Category: News

RURAL PHOTOS CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF THE BUSH

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1st prize awarded to Kristen Walsh from the NSW Riverina town of Gerogery

Life on the land or in the bush – photographic competition winners announced

 Rural Aid has today announced the winners of their inaugural “Spirit of the Bush” photo competition, after evaluating over the 400 entries submitted in just one month.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters the organisation put the call out for photographers to send through their best visualisation of the “Spirit of the Bush” and they were inundated with entries.

“We wanted to see images, ground level or aerial, of our Aussie farmers and their families and a depiction of what their life is like on the land or in the bush,” John Warlters said.

“As well as giving the world a snapshot of farming life, the land and the bush in Australia, this competition is also a great way of giving greater exposure to rural photographic talent.”

“First place has now been awarded to Kristin Walsh from the NSW Riverina town of Gerogery. So much of the strength of the bush starts with family and a generational love of the land, and we thought this shot was a striking depiction of the theme. Kristin receives gift cards to the value of $500 for her efforts,” Mr Warlters said.

Kristin Walsh is an amateur photographer who took this photo during the NSW Covid lockdown on a second hand DSLR. In fact, it was the first photo she captured on that camera. 

“It is a photo of my son, Finn, and his dad, Kevin. To me it tells a story of love, caring, teaching and guiding the younger generation. It shows an unbreakable bond between the two. It really pulls at my heart strings to look at and I know if our son is half the man of his father, he will be a great man,” the winner said.

2nd prize awarded to Bunderra Cattle Co – an Australian family owned and operated cattle business located in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

“Second place was awarded to Bunderra Cattle Co with their photograph of the ubiquitous wide, flat land that is seen in so much of the Australian landscape, and a silhouette of a family in front of a spectacular sunset. Their prize is gift cards to the value of $250,” Mr Warlters continued.

3rd prize awarded to Trina Patterson of Rolleston, Queensland.

“Third place was a busy mustering shot taken by Trina Patterson of Rolleston, Queensland. The rich brown tones in this scene are synonymous with much of Australian bush life: cattle, horses, dry grass and dust. Trina wins a Rural Aid prize pack to the value of $100.”

Photographer Trina Patterson said her entry was taken as the drought was “sinking its teeth into Queensland”.

“The Burnes family from Quilpie had already been on the road with their cattle for quite some time when I met them on the stock route near Rolleston in Central Queensland.  I captured this image as young Lacey Burnes was helping push the cattle into the night yard, an electric taped area where the cattle would remain safe until daylight the next day.  Both of the kids were helping their parents with the cattle and there were also two other friends helping them out. The kids knew the routine, they knew what to do and they were so practical and resilient and thoughtful.  True little future bush leaders,” Ms Patterson explained.

In running this competition, Rural Aid was looking to give additional exposure to talented photographers across Australia who are also facing challenging times with events and travel impeded by Covid.

“We thank the 400 photographers who sent us their entries. What a joy it was to see the abundance of talent in our rural creative community,” Mr Warlters said.

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Media enquiries: 0447 116 757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au

Media spokespersons: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters – 0409 618 641

About Rural Aid

Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.

Visit www.ruralaid.org.au/snapshots for Rural Aid’s latest assistance statistics.

Follow Rural Aid for updates on:
FB: @ruralaidaustralia | @buyabaleofhay
IN: Rural Aid Ltd
TW: @ruralaidaust | @buyabale

RURAL AID AND MR. FOTHERGILL’S PARTNERING TO HELP SUPPORT BEES

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Aussie school children plant seeds to help our honeybees

School children across Australia are being encouraged to “Bee An Angel” with the help of one of Australia’s largest rural charity organisation, Rural Aid, and Mr Fothergill’s.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said he welcomed the partnership with Mr Fothergill’s to donate and distribute seed packets to schools who have fundraised for Rural Aid so that school children can plant native flowers to support our honeybees.

“Recent events including drought and bushfire impacted thousands of beehives across Australia.

Thankfully, our littlest livestock Aussie farmers, yes – you may know them as beekeepers, are doing their best to get back on their feet,” John Warlters said.

“Over 50,000 hives were burnt in the bushfires and beekeepers are struggling to feed their remaining bees with a dramatic reduction in their food source – flowers and plants. We encourage all schools to plant native flowers to encourage a Spring bee revival. If your school, workplace or community group would like to get involved to #SaveAussieBees, sign up for a free beehive fundraising poster at www.ruralaid.org.au. Once the poster is full, you will have raised $1,000 for Aussie beekeepers in need! This amount could feed a hive of hungry honeybees for an entire month.

“Honeybees are the key pollinators for many fruits and vegetables. Over one-third of Australia’s produce relies on these bees for pollination – without bees, many of the shelves at local supermarkets would be empty and the farmers’ market favourites we take for granted would be in short supply.

“This initiative with Mr Fothergill’s is a great opportunity to support our honeybees and their keepers and is sure to have a number of great outcomes.

“The seed project will show children the importance of having flowering plants as a food source for our honeybees and how to grow those flowering plants. Imagine if every school in Australia grew flowering plants. Our honeybees and our food sources that rely on their pollination would flourish.

“However, because of the drought and devastating bushfires, our Aussie beekeepers are struggling to feed their bees and pay their bills.

“Through Rural Aid’s Stronger Futures program, our Hive Aid fundraising initiative is ensuring that this essential industry is safeguarded for generations to come, but we need your help.

“That’s why we are asking everyone to #BeeAnAngel by supporting Australia’s littlest livestock, the honeybee.”

The good news is, there are easy ways to help support our littlest livestock farmers by:

Your support will allow Rural Aid to provide support to keep our hives alive and the industry flourishing.

To support our beekeepers and their bees, please donate at: www.ruralaid.org.au/campaigns/hiveaid/

END

Media enquiries: 0424203935 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au

Media spokespersons: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters – 0409 618 641

About Rural Aid

Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.

Visit www.ruralaid.org.au/snapshots for Rural Aid’s latest assistance statistics.

Follow Rural Aid for updates on:
FB: @ruralaidaustralia | @buyabaleofhay
IN: Rural Aid Ltd
TW: @ruralaidaust | @buyabale

MONTO QLD READY FOR RURAL AID’S OUR TOWNS MAKEOVER

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Plans finalised and Rural Aid’s Community and Farm volunteers are on their way to Monto

Monto Queensland community members are ready for an invasion that they are welcoming and have planned for since January this year.

Rural Aid and their army of 47 Community and Farm Volunteers will arrive in town from 30 August to 5 September armed with tools, an enthusiastic willingness to help and smiles ready, bringing Monto’s projects to fruition while also bringing a welcoming financial injection.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said it has been a long road and wait since October last year when Monto was announced as one of the winners of the Our Towns makeovers.

“These long-term renewal projects have been made possible thanks to the generosity of our volunteers in giving their time and expertise for such a great cause; as well as the remarkable Monto community. Monto’s community has worked hard, coming up with ideas and forming those ideas into a plan for their vison of their future.”

Monto’s vision is of a vibrant, family friendly and safe community, embracing traditions and contemporary practices in order to create progressive and community driven action for all generations to live, work, play and age well.

“Our thanks also go out to Evolution Mining for their generous $100,000 donation to support community activities across multiple years,” John Warlters said. “Many of their employees and their families live in rural towns in the area and their community will benefit from the work being done, the financial injection and most importantly, the community coming together for their town’s future.

“I would also like to thank Ergon Energy Network for adding their generous support to the Our Towns initiative, with Monto being the second after their support of Gayndah, last month.

“Rural Aid Community Builders Series webinar sponsors, Bushells is also sponsoring town community meetings, such as Our Towns, and will be providing much needed cuppas in Monto.

“Rural Aid was also in the Monto area on 21 August delivering 60 bales of much needed fodder (hay) to four farmers,” John Warlters said.

The Our Towns Makeover initiative is Rural Aid’s way of supporting small rural communities. 

Further Information: 

Monto Community Projects

The Monto community have identified the projects for the Farm and Community Volunteers to work on over the week to help give the town a much-needed start to their long-term renewal.

  • Planting and staking 30 Mount Ash trees in the recreational area behind the railway precinct
  • Lister Street Art Walk – oil the information hut and bridge and paint the ablution block
  • Laneway Community Garden/Walk –
  • Main Street of Monto – create landscape spaces and planter boxes, and install park benches and herb garden
  • Showgrounds – paint the show ring and ticket booth, refresh the buildings as well as repair and maintenance
  • Sports complex in Thomson Street – repair and paint the cricket oval fence and paint the internal doors of the old hospital.
  • Mungungo Hall – remove and replace old cladding, paint the new cladding, repair front and partial north wall and fixtures, and rear balustrade to ablution block
  • Mulglidie Hall and Fairweather’s Park – tidy and prune gardens and exterior ground as well as repaint Frank Fairweather’s memorial.
  • Three farms in the Monto area will also receive much needed makeovers.

About Monto 

  • The Monto District is situated approximately 200 kilometres west of the coastal cities of Bundaberg and Rockhampton, and 477 km north west from Brisbane.
  • Established in 1924, Monto was the first town in Queensland built utilising a town plan.
  • The District comprises the key agricultural service town of Monto, and a set of five attractive villages: namely Mungungo, Mulgildie, Bancroft, Kalpowar and Moonford.
  • Prior to European settlement, Monto and surrounding area was home to people the Gooreng, Wakka & Willi Aboriginal language groups.
  • The town takes its name from its railway station, which in turn is an Aboriginal word meaning ridgy plain.
  • Much of Monto’s historical buildings were built in Art Deco style, including the town hall.
  • Local attractions include but are not limited to:
    • Cania George National Park (22,000-hectare park) and Cania Dam- strong aboriginal presence dating back 19,000 years
    • Kroombit Tops National Park
    • Three Moon Creek
    • Wuruma Dam; Walking trails & tours, 4WD self-drive tours
    • Coominglah State Forest (lookout); Kalpowar State Forest and much more
    • Legendary Mulgildie Bunyip Hole and Sculpture Monto & district art and mural trail.

About Out Towns initiative

Over the next five years, each of the Our Towns will receive $100,000 in projects and support to renew their town. This includes $10,000 allocated for the community to workshop with community change and renewal experts on their ideas for their town’s long-term future and sustainability. The $90,000 will be spent, over five years, on materials for maintenance projects identified by the community, that fits within Rural Aid’s scope of work. If available, materials and trade expertise will be sourced locally to support local businesses.  

Media enquiries: Raylee Huggett – 0447 116 757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au

Media spokespersons: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters – 0409 618 641

About Rural Aid

Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.

Visit www.ruralaid.org.au/snapshots for Rural Aid’s latest assistance statistics.

Follow Rural Aid for updates on:
FB: @ruralaidaustralia | @buyabaleofhay
IN: Rural Aid Ltd
TW: @ruralaidaust | @buyabale

COMMUNITIES THAT RUN SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS

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What it takes to build strong, enterprising and sustainable towns

Residents, community leaders and program coordinators from small towns across Australia are invited to this week’s Rural Aid webinar on successful community campaigns featuring two case studies, one addressing ageism and the other attracting tourism.

Each week, Rural Aid delivers a free webinar as part of the Community Builders series, and this Thursday at 4pm AEST the focus is on two towns with under 1000 people and their community campaigns

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said the webinar is built to inspire and motivate small towns to take control of their futures.

“This week we’ll travel to Dirranbandi, a small country town famous for its cotton production, to hear about their successful Great Escape tour, created to boost the local economy and introduce city-based visitors to the local lifestyle,” Mr Warlters said.

The Great Escape Package paid holiday not only included a visit to the local show, but guests were able to see what the area is known for by visiting cotton crops, wineries and enjoying breakfast on the river. 

“Third generation local farmer Frank Deshon will be joining the program to tell the story of how it all came together.”

The second town to feature in this week’s webinar in Pingelly, in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.

“Pingelly faced the challenge of an ageing population made up of dedicated locals who had given much to the community and were reluctant to move away into aged care facilities or closer to health centres. They wanted to stay at home and stay in their town,” Mr Warlters explained.

“The Pingelly Somerset Alliance have developed a model that allowed older residents to stay in their homes, in their towns, and get the care and support they needed, through a most innovative approach.”

Listeners will hear this story from proud local Helen Morton, the former WA Minister for Mental Health, Disability Services and Child Protection.

The free webinar series, sponsored by Bushells, was created during the early months of Covid-19 restrictions to support small towns in rural and remote Australia in developing stronger futures in the face of adversity.  

The webinars are hosted by Peter Kenyon, community change and renewal expert from The Bank of Ideas. Attendees can ask questions through the chat function of the webinar platform.

To register to be part of the Community Builders Series, visit: ruralaid.org.au/towns/webinars

END

About Rural Aid

Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.

Media: 0447 116 757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au

Spokesperson: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters | 0409 618 641

Follow Rural Aid for updates on:

Rural Aid – FB: @ruralaidaustralia | IG: @ruralaid |IN: Rural Aid Ltd | TW: @ruralaidaust

Buy A Bale – FB: @buyabaleofhay | IG: @buyabale | TW: @buyabale

‘BEE AN ANGEL’ AND HELP RURAL AID SUPPORT AUSTRALIA’S LITTLEST LIVESTOCK

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When it comes to agricultural sustainability, honeybees impact well above their size

When our national parks are our home and we’re feeling a little displaced after the bushfires – with habitat loss and our food source gone – we need a little help.

We’re the little livestock that makes a big impact. We’re the honeybees and we’re crucial to everything  you eat, every day.

Without us, your favourites like avocados, almonds and blueberries wouldn’t be a reality. Did you know that 9 billion of us are on our way to Victoria’s almond farms to help with pollination as well as collect nectar for honey?

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said they are one of Australia’s littlest livestock and their work is essential to all levels of our food system.

“Without bees, a third of the supermarkets would be empty and your favourites at the farmers markets would be in short supply,” John Warlters said. “Through Rural Aid’s Stronger Futures program, Hive Aid is ensuring that this essential industry is safeguarded for generations to come, but we need your help.”

“Recent events including drought and bushfire impacted thousands of beehives across Australia. Thankfully, our littlest livestock Aussie farmers, yes – you may know them as beekeepers, are doing their best to get back on their feet. However, they are struggling to feed their bees and pay their bills.

“That’s why we are asking everyone to #BeeAnAngel by supporting Australia’s littlest livestock, the honeybee.”

The good news is, there are easy ways to help support our littlest livestock farmers by:

Your support will allow Rural Aid to provide support to keep our hives alive and the industry flourishing.

To support our beekeepers and their bees, please donate at: www.ruralaid.org.au/campaigns/hiveaid/

About Rural Aid

Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.

Media: 0447 116 757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au

Spokesperson: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters | 0409 618 641

Follow Rural Aid for updates on:

Rural Aid – FB: @ruralaidaustralia | IG: @ruralaid |IN: Rural Aid Ltd | TW: @ruralaidaust

Buy A Bale – FB: @buyabaleofhay | IG: @buyabale | TW: @buyabale

Interesting Bee Information from Hive and Wellness Australia: hiveandwellness.com/en-au

Beekeeping Costs

  • $25 buys a queen bee
  • $50 two queen bees
  • $150 1 x 20KG bag of Pollen supplement (one week’s worth for 40 hives)
  • $200: Nuc hive (baby/starter hive)
  • $500: Tank of diesel for typical commercial bee truck
  • $1000 One month’s worth of supplementary sugar feed for starving hives that don’t have immediate access to nectar – this is a last resort to keep the bees alive. Honey cannot be produced off this process.

General 

  • There are around 1500 commercial beekeepers in Australia who care for bees, produce honey and pollinate food crops for a living. Many of these families are feeling the impact of bushfire, drought and floods.  
  • Beekeepers are now travelling 1000kms more than usual to find sufficient nutrition for their bees. 
  • Without bees, fresh produce will be adversely impacted, including apples, cucumbers and other fruits, vegetables and buts. Some crops, like almonds, avocadoes and blueberries, are 100% dependent on honeybee pollination. 
  • Honeybee pollination is worth $14 billion to the national economy, a vital element in dozens of associated regional industries including the billion-dollar almond industry, Australia’s largest horticultural export. 
  • Many professional beekeepers are in maintenance mode, focusing on nursing their bees that are not strong enough to go into honey production or pollination services. This means beekeepers whose livelihoods depend on beekeeping are under threat and so is the fresh food aisle, with 1/3 of everything we eat needing honeybees for pollination – another service professional beekeepers offer in addition to producing pure honey from the bush. 
  • Due to all of the above factors, many Australian beekeepers are down in honey production by up to 70%. Sadly, there is no short-term relief in sight due to the great swathes of floral resource lost or damaged from drought and bushfire.  
  • We’ve seen rain recently, but this does not offer any resolve. Drought affected trees sometimes take 2-4 years to regenerate and trees burnt in the bushfires could take even more than that. The other issue is if we get too much rain. It can be detrimental to the trees, or it can prevent beekeepers moving bees into sites as their trucks can become easily bogged.  
  • The plight of our industry is severe and unfortunately the government support currently available to beekeepers has been inconsistent across each state. What is critical right now is that professional beekeepers can get much needed support to supplement bees where nutrition from the environment is unavailable due to drought and bushfires, and that we don’t see a mass exodus from the industry. Beekeepers are the cornerstone of Aussie agriculture and we need to ensure there is enough support accessible for these hardworking, forgotten farmers. This is what sparked the need for the Hive Aid campaign to ensure professional beekeepers could access support nationally.   

NSW 

  • NSW bushfires that have burnt over 9,809 hives and wiped out the field bees of over 88,094 hives  
  • Burnt just over 5 million hectares of forests (this is 10 times the annual average in a regular year for NSW)   
  • 67% of national parks on the eastern seaboard have been burnt, this was prime beekeeping country  
  • Flooding has been a massive issue down near the Pilliga. Hives needing to be airlifted from sites or rescued with boats. One of our beekeepers lost 800 hives.  
  • It is estimated that the NSW beekeeping industry contribute around $36 million annually to the state’s economy through the production of honey, bees wax and other hive products. 

QUEENSLAND  

  • 90% of Crown land is currently unproductive due to fires and drought. 
  • There are approximately 79,000 professional hives in Queensland with approximately 45,000 that are used for pollination (for avocados, strawberries, macadamias, etc.). But due to stress from drought and fires, there is going to be less hives at pollination this year. This will have a significant flow on effect to fresh produce in the fresh food section for grocery.  
  • Honey and honey products contribute $65 million per annum to Queensland’s economy but pollination dependent crops produce $2.4 billion per annum. Queensland Government is concerned regarding the impact of drought and fires on bees and what it will have on the ability of the horticultural industry to maintain production levels and contribute to Queensland economy.  
  • Many Queensland beekeepers had to move their hives to Central Victoria to support their hives.  
  • 45,000 hives have required drought assistance over the last two months.  
  • Drought is more an issue in Queensland than fires.