Ashley Rosewarne from the Gardiner Foundation, with Lily Macgregor from Stratford and Jess Russell from GippsDairy.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
The annual women in agriculture lunch at Farm World attracted two guest speakers.
Danielle (Dani) Pearce was born and raised on a dairy farm in Gippsland.
As a young woman, she founded Merry People, the gumboot manufacturer for Australian women who live on and off the farm.
Alex Jarvis from Yarragon, Wendy Arbuthnot from Buln Buln and Eliza Bayley from Willow Grove.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Dani spoke about how she used the resilience she earned from growing up in Gippsland and in a family of mixed ethnicity to build her brand and company.
In the early days of her business, Dani had a stall at Farm World where she sold her Merry Boots and used direct customer feedback to guide her design ideas.
Stephanie (Steph) Trethewey married a man who was raised on a farm in Tasmania and, although both of them were working as journalists, she followed him when he wanted to return to farming in rural Tasmania.
Dairy farmers Sarah Kelly from Skye, Belinda Griffin from Westbury and Leanne Smethurst from Athlone.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Feeling isolated and with a young family, Steph founded Motherland Australia, an online community to connect women like her, raising families in rural communities.
Steph has gone on to develop a podcast series and authored a book of stories related to her by other mothers.
She received the 2024 Australian of the Year in Tasmania award and in 2022 was the national winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award.
Telstra has sponsored the women in agriculture lunch at Farm World since its inception.
Telstra is also sponsoring the autumn series of podcasts produced by Steph for Motherland Australia.
Belinda Pesch from Brandt, Tonina Morgan from Rural Flying Doctor Service, with Rachel Truscott from Austrade.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Krystal Bermingham from Nambrok with Megan Grumley from Newry.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Shell Wilson from Brandt, with daughter and mother duo, Lily and Trudi Hammond, who are dairy farmers at Buln Buln.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Mavis Gallienne and Helen Armour, both from Warragul, with Ally Seebeck from Brandy Creek.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Bridget Wagner and Miranda Knight, both from Jindivick, with Dr Alex Boileau with baby Arthur Williamson.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Linda Austin from TAFE Gippsland, Donna Schreurs from Tarwin and Lou Underhill from TAFE Gippsland.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Wearing their Merry Boots to the Farm World women’s lunch were Lardner Park staff Barbara Johnson, Pam Ryan, Georgina Horstman and Ashlee Kriening, pictured with Merry People founder Dani Pearce.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
The Farm World women in agriculture lunch is sponsored by Telstra. They were represented by Jenny Gray and Kathryn Van Der Merwe, pictured here with guest speaker Stephanie Trethewey, founder of Motherland Australia and 2024 Australian of the Year for Tasmania.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Madeline Buckley from Buffalo, Barb Stewart and Judy Hogan from Kernot and Candice Wykes from Fonterra.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Deb McNeil, Angela Bayley and Robyn Bayley, involved in setting up of Farm World at Lardner Park, enjoying the event.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Kirsten Rush, Tanisha Sevenich and Faith Eilola from Brandt.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Michael and Hyacinth Holloway, dairy farmers at Nerrena, with their daughter Dani Pearce, guest speaker and founder of Merry People, and Mary Aldred, standing for Monash in the Federal election.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Dani Pearce, raised on a Gippsland dairy farm and of mixed ethnicity, founded Merry People, designing and manufacturing gumboots, and used the resilience she learned as a child to overcome obstacles to build it into a national business.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Emma Ballingall from Lardner, with Karli Evans from the VFF Farm Safety Program.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
