On a drowsy Sunday afternoon in January I meet Ellie sitting with friends at the Werrimull pub. Werrimull was once a thriving town in the north west of Victoria but with increased technology, and larger farms the town’s population has declined. There are so few people that the hotel only opens on Fridays and weekends—the locals make the most of this rare chance to be together. Ellie was in my Year 11 Geography Class years ago and we had a great time then sharing knowledge and visions for the future. Ellie showed the class power points about ‘direct drilling’ and ‘driver less tractors’ and charmed us all with her knowledge and poise.
We quickly started to reminisce and talk.
“Yes, it probably was nearly 10 years ago. I have been doing lots of travelling”.
“And now?” I ask.
“Well, I drive harvesters now and I have a partner Arthur. He’s a diesel mechanic. We get lots of work all over the York Peninsular, Ayre Peninsular and NSW—anywhere they grow grain.’
Ellie is a slim, compact women and the thought of her controlling the behemoths of machinery leaves me in awe. Without a hint of make-up she is a natural beauty, a golden tan the colour of ripening wheat. I ask her about sexism in the agricultural industry. She laughs,
“No never but I think I really surprise the farmers with what I can do.”
She goes on, “I am careful and watch the gauges and take it steady.
Every paddock is different and keeping the comb at the exact level and running the machine at the best speed is so important.”
Ellie points inside the hotel to the older men in their dusty hats.
“I love coming home here and talking crops with my dad’s friends in the pub. They all seem so proud of what I have done”.
I think of the old headers that my family used and smile remembering that everyone in my family would have thought the harvesters were far too complicated for me to drive. I was necessary to provide sandwiches, thermoses, to move trucks from place to place and make the desperate trips for spare parts when things broke down. Harvest was a tough hot time for all of us and gender roles seemed very defined when I was young.
But times have changed, and the harvesters can cost more than a million dollars now. They work at about four times the speed of the old days and have high tech. gauges, GPS systems, and IT tools. The increased cost and complexity does not make them any easier to manage and farmers choose their drivers carefully. Ellie fits the bill with her long pedigree. She and her siblings drove a vehicle from their farmhouse to the bus stop as soon as they started school and were all involved in the farm work season by season. She tells me,
“Mum and Dad always encouraged us to drive the vehicles and understand farming.”
Ellie’s family have been innovators for a long time and use worm juice to supply nutrients and nurture the land.
Ellie explains “Mum is especially interested in improving the soil. Dad calls her the witch of Werrimull South because of all her potions.”
One potion the family certainly succeeded with was creating Ellie. And as I read in the media of the desperate need for more farm labour and issues with the harvesting of crops I think of Ellie. We need more Ellies in Australia-more confident women enjoying their role and having an adventure at the same time.