Mental health advocate, The Unbreakable Farmer Warren Davies, will headline the Weathering Well program led by Regional Drought Resilience Program lead Isobel McCallum and Wagga and Lockhart mayors Dallas Tout and Peter Sharp. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Wagga Wagga City Council has combined with Lockhart Shire Council to host several community events to better support the region’s farmers through difficult times.
The Weathering Well program will consist of a series of community events, training and workshops designed to help strengthen mental health and wellbeing in our rural communities across the local government areas.
The program includes a mix of speakers with lived experience of mental health, live music events and practical training opportunities across the region.
Highlights include Warren Davies (The Unbreakable Farmer), one of Australia’s leading rural mental health speakers, live music events featuring Australian Idol 2024 winner Dylan Wright and folk-rock duo Sunday Lemonade, bringing communities together in Uranquinty, Lockhart, Wagga Wagga and The Rock.
Mental health service providers will be present at these family-friendly events to provide advice.
Community members will also be able to access free and low-cost accredited training, such as mental health first aid training, SafeTALK suicide prevention workshops, and wellbeing sessions.
Lockhart Shire Mayor Peter Sharp said farmers faced many stresses that people from the city were oblivious to.
He said by hosting community events focused on farmers, regional councils could support them during trying times.
“Lockhart has a very broad farming community, and our farming families are under stress initially over the summer, from lack of water and lack of feed. Now it’s stress from not enough diesel or maybe not enough fertiliser,” he said.
“So when the State Government may have suggested that Lockhart and Wagga come together to work on a drought resilience program, we were only too happy to come and help.
“If we didn’t look after our farmers, we wouldn’t have a shire. If they don’t survive, the businesses in town don’t survive.
“I was speaking to a farmer in Pleasant Hills the other day who ordered his supplier diesel for cropping, and he ordered 27,000 litres. From when he ordered it to when it arrived, there was $15,000 difference in the price he was quoted.
“He said, ‘I don’t get paid any extra at the end of the year. I’ve got to absorb that $15,000 but I need that fuel to make my farm work, so you just have to pay.’
“If we can, yeah, reach out to them and people like them and help them somehow, it will go a long way to supporting them through these difficult times.”
Wagga Mayor Dallas Tout agreed with councillor Sharp on the need to continuously provide for the country’s farmers.
“Winter can be a tough time in rural areas, especially for businesses and families,” he said.
“Weathering Well is about creating welcoming spaces where people can come together to have real conversations about mental health and find the support they need.
“The aim is for people to leave these events feeling more confident to look out for their own wellbeing, their loved ones and the people around them.
“Having the collaboration between the three levels of government, with the state and federal funding, has been really critical to make a successful program.”
The Weathering Well program will begin in late April with events running until the end of June. To see the full calendar, visit the City of Wagga Wagga website here.
