A heartfelt message on the importance of nurturing women through collaboration, to bloom like flowers in the Simpson Desert after rain, made a strong impression when it was delivered at the Beef 2018 NAB Agribusiness ladies lunch.
It was a topic dear to the heart of Dalene Wray, named earlier in the week as the QCL Beef Achiever of the Year.
She took the 550 women taking part in the lunch on a journey of her childhood memories of the harsh Simpson Desert landscape being transformed by Channel Country floods being transformed into “brilliant purples, yellows and reds of the forbs and wild flowers”.
“Just as surely as the rapid growth of plants followed the water, the cattle followed the herbage,” she said.
“The cattle got fat and then men, and it was always the men back then, followed the cattle, driving them into the yards, ready for the trucks to take them to market.
“The rhythms and cycles of nature flowed naturally with the rhythms and cycles of these men.
“I watched all this through innocent, young eyes and it was normal.
“It was normal that the women stayed at home or in the homestead while the men were off in the stock camps.”
Three decades later, Dalene said a quick look along the supply chain revealed women working in every role – mustering on motorbikes, ringers in the cattle yards, station managers, truck drivers, working in our sales and logistics, and sitting in the boardrooms of the greatest cattle companies in the country.
She pointed to her own role as managing director of OBE Organic, Australis’s first organic beef exporter, but said there was more to do to help women flourish.
“Just like in that extraordinary process that plays out seasonally across the Lake Eyre Basin, first there needs to be the water to nourish the seeds sitting below the ground, so that they can shoot their way through the topsoil.
“And when the rains and floods are big enough, the amazing thing is that wild flowers like daisies, lilies & hollyhocks pop up, in even the most inhospitable parts of the land.”
She said that luckily for her, some of the tough, brave women in the audience on Friday pushed their way into the industry long before she even considered it as an option.
“Like a mature Coolibah shading a sapling from the beating sun, I hope I can now in turn, offer inspiration, support, guidance and encouragement for other young women who want to enter the industry.
“All of us here have a role and a responsibility to do the same to help establish a thriving ecosystem of talented and dedicated women in the industry.”
Three-quarters of OBE’s employees and over 50 per cent of their board are women, but while well-represented up to middle management, there were few women at higher leadership levels, Dalene said.
She said that keeping women engaged in the workforce during their child-bearing years was a challenge, calling on federal Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud, who was in the audience, to help address the issue.
She also called on women to start collaborating, saying other opportunities then presented themselves.
“If nothing else, through collaboration you meet new people, hear new ideas and challenge your own thinking.
“The more often you take yourself out of your comfort zone, the more opportunities present yourself and you never know which relationship is going to flourish.
“Networking events and industry events such as this are so valuable for putting you in the room with new people and new ideas.
“Mixing with other industries can also throw up that left of field idea that could one day bloom into your next big thing.”
Mr Littleproud said he wanted to leave a legacy that involved female representation in agriculture, and called on the women present to reach out to himself and board around Australia.
“We need you to put your intellect to work for Australia,” he said.