each weekend, when the builders left the mad clean up, would begin in preparation for the next week of progress.”
Since the renovations were completed mid-2014, Iain and Anneli have planted trees and carted in truckloads of soil, manure and silage to create raised garden beds of roses and perennials. A wide arbour marks the entry way into the garden and old timber gates and a cart from Marylands provide points of interest.
We live in a harsh climate so it’s lovely to have an oasis to come home to. I love the contrast the white provides against the garden surrounds and the bush backdrop.
“We’ve turned a basic house into a home. It’s certainly been a great learning process, at times challenging, but we love what we’ve created. It’s a beautiful precinct but still a work in progress. It’s where we want to live, and continue to raise our family. I couldn’t think of any better place”
I still miss home terribly, but I see our move from Clermont in Central Queensland to the North West Slopes and Plains district in NSW as a new adventure, and we are determined to make it work. I knew we were in for a phenomenal change and despite a great deal of trepidation, we were excited.
I grew up on cattle properties in Central Queensland with my sister and two brothers. With both our parents’ families on stations in the Clermont district, we were surrounded by a lot of family. I’m a trained nurse, but ended up working for a stock and station agency in Clermont. I met Bruce when he came to work for an opposition firm in town. After we married, we moved to Alpha for six months and then to Winton in Western Queensland, where we stayed for two years. After that we had two years in Barcaldine, where Bruce had his first position as manager of a stock and station agency.
I loved living in Winton and Barcaldine. In Winton I was nursing, so found it easy to mix into the community. Our first child, Carl, was born while we were living in Barcaldine and our next two, Brady and Hannah, were born in Clermont. I had all our children in Mackay, because having them in a regional centre was considered the safer option. In Barcaldine we were a young couple with a small child, and the community was just so welcoming. We had a beautiful time there.
We moved back to Clermont, where Bruce managed another agency. I was elated to return to my family. I think fate plays a hand sometimes. Soon after we were back, Mum developed ovarian cancer, which she battled for seven years.
Shortly after she died, my sister, Sally, was diagnosed with an incurable heart and lung disease, and she passed away at just 35. It was a huge blow to lose them both. We were all so close.
Eventually, Bruce and I decided to start our own stock and station agency and real estate. We also opened another office in Moura, four hours’ south of Clermont, and we ran Clermont Agencies for over ten years, before opening a merchandise store for another ten years. We started in three dongas, before constructing a large building for merchandise
Bruce and I are both from rural backgrounds, so when our business became very demanding, we decided we’d like to look for some country to run cattle. We bought an 8,000 acre cattle and sheep property, Belfield, 100 km north of Tamworth, New South Wales, in the Upper Horton district and sold up in Clermont.
With many trips back and forth from Clermont with truckloads of gear, the move was huge. It was a while before the locals realised we were here permanently. Belfield has four homesteads – one is over 100 years old and almost beyond repair. We had to dive in to a lot of painting, renovating, fencing and yard building, and getting our cattle operation up and running. But it’s great cattle country and with rolling hills and waterfalls, it’s very picturesque.
At first I found it difficult to meet people and to gain a sense of belonging, I guess because we were so busy and coming and going a lot. In our Clermont business, I was incredibly busy, and it was the kind of work that called for a lot of community involvement. When we left, that all changed. I found it quite lonely at first. My poor hairdresser in Tamworth suffered a few ear bashings about how hard I’ve found it to meet people of a similar age and with similar interests.
Sometimes I took myself off to town, just to sit in a café and have people around me. But, I love the bush and really enjoy riding my horse and helping Bruce outside with yard and cattle work, particularly choosing our bulls.
In our first three years we had really good seasons. But then we had a few terrible years, with little or no rain. What grass we didn’t lose to drought, we lost to a grasshopper plague. That forced our decision to take our cattle (more than 600) on the stock route. We needed to hold on to our breeding stock until the drought broke and the market picked up. So, we went droving for six very difficult months.
It was winter and very cold – and without home conveniences, it was tough going. Some people didn’t welcome us along the way, because they thought we were taking their grass. But we also made some lifelong friends during that time. Two weeks in, I had a horse fall and broke my neck. Bruce had ridden off to look for some cattle, so I was on my own. Knowing I’d done some damage, I crawled to the side of the road and lying flat on the ground, held my hat up to flag a passing car. I remember being lifted into the ambulance and worrying about Bruce. The thought of letting him down was awful. It had been so tough up to that point, and now I was leaving him to fend for the cattle on his own. We didn’t have nearby family or friends we could call on, but we did get a little help, and after three weeks in hospital and a week at home, I was able to join Bruce on the stock route again.
Through our local town, Barraba, we have come to know quite a few of the local people. Without small children and the school network, you have to make a bigger effort to get to know people. I did a little volunteering at the local primary school, and that was a good way to get to know people. But then Dad was diagnosed with cancer, and I had to leave so I could run him in to Tamworth regularly for treatment. I’m now working one day a week in a great little café in town – which I’m loving and again, meeting more people.
It has been an education to learn about the different weeds and pests in this area and how to handle them. I have attended some land care meetings, which has also been a nice way to meet people. And as I can sew quite well, I joined patchwork lessons, and we have lot of family and friends visit us. I’m really proud of the three young adults our kids have become and just love it when they visit.
When I get my garden back to what it was before we went on the stock route, I’d like to host a luncheon for the Beyond Blue organisation. I feel all of us need support at some time. I know both Bruce and I have had our moments, and often just a phone call has made all the difference. But things are going well now and after a difficult time, we are starting to feel a sense of place and finding time to enjoy our new environment. I’m at last appreciating where I am and looking to the future and what we can build here. Belfield is green again; the grass has grown and the cattle herd is thriving.
Hannah Hewitt, Hanging Rock Station, Charters Towers, Queensland (as told to Paula Heelan for Graziher magazine)
I grew up on a small farm at Alton Downs, near Rockhampton in central Queensland. One of six kids, there was a lot of competition and we all had to pitch in to help. It was a fun and idyllic childhood. After high school, I took a gap year and traveled to England and Europe on a working holiday. Mum is English, so I was able to catch up with relatives and friends.
When I returned I enrolled in a three-year nursing degree at Central Queensland University and then completed a year of post-graduate in pediatric nursing. When I finished in 2009 I married Cameron. We’d known each other since high school. He proposed to me at my H-themed 21st birthday party in front of everyone. He was dressed as the Hulk, and I was a honeybee. We honeymooned in Vanuatu and then moved to Hanging Rock, an 83,000-acre cattle station, 170 kms south of Charters Towers in north Queensland where rural life began for me.
I was 22 when we arrived and I spent the first eight months settling in to station life before starting nursing shifts at the hospital in Charters Towers. I learned to fix fences, muster on horseback and bike, start pumps and to always have something cooked for smoko. The hospital staff was fabulous. Knowing I had a two-hour drive to get there, they always tried to give me a late shift followed by an early one. This meant I could drive up in the morning, do the late shift, stay the night in the quarters and then work an early shift the next morning. Then I’d do our grocery shopping, pick up any supplies Cameron needed and drive home.
After about nine months I fell pregnant with our first baby, Harry. The tiredness started to get to me so I cut back to one shift. I was also driving home in the dark and with a lot of kangaroos on the road it wasn’t ideal. Everyone thought I was mad. Then at the end of 2010 we welcomed a big wet and most of the time I couldn’t get out for my shifts because the creeks were up or the possibility of getting bogged in the vehicle. So I had to postpone working until after the baby was born.
It got so wet that year that for weeks we had to leave our car at the boundary gate and continue the rest of the 16 kilometre drive home on the washed out road on a four-wheeler bike. We were often loaded with stores and an esky. I was 35 weeks pregnant and needed to get out for baby checks.
But I loved the nursing work when I could be there. Rural nursing is so much fun. With a broad spectrum of patients coming in, there’s something different happening all the time and a lot to learn. I enjoyed using my brain – sometimes out here it can feel like it’s a bit of a mum life.
We have three children now. Harry is six, Hugo, four and Pippa is 13 months. In 2015 while pregnant again and teaching Harry I spent four months in Rockhampton to renew my nursing registration. Cam’s mother, Mandy, and my family helped mind the kids while I did some very intensive nursing. I loved getting my hands back in and picking up all my skills. It was horrible being away from Cam with only minimal visits as the property was so dry and Cam was feeding cattle at home. But the boys and I battled it out and that time gave me another five years to keep poking away at the necessary shifts I need to complete in order to stay registered. I look forward to some more nursing shifts when Pippa is a little older.
When I first moved to Hanging Rock I was lucky to have a beautiful neighbour – Natalie Kenny. It turned out Nat’s grandmother and Cam’s late grandfather are brother and sister. So we were next door to a relative! Nat invited us to their station for a barbeque and soon after to her friend’s bridal shower. She said come over and meet all the women in the district. That was one of my first outings and everyone was so friendly. It just went from there. There is always something on – a ski day, a tennis day, a birthday party or just an excuse to have a cuppa and a chat – and everyone invites you. So I found it very easy to settle in.
Until we had children, I wasn’t part of the school community and didn’t really understand it. I met lots of young mums and when they talked about Distance Education and organisations like the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association, I felt a little overwhelmed. I thought, this is just all going over my head. I have no idea what this all means. How can you teach your own kid? I am not a teacher, I’m a nurse. It was daunting and I questioned whether or not I wanted to be out here when we had kids. I remember Nat saying, just make the most of it before school starts.
But soon enough it rolled around. Starting School of the Air was a whole new world and opened up a wonderful new community to me. I gained lots of new friends and we attend several mini-schools a year at the school base. That’s a great social time both for parents and children.
I started teaching Harry and Hugo, but when Pippa came along I found I couldn’t give the boys what they needed in the schoolroom. There were just too many distractions, so we made the decision to employ a governess. The job of finding someone suitable to teach your children is also a scary process. You worry about whether or not the governess will enjoy living with your family and teaching your children – and will they cope with the isolation? But we found Rachael and she settled in beautifully. We all love her and essentially, the kids adore her. We are very lucky.
I find I don’t feel isolated at all. A lot of people have asked how I can live so far out, without so many conveniences. We’re half an hour from our closest neighbour, but out here that’s nothing. You get used to long drives and actually begin to enjoy the isolation. There is always something happening. Instead of popping to grocery shop quickly for an hour or so, it’s a whole day’s outing. We go about once a fortnight and can top up the groceries via the mail truck in between town visits.
I love living in the bush. The space, the animals, the people and even the extreme weather events all make life interesting and exciting. The kids can just be kids – with plenty of space to run and be noisy. The lifestyle is amazing and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Hannah’s story was one of four stories, each woman telling their own story of finding “A Sense of Belonging”. Published in the 2017 Winter Graziher magazine. See here.
Words & photography by Jane Smith, our resident baker. As a young family we are gradually establishing our own bush Christmas traditions and most of them involve home baked gifts and fresh, tasty food to share on the day.
Read and browse the Graziher Summer Christmas recipes in the Summer edition, shop here: Summer magazine
Recipe adapted from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook.
INGREDIENTS
1125g plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
400g unsalted butter, softened
400g soft brown sugar
320g golden syrup
1 egg
4 egg yolks
HOW TO
Sift flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and spices together in a large bowl.
Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon until pale and creamy. Alternatively, mix in a large stand mixer. Add the egg and egg yolks in a slow stream and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients, in three batches, until thoroughly mixed. Divide the dough into four portions and flatten each piece into a rough disk. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm or for up to three days.
Preheat oven to 170°C.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and allow to soften slightly. Roll out each disc between two sheets of baking paper until about 3mm thick. Cut into desired shapes using biscuit cutters or a knife. Continue to re-roll to make use of all the dough.
Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake, in batches for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on trays.
NOTES
There are many printable templates available online for gingerbread houses, in various sizes. Store bought royal icing is an easy option for gingerbread house construction. Cooked gingerbread freezes successfully.
An Australian Bush Christmas
After the initial excitement of discovering the presents and the mysterious tracks left by the reindeers, the adults enjoy a long, refreshing Bloody Mary. This is a perfect drink to sip upon while putting the finishing touches on lunch, adjusting the playlist and demolishing flaky croissants for breakfast.
No one can resist the charm of a small gingerbread house. Each year I bake these well in advance and our children are given a house each to decorate. These houses make the centrepiece of our lunch table. Over the years these delicious little townships have been invaded by lolly snakes along with many other entertaining decorations and scenarios.
Given that the temperature can often exceed 40 degrees in December a cold lunch suits our relaxed approach to the day. Succulent smoked salmon, Asian style roast duck and generous, zingy salads are some dishes that appear on our Christmas table.
The aroma of a traditional plum pudding invokes many memories from my childhood but panettone ice cream cake has also become a favourite in our house. The warm, rich panettone balances the cold ice cream centre perfectly and makes a lighter end to the meal.
Late in the afternoon we like to pack up some cold drinks and a simple meal of leftovers and head to one of our dams for a relaxing afternoon, yabbying with friends or simply watching the sun set over our property as we reflect on Christmas Day.
Thirty-five years down the track and Kate O’Callaghan is still a Leeton local, living in cotton country in southern New South Wales.
In a region traditionally dominated by rice production, Kate is the General Manager of Southern Cotton (SC) – one of the first gins to be built in the region. Passionate about agriculture, Kate was recruited by SC to nurture the emerging cotton industry for the Murrumbidgee Valley. Her role in the project was monumentally important – she was there from the initial stages. Within a year, Kate had helped SC transform from an empty paddock into the successful cotton gin it is today.
After graduating from university as an agronomist in the mid 1980s, Kate has spent years contributing to the agricultural industry. Her leadership roles at the Department of Agriculture, Novogen and CopRice Stockfeeds led to her current position at SC and her passion for education.
At age 23 Kate landed a job with the Department of Agriculture in the Leeton Shire, undertaking irrigated lucerne trials. New to the area, not knowing a soul and living out at the little research station at Yanco, she couldn’t foresee her ties to the Leeton Shire growing. It was a region vastly different to Tamworth – hotter summers and no rolling hills in sight. Kate recalls thinking when she moved, “Imagine after studying at uni after all those years, I got stuck in a place like this my whole life.”
This is an excerpt from the SummerGraziher magazine, shop here.
Plans changed after meeting Owen, her future husband.
“That was the start/end of my life really,” Kate laughs. “He feigned an interest in irrigated lucerne production, even though he had no lucerne, and kept coming and checking my lucerne trials.”
Years later and now a fully fledged Leeton local, Kate was invited to become involved with the start-up stage of the Leeton based cotton gin, Southern Cotton. It was in 2012 and she remembers the invitation for the interview.
Tim Commins, one of the five board members called and said, “Owen says that you’re looking for a change. Would you be interested in joining Southern Cotton and coming out and having a chat with the directors.”
Kate replied, “Yes, I’d love to.”
She went out to the site one afternoon after work, in her CopRice clothes – her employer at the time, to meet with the six board members.
Kate recalls, “It turned into a full on grilling for two hours. I was so terrified.”
“They didn’t really know what my job was going to entail, they just knew that they needed someone. They needed someone to do ‘the other stuff’ apart from building the machine.”
At this stage the whole project was a shed with a hole in the ground. There was no electricity, there was no power and no internet.
It was an exciting venture to be a part of. To start with, Kate focused on doing the books for the accounts and going out to growers meetings to start to get to know the growers. “We were still in the building stage. By then we had started cementing, but had no internet and one little laptop,” Kate recalls.
“It was all an ‘ohmygod moment’ and ‘what do we do next’. There were so many things going on.”
She focused on laying strong foundations for the business like sourcing the equipment for ginning operations, sourcing programs via an IT consultant and building the network and computer systems. Writing her own strategy all from scratch and on the fly.
“I thought we needed safety systems in place so I wrote those documents,” Kate adds.
Everything taken for granted in an existing business, they had to source.
The first bale was pressed on June 16 2012, a momentous occasion with the families of the directors all present. Kate remembers the challenges in that first year well.
“The computer programs which we had written from scratch, didn’t work,” Kate recalls.
“So many teething problems.”
Five years later and now one of Australia’s leading ginning facilities, SC has produced more than 800,000 bales of cotton, a vastly different story to their first month of pressing 30 bales. SC gin features state-of-the-art technology in quality measurement, cleaning humidification, processing and data traceability. The company employs 11 full-time staff and 47 seasonal workers, and achieved Best Management Practice for Cotton Ginning Accreditation in 2013.
Looking back, it was her love of working with farmers and enjoying the grower relationship that convinced her to join SC.
There’s two things Kate is really excited to talk about: the gin process and the gin story obviously is an exciting story. Education is another passion of Kate’s, in particular, educating tour groups, visitors and school children about agriculture throughout the region.
“Education is an important part of what we at SC do – and we don’t do it for money, we do it because it is important for us that people understand,” Kate explains.
“Understand not only the cotton industry but all irrigated agriculture, and even for school groups, for them to understand the smallest connections such as where their shirt came from.”
Kate O’Callaghan, general manager
Kate O’Callaghan is the general manager of Southern Cotton. She runs the production and logistics management for both ginning and cottonseed management, as well as leading a team of 10 permanent staff and more than 40 seasonal casuals.
Recognised as one of Australia’s top 100 Women in Australian Agribuisness in 2014, Kate heads up the liaison and negotiations with growers, is secretary of the Southern Valley Cotton Growers’ Association and represents Southern Cotton at Cotton Australia.
She is passionate about locals and visitors understanding the quality, sustainability and excellence of agriculture in the region.
This is an excerpt from the Summer Graziher magazine, shop here.
It’s Graziher’s first Christmas (yay!), and we wanted to do things a little differently. We wanted to share with Australia (& the world), all the amazing small businesses, boutiques and stores out there.
We created a Christmas gift-guide, featuring over 60+ businesses allowing all to shop and support rural, regional & remote businesses this Christmas.
It’s Graziher’s first Christmas (yay!), and we wanted to do things a little differently. We wanted to share with Australia (& the world), all the amazing small businesses, boutiques and stores out in rural, reginoal & remote Australia.
We created a free, digital, Christmas gift-guide, featuring over 60+ businesses allowing all to shop and support rural, regional & remote businesses this Christmas.
We invite you to have a browse through the digital magazine we created!
Xx Graziher team
