June 27, 2022
South Burnett entrants have scooped the pool in the much-delayed 2021 Queensland Rural, Regional and Remote Women’s Network awards, announced on Friday night.
This was the ninth consecutive year that QRRRWN has celebrated the outstanding women who live, work, achieve or volunteer in Queensland’s rural, regional and remote areas.
The 2021 awards were delayed due to the COVID pandemic. They were to be announced at the Dalby conference in May but unfortunately this was also cancelled so the 2021 winners were announced on Friday via Zoom.
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The RRR Woman of the Year is Rebecca “Beck” Cross, from Kumbia.
This award is chosen from the winners of each individual category in the awards: Women’s Community Builder, Creative Woman of the Year, Women’s Champion of the Year, Remote Woman of the Year, Young Woman of the Year and Women’s Emerging Enterprise.
Earlier in the night, Beck – a sixth generation farmer in the South Burnett – was named the winner of the Women’s Emerging Enterprise award.
Her nomination described Beck as a mother to a rapidly growing teenager, a partner in her family grazing and Paddock To Plate boxed beef delivery businesses, a part-time exercise physiologist, secretary and former president of the South Burnett Grazing Network and an active participant in AgForce, the Red Earth Community Foundation, Baked Relief and the local P&C.
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Former Kingaroy resident – now residing at Imbil – Olivia Everitt was named the RRR Creative Woman Of The Year.
Olivia is president of South Burnett Arts Inc and the arts project officer for the Blackbutt Avocado Festival.
She was formerly economic development officer and grants writer at BIEDO and is a 2021 graduate of the Red Earth Community Leadership Program.
Her nomination described Olivia as focussed on building her one-woman micro-business, providing a range of fee-for-service offerings, including community arts initiatives.
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BIEDO general manager Kristy Board, another Red Earth Community Leadership Program alumni, was named Women’s Community Builder of the Year.
Kristy formerly worked in economic development at the South Burnett Regional Council and is president of the Kingaroy BaconFest committee. She was also involved in the Kingaroy Needs A Big Peanut project, the Farm 2 Fork collective and stakeholder engagement for the Kingaroy Transformation Project.
Her nomination described her as a “food region activator” and a “champion of change” who focusses her energy on supporting women, economic development, rural leadership development and driving food and agritourism projects.
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Other 2021 RRR winners were: Women’s Champion of the Year, former ABC Rural reporter Robin McConchie; and Young Woman of the Year Laura Rutherford. Laura launched The Rural Conversation in 2020 as means of using social media to connect and advocate for rural and remote Australia.
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Several other South Burnett entries were finalists in the awards, including Silverleaf farmer Marg Enkelmann, who has a passion for turning farm trash into fashion; and the Farm 2 Fork Collective, a social enterprise which operates a store in Wooroolin selling local produce.
