Not all flowers are grown equal. Or at least not according to Nikki Davey, a truffle and flower producer from Victoria’s Glenmore.

The entrepreneur is the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award finalist for Victoria for her work co-founding Grown not Flown — a digital platform that supports the slow flower movement, connecting flower consumers with local and sustainable producers.

Yet, Nikki never thought she’d come back to the 300-acre property she grew up on — let alone work to make it a viable business.

For the last 21 years, the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has empowered and celebrated the leadership of women involved in Australia’s rural and emerging industries, businesses and communities. Equipped with a $15,000 Westpac grant, each of the state and territory winners are in the running for the national winner and runner up to be announced in September — awarded an additional $20,000 and $15,000 Westpac grant respectively.

Tanya-Lee Holmes often quips that her life really only got started in her 40s. That’s quite a big call when you consider she acquired a life changing disability at 39 and has spent over 20 years as a carer for two children with Cerebral Palsy. Living on a small property outside Bathurst in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, the mother of three has navigated a series of defining events that saw her come out the other side more determined and focussed than ever. But she cites meeting the love of her life at 16 and facing all odds together as a team as one of her greatest achievements. 

Sophie Elliott’s story is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and stands as a poignant reminder that even in the face of formidable challenges, happiness can be found again.

A born and bred western Queensland girl, Sophie was working at The Blue Heeler Pub in Kynuna in her early twenties. It was here, that her life would change forever.

This is a love story, entwined with tragedy, and a new beginning. 

From a youth campdrafting and mustering on the family’s 19,000 acre station outside Queensland’s Glenmorgan, to a life under lights co-captaining Australia’s Women’s Rugby 7s team, The Pearls; Demi Hayes is living proof that geographical isolation doesn’t beat talent and hard work.

While she now lives a long way from the beef property she grew up on, the 25 year old has taken many lessons with her from paddock to the pitch – including her leadership style learned in the cattle yards, which will see her take her team to the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

How Wendy Henning fits all of her commitments into one day is a mystery to most!

Wendy and her husband Andrew own and manage a cattle and mixed cropping business at Merchison Park, near Glenmorgan, Queensland. In Wendy’s own words, they are ‘in the middle of everywhere, but not quite anywhere. Two hours to Gundy, two hours to Roma, two hours to Dalby and an hour and ¾ to St George’.

With four daughters now having flown the coop, Wendy is busier than ever. As a long-term passionate advocate for education, Wendy has spent years with the ICPA, or Isolated Children’s Parents Association, dedicated to ensuring every child, regardless of how they learn, is able to receive a quality education. Wendy was recently elected as President of the Queensland State Council, meaning the balance of business, volunteer roles and travelling time to see her girls just got even more intense!

Jillian Kilby is not afraid of the big decisions. As an engineer and farmer’s daughter from Coonamble, in the central west of New South Wales, Jillian has leant on her rural values right through her career.

This courage has seen her go against the grain most of her life and bounce from Coonamble to Sydney to Walgett to Silicon Valley and back to the Central West.

Now she’s breathing new life into country heritage buildings while helping regional start-ups increase their capability, capacity and confidence because she knows all too well how lonely a road it can be starting a small business in the bush.

It takes a certain level of guts to dig deep and blow up your life and Jillian has done it not once, but twice on an extraordinary scale.

Eliza Lockyer takes putting nutritious food on the table very seriously. Obsessed with gardening since her late teens, Eliza also developed a fascination with rare breed stock and has dedicated a large portion of her life promoting the benefits of their continued breeding. If you’ve ever been interested in gardening, or you live in a place where it might be difficult to grow because of clay or rocky soil- then this is the episode for you!

Growing up on a small property, nestled amidst the picturesque Tasmanian north-west coast, Eliza’s appreciation for growing fruit, veggies and protein, gradually blossomed into quite the obsession that’s followed her across the continent. Spending the last six years between the Pilbara and Kimberley regions in Western Australia, she and husband Andy bid farewell to the red earth and rugged terrain, home-bound, to pull up stumps on Andy’s family cattle property in Walcha, New South Wales.

Can you imagine taking eight horses, 14 working dogs, three goats and two toddlers on a six-month long road trip? It’s certainly not for the faint hearted, but for the Northern Territory’s Curtain family, it’s Situation Normal. In this episode, our host Emily Herbert is in conversation with Annabelle Curtain, a wife, mother and urban designer, who has built an incredibly diverse business alongside her husband Tom.

As a mother, wife and business owner, Jade Lord is deeply invested in bringing health and wellbeing to rural and remote communities.

Originally from Moreton Bay, Jade spent most of her early childhood on Stradbroke Island. A blissful beachside oasis, surrounded by crystal clear water, white sand and rocky outcrops.

It’s a stark contrast from where Jade now calls home, a remote cattle station, 150km outside of Richmond, in Queensland. There, with her husband Nikko and three kids, Jock, Sandy and Ruby, they run a significant beef cattle operation, spanning across northern Queensland. Jade and Nikko had somewhat of a fairy tale romance, meeting on one of the early seasons of Farmer Wants a Wife, but as you’ll hear in this episode, Jade’s life on the land wasn’t without some major challenges.

Melinda O’Donoghue is often compared to ‘Cinderella’s fairy godmother’. Known as The Outback Wedding Dressmaker, she’s made close to 300 wedding dresses for country and city brides around the nation- and some even overseas!

Melinda is a classically trained seamstress, working alongside the likes of well-known designer Alex Perry in Sydney. Melinda and her husband, Des, now live on a property in Gurley, just over 30 kilometres south of Moree, in New South Wales.

This is Melinda’s story of the trials and tribulations of living on the land, coupled with the magic she brings to brides across Australia.