A celebration of women who nurture, build, and sustain life in their community — women whose stories are often experienced rather than spoken.
Anna Gray embodies resilience, dedication, and an extraordinary capacity to balance multiple demanding roles. Alongside her leadership in palliative care, Anna runs a large farm on her own, raising a significant herd of cattle while solo parenting three children. Livestock management to daily operations, reflects a deep commitment to the land and the family legacy she sustains. Through fire, and drought, she has seen it all.
A major farm accident that nearly took her life, Anna returned to both the farm and her professional responsibilities with remarkable strength. She seamlessly combines careers, and with passion ensures both the land and her community flourish. Her portrait in Bring a Plate captures a woman of courage and care — someone who nurtures life in all its forms, whether through tending her cattle, guiding her children, or supporting families at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
Bronwyn Bant is deeply committed to creating a farm that works in harmony with both animals and the environment. Her focus on improving animal welfare and ecological function reflects a forward-thinking approach to farming in a changing climate, ensuring that the land remains productive while supporting biodiversity and sustainability. Living in a community surrounded by farms producing high-quality meat, wool, grain, and pulses, Bronwyn was motivated by a desire to connect her work more directly with the people who enjoy it.
This drive led her to launch a “paddock to plate” initiative, selling lamb directly to her local community and fostering a closer relationship between producer and consumer. Bronwyn’s approach embodies a blend of responsibility and innovation — she nurtures her farm, cares for her animals, and engages with her community in ways that celebrate the quality and provenance of local food. Her portrait in Bring a Plate reflects a woman committed to ethical farming, sustainability, and bridging the gap between land and table.
Carly Flecknoe is a dynamic force in the Grampians region, blending creativity, resilience, and a deep commitment to community. With a background spanning retail, event management, consulting, and communications, Carly has become a cornerstone of regional Victoria's cultural landscape. She is the founder and director of the Grampians Music Festival, an event renowned for its inclusivity and focus on local talent. Under her leadership, the festival has grown into a vibrant celebration that brings together artists and audiences in the heart of the Grampians
In addition to her work in the arts, Carly is a passionate advocate for neurodivergent families. As the host of the podcast You Can Grow Your Own Way, she offers support and insights for parents navigating the complexities of neurodivergence.
Her journey into motherhood, marked by perseverance and a reimagining of family, underscores her dedication to fostering inclusive communities. Carly's multifaceted contributions reflect a life devoted to creativity, connection, and positive change in regional Victoria.
In a vision of farming that blends production with conservation, the work Celia & her husband have done on their land is to provide a 56-hectare predator-proof sanctuary, where flora and fauna have thrived, and pioneering regenerative practices to improve soil health and resilience. Their commitment extends into the broader community through local Landcare initiatives, helping other farmers achieve landscape-scale conservation outcomes. Beyond the farm gate, Celia contributes to strategic community decisions that support sustainable land management and the long-term health of the local landscape.
Beyond farming, Celia channels her love of Australian flora into her small stationery business, By CeCe, and finds inspiration and joy in hiking the Grampians and connecting her family with the natural world. Her portrait in Bring a Plate reflects a woman grounded in land, family, and community, committed to nurturing both the farm she cares for and the ecosystems around it.
With a vision grounded in collaboration and community spirit, encouraging women to gather, share, and celebrate together, Jackie founded Rural Women's Day - an initiative that has grown from a small regional gathering in Victoria to a vibrant movement uniting women across rural and remote Australia. Her commitment to fosters belonging, creativity, collaboration and pride in rural identity — a celebration of women supporting women, and the spirit of togetherness that thrives beyond the farm gate.
Since the first events in 2019, Jackie has carried on during emotional challenges and leaned into the strength of the community she had created.
Balancing life between farm work, science, and community leadership, reflecting a multifaceted approach to country living, is what Jayne Manning does best. Originally from Melbourne, Jayne transitioned from a career as a research scientist in microbiology and infectious diseases to working part-time on her family farm and her leadership role on council.
In 2025, Jayne took her commitment to community one step further by running for local council, inspired by the strong volunteer culture and sense of connection she found in the Grampians. She hopes to bring an evidence-based, scientific approach to local decision-making, while encouraging other women to take on leadership roles, and creating a community that supports future generations.
Her portrait in Bring a Plate reflects a woman bridging worlds — science and soil, career and community — showing her children and her community the value of living by your principles, stepping beyond comfort zones, and contributing meaningfully to the place you call home.
Kazz Inkster grew up a farm kid — one of five — living her best life surrounded by wide paddocks, mud, and mischief. Like many young country dreamers, she once thought her future was far from the farm, chasing a creative career and the buzz of city life. But as the universe would have it, a wave of homesickness while working in Germany led her to reconnect with the “farm boy next door.” Eighteen years later, she’s an art director, farmer, and mum to three boys — proof that sometimes the path we’re meant to walk loops right back home.
Kazz’s life beautifully blends the creative and the rural. Her ideal day begins with a pink sunrise, a school bus run, and a full day crafting campaigns or directing photoshoots — before swapping heels for boots to join the afternoon shift on the farm. From sheep work, to harvest, or juggling kids and careers, Karen approaches it all with humour, heart, and a deep appreciation for where life has landed her. She laughs that people sometimes question if she’s really a farmer because there are “no pearl earrings in sight” — but her portrait says it all: a woman grounded in both creativity and country grit, living a life that’s as real and rich as the land she calls home.
Leila Sweeney-McDougall's life is a tapestry of bold pivots and deep purpose. She has faced challenges like dyslexia and health struggles head on, always with a fierce determination to turn adversity into action. A life filled with curiosity, from fashion to teaching to farming and love of the land, over time, focus sharpened into advocacy—especially the mental health of rural communities—and storytelling became her chosen vehicle.
One of her signature initiatives, Mellow in the Yellow, is a gathering held in a canola field, designed to create a low-key, welcoming space for farmers and rural communities to talk openly about mental health and suicide. conversations and life events led to the creation of feature film, Just a Farmer, a powerful narrative drawn from the lived pressures, grief and resilience of country families. Her portrait honours someone who builds bridges—between silence and voice, between land and story—and keeps creating platforms for connection, compassion and community. As recent Australian of the Year Victorian Finalist, it is truly wonderful to see her formally recognised for her community contributions.
There is an instant warmth in meeting Sanja Brain, shining through her being, just like the setting sun.
Sense of adventure, lured Sanja from Western Australia to tavel Europe, where she met Willaura local boy, Nick. Upon returning to Australia, Sanja made the move to country Victoria for a lifestyle never experienced. A background in social work and mental health, Sanja juggled the balance of career and farm life. With the arrival of two little girls, farmlife and family life presented an emotional journey of well being.
The raw honesty of Sanja, and her willingness to try new things, rise above the challenges she faces and remain connected to her communtiy no matter is what makes her presence in Bring A Plate necessary.
Much like a bowerbird gathering treasures to craft a home, Sarah is a keeper of stories & memories. After the sudden loss of her 17-year-old son Ford in 2016, she turned to mementoes—letters, photographs, fragments of conversations—as a way to hold his life close and to shape her own into something that still carried him forward.
Over time, Sarah has blossomed as a writer and speaker, weaving grief and love into narrative, sustaining connection through small acts of recollection and remembrance.
Whether in memoir or public conversation, she offers the messiness, the beauty and the weight of memory as both companion and creative force.
Sarah's portrait honours the idea that the objects we collect, the stories we preserve, and the relationships we nurture are ways of building home — within us, and between us.
Sybil Burmeister's connection to the land that is steeped in history, with 5 generations farming Mount William Station. First pursuing a career in fine arts and living in Melbourne, for Sybil, it was the pull of home that brought her back two decades ago to help her mother. Farming may not have been the calling, but this land was. Today, she and her husband Matt run a livestock enterprise that demands resilience, creativity, and endless problem-solving — qualities that have seen them through flood, fire, and drought.
Beyond the farm gates, Sybil is an active voice for her community, serving on local boards to improve rural health access and advocating for services city residents often take for granted, encouraging local voices to be heard, for the impacts of change on local community. Through hardship and renewal, Sybil has seen the power of neighbours helping neighbours, from post-fire recoveries to everyday acts of generosity.
Her portrait in Bring a Plate reflects a woman grounded in place and purpose — a custodian of family, land, and community spirit, whose life is shaped by persistence, gratitude, and a deep sense of belonging.
