News Archives - Woolwise

AWET offered grants to attend to attend the International Wool Textile Organisation conference to be held in Adelaide in 2024. This presents an ideal opportunity for AWET scholars to access global experts from
the wool textile pipeline, to gain an understanding of their future role within the industry and to showcase their work to a professional audience. The Grant provides funding to cover travel, accommodation and registration.

b) must be able to present some of their AWET sponsored research work at the Congress.

AWET is pleased to announce that Woon Ling Chew (Victoria) was awarded an AWET scholarship to attend IWTO. Victoria received an Undergraduate Project Scholarship in 2021 for her Project “Creating an index to identify gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) resistance in sheep”, which was jointly supervised by Professor Michael Stear from La Trobe University and Dr Sarah Preston at Federation University. Additionally, AWET funded her attendance at the Australian Society for Parasitology conference in Cairns 2022.

Merely sitting through the credits of any movie will enlighten moviegoers about the extensive team that is required to bring even the ‘simplest’ film to life.

However, at times, filmmakers are put in positions where the financial resources don’t match the requirements. In that case, a powerful story and an unbridled passion are what brings a team together.

Such is the case for Just A Farmer, a feature film currently shooting in rural Victoria, written by and starring Leila McDougall, directed by Simon Lyndon, who makes his feature debut after almost 30 years of work in front of the camera with standout roles in the likes of Chopper, Blackrock and Troppo. The film also features highly respected thesps Susan Prior, Damian Walshe-Howling, Robert Taylor, Joel Jackson and Trevor Jamieson.

McDougall [pictured with Robert Taylor in main image], who comes from the rural town of Tatyoon in Victoria, speaks to the film’s story. “It is shining a light on the unique issue of having mental health issues in farming communities. There is not always support around, so you’ve got to lean on your community, people who may not be the most qualified. It’s about how a community and family can come together through that,” she says.

“It was a page-turner,” remarks Lyndon who had a gut feeling about the story. “I always thought it would be a difficult movie to make given it being a gut-wrenching and painful story, however, that’s what made it feel so true and moving.”

The difficulties in bringing the film to life don’t just lie with the storytelling. Just A Farmer is relying solely on private investment and a helping hand from the community to complete production.

“With the budget, I’m not going to lie, it is extremely stressful,” says McDougall, who also produces. “We’ve been able to keep the costs low by shooting on our farm. Also, all the farming equipment, animal wranglers and extras are friends who we’ve called on to make this film. But it is made a lot harder by the costs associated with accommodation and living away from home. They definitely don’t make it easy to shoot in rural towns.”

It is a testament to the power of the story that has bought this team together. “With the crew, we wanted people who were passionate about the message. A lot of them aren’t getting paid the big bucks they would be getting paid normally.”

For Lyndon, who has directed short films and theatre, the film has provided a creative symbiosis between him and his team. “Luckily, me and some of the other team members have been working in this industry a while and have connections to people who really do care a lot about this message and the craft itself.”

As her first feature film script, Just A Farmer speaks to a truth that McDougall knows keenly. “I really wanted to be truthful and honest. The people who need to see this film, if they see something dishonest in it, they’ll disconnect immediately and won’t take the film seriously.”

Production on the film is in its final two weeks, with the team recently getting to see an assembly cut of a few scenes. “Everyone was almost in tears even though we watched a scene completely out of context and without the rest of the film to support it,” says McDougall.

Photos by Tea Van de Burgt

Just A Farmer (2024) Release Date is March 21, 2024

JUST A FARMER TRAILER;

ABOUT JUST A FARMER:

Peter Sommerville is well known to all of those involved in delivering the education projects funded by the Australian Wool Education Trust (AWET). He has been both a Trustee and the Secretary of AWET since 2006. Over those 18 years, he has contributed significantly to “hub and spoke” undergraduate education initiated by AWET through universities active in Agriculture, particularly sheep and wool. In more recent times, Peter has played a pivotal role in AWET expanding its scope by actively engaging with fashion and design schools to encourage their students to experience wool and embrace it as a premier natural fibre. Peter has also been the face of AWET to other education initiatives in sectors such as VET and schools.

The time has come for Peter to step down as Secretary, but AWET is fortunate that he will continue as a Trustee enabling it to draw on his considerable experience and knowledge of the range of programs that the Trust funds.

I am pleased to advise that Dr Kerry Hansford has taken up the role of AWET Secretary. Kerry is well known to the wool industry having recently retired from AWEX after earlier roles with CSIRO, AWH and managing important joint industry projects. Increasingly, you will hear from Kerry with regard to AWET activities.

Please join me and other Trustees in thanking Peter for his contribution thus far to education in the wool industry and also join us in welcoming Kerry to AWET.

Discover Woolmark’s first course tailor-made for Australian woolgrowers – Price Risk Management – on The Woolmark Learning Centre. Learn about the sale of wool with expert-led content created in partnership with industry experts, Southern Aurora Price Risk Management.

This course will take you on a deep dive into risk, risk management products, strategies, and hedging principles. By the end of the course, you will have a greater understanding of price risk management and how its applied to the sale of your wool and will have explored examples of Australian agricultural innovation.

Dr Jane Littlejohn has been nominated by Australian Wool Innovation Ltd to replace Professor Andrew Vizard.

Jane’s qualifications include BVSc, MVPHMgt, Grad Dip An Sci (Animal Breeding Mgt), GAICD.

From 2008 t0 2013 Jane worked for AWI as Project Manager Animal Health and Welfare followed by Head of On-farm RDE.

From 2014 to 2015 Jane served on the Mid-north Coast Strategic Advisory Committee for Primary industries, providing advice to CSU to enhance its role in servicing the educational needs of primary industry.

From 2015-2017 she was Implementation Manager for the National Wild Dog Action Plan.

Jane was re-employed by AWI in the position of General Manager – Research, in July 2017.

Professor Andrew Vizard is a well known and widely respected academic at Melbourne University’s Division of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences and has published numerous scholarly works. He was appointed by AWI as a trustee in 2003 and has served with distinction in that role, providing valuable insights to the Trust’s policies and programs. His resignation took effect from the 31st December 2022.

Augmented reality is an evolving technology increasingly being applied in education programs. This is one example. Melbourne University is also creating “Virtual Farms” as a means to educate students in Agriculture Degrees.

AWI’s eNewsletter for wool growers for November 2022 is now available. It includes:

Courtesy Netflix

Photos by Tea Van de Burgt

JUST A FARMER TRAILER;

ABOUT JUST A FARMER:

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