July 6, 2017
The winners of last year’s QRRRWN’s Strong Women Leadership Awards were finally presented with their 2016 Story Teller of the Year award last week.
QRRRWN President Alison Mobbs travelled to Longreach to catch up with the Crack-Up Sisters, who were unable to attend last year’s Awards dinner because of work engagements.
“We were excited to be able to honour the work of the Crack-up Sisters in person,” Alison said.
The Sisters have been telling stories for the past seven years.
Their unique approach brings laughter and a sense of fun to young and old, men and women, in country Australia.
The Crack-Up Sisters have drawn on their own experience of country life in Winton to create their on-stage characters Twiggs and S.T. Ruth.
The pair gather stories from rural towns and retell them through comedy, knockabout acrobatics and whip cracking.
They promote women getting in and having a go, women whose special efforts, amazing feats and occasional failings reflect the realities of life for women in rural and regional Australia.
The logistics of their show involves towing a 20-foot trailer, putting up and pulling down an 8 metre rig for each venue, and driving over 60,000km each year … but they love what they do.
“Being a part of the Strong Women Leadership Awards last year has shown us how good it is to be acknowledged for the hard work we put in,” Crack-Up S.T. Ruth said.
“It gives us the inspiration to keep going, come up with bigger and better ideas and spread the word of exceptional women beyond our own circles.
“Getting this award is icing on the cake.”
The QRRRWN’s Strong Women Leadership Program and Awards recognises the women who are the invisible threads holding their local communities together and connecting them with the wider world.
In 2017, the QRRRWN Strong Women Leadership Program and Awards has ten categories.
Three of these are designed to encourage leadership abilities in younger women.
In seeking to identify the leadership capacities of rural women, the QRRRWN looks for inspirational professional women, business women, volunteers, community leaders and more terrific story tellers who have something to give and talents to develop.
“In 2016 we were thrilled with the participation in our new categories for young women,” Alison Mobbs said.
“We are very excited to see who will come forward from this year’s program. There is such an astonishing depth and variety of capable and skilled women across our rural communities.
“It might feel scary putting your hand up for an award but our program is structured around opportunities for the participants to build their networks, their skills and their confidence, so by time they reach the end of the program, they can speak confidently about where their ideas and plans are leading them.
“Often our program is a critical first step to greater things.”
Anyone interested can obtain more information about the 2017 Strong Women Leadership Awards and Program from the QRRRWN website.
Nominations close on Thursday, July 20.
The winners in each category will be announced at the 2017 QRRRWN Conference Gala Dinner in Capella on October 20.
Further information can also be obtained by phoning 1300-795-571.
