Community stories: 30 September 2024
The Buloke region in Victoria has endured years of spirit-crushing events – from drought to COVID restrictions and flooding rains – and the Buloke Women’s Network has been crucial to keeping spirits up through it all.
The need to come together to recover from isolation and respond to the challenges wrought by these events is how the Celebrating the Women of the Buloke Shire project started. Women came together regularly from across the shire to hear inspiring local speakers at events such as Champagne at Sunset at Lake Tyrell, and a dinner prepared by a local small business at the beautiful Watchem Church.
A Tackling Tough Times Together grant covered catering, venue expenses, advertising and transport. “I could see the impacts of drought, floods, climate change, rising farm costs and declining prices. And there was nothing to support women in the area,” co-founder Ellen White says.
“They wanted to meet other people from other places and connect with them and hear what was happening for them, and if they had the solutions to some of the problems that they had, and just to share their stories.”
Co-founder Julie Slater says their initial aim was enabling social opportunities for women, but in retrospect she realises how pivotal these gatherings were in helping the entire district survive.
“One of the things that we found really quickly was that what women were looking for was for social connection. Women wanted to be able to stop and take that breath and really sort of say, yep, I’m busy. I have a lot going on, but at the end of the day, I need to fill my own cup if I’m going to be there and fill the rest of my family’s, the rest of my workplace, the rest of my community’s cup.”
