News Archives - Woolwise

The National Council of Wool Selling Brokers Australia (NCWSBA) conducted its second Wool Broker Development Program in late May/early June 2025. AWET provided initial funding to the NCWSBA Wool Broker Development Program for its establishment phase in 2024 and has again provided ongoing support for its operational phase in 2025.

The program aims to provide a learning opportunity for young wool broker participants that includes industry & technical training, as well as personal development components. It is hoped that it will encourage some of the participants to nominate for the Young Wool Broker of the Year Award, this year or in the future.

The program, conducted in Tasmania, Geelong and Melbourne, involved 11 participants who were nominated by their employers AWN, Fox & Lillie Rural, Elders, Nutrien and Westcoast Wools. For further information, go to 2025 Wool Broker Development Program or their website NCWSBA.

The Peter Westblade Scholarship aims to provide practical learning opportunities for young Australians who would like to pursue a career in the sheep and wool industry. AWET provides funding to the Peter Westblade Scholarship for educational activities to be undertaken at the training weekends at Wyvern and Monaro.

At their Annual Ball held in May 2025, the Peter Westblade Scholarships recipients for 2025 were announced. The Scholarships were awarded to Grace Kaveney and Scott Macpherson. For more information on the Peter Westblade Scholarship program, please see the Peter Westblade Scholarship Winter Newsletter or go to their website Peter Westblade Scholarship.

The Alistair Mackenzie Scholarship, jointly funded by AWET and Marcus Oldham College, is aimed at enhancing the educational experience of the recipient, particularly as it relates to the sheep and/or wool industry.

In 2025, the Scholarship was awarded to Prue Hillman, a 1st year agribusiness student, who demonstrated a strong passion for the wool industry as well as the principles of business.

Please see Prue’s speech at the Marcus Oldham Scholarship presentation evening held in February 2025.

The Agricultural Institute of Australia (AIA) South Australian Division has launched its 2025 Student Compendium. It aims to consolidate a wide spectrum of opportunities available to those pursuing studies in primary industries and natural resource management, providing information for vocational education and training students, tertiary students as well as secondary school teachers and careers advisers.

AWET sponsored and provided assistance to the AIA SA Division, in partnership with the Adelaide University Agricultural Students Association (AUASA), to ensure that the various Scholarships and Grants offered by AWET for sheep and wool education were listed in the 2025 AIA SA Student Compendium. Anyone interested in a career in the Australian sheep and wool industry will be able to quickly explore the opportunities available through AWET.

In 2024, to enhance their Students’ Work Experience and Careers, AWET initiated grants to tertiary institutions for activities that will assist their students to become career ready. Each proposal is at the University’s discretion, and it must be wool and/or wool sheep focused.

Preference is given, but not limited to, Agriculture and/or Animal Science students. On completion, a statement from the University as to how the funding worked, along with student reflections, is required. The Grants are valued at up to $10,000 per institute. The University must apply to AWET on behalf of its student(s), with applications closing in November of each year.

The Wool Industry Placement Grants for the academic year 2025 were awarded to the following institutions: University of Adelaide, Federation University, Marcus Oldham College, University of Melbourne, Murdoch University and University of Sydney.

AWET wishes to advise that the Sheep and Wool Education Modules have now been updated following reviews by academics and specialists in each area. The Modules feature current knowledge and information, which will be of benefit to students and industry participants alike. Go to “Modules” in the options for the Woolwise website.

Congratulations to Kelly Gellie, of Maroona, Victoria on achieving First place and “Gold Stencil” in the 2024AWEX/TAFE National Graduate Wool Classer Competition. This was held at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Tuesday 4th April.

The aim of the competition is to recognize excellence in wool classing and education and to lift wool classing’s profile as a profession and career opportunity. She was also was the winner of the DAS Campbell prize for the top NSW graduate. Well done Emma!

Emma was a Certificate IV in Ag student at Tocal in 2020 and originally from Armidale. She is no stranger to success being awarded a Bronze Medal for Excellence in the Course. She was also the successful purchaser of Trey, a working dog donated to the College by Ben Crowe of Glenfaba Kelpies and Stock Horses. Emma was among a group of students who helped get Trey, and other pups in the program, started. During her Tocal course Emma was awarded an AWET (Australian Wool Education Trust) Scholarship and a CB Alexander Foundation – Fire and Drought Exceptional Circumstance Bursary. We thank them for their support of Tocal students and are confident that their investment in Emma is a sound one!

The judges of this year’s competition were Mr. Andrew Mills, MacDonald & Co Wool Brokers, Ms Evelyn Archer, TAS TAFE and Ms Fiona Raleigh, AWEX. Andrew is also a Tocal graduate and current Alumni Executive.

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.