Adelaide Hills farmer Tom Hutton launches Find My Crew after losing brother, mate to suicide
A shearer whose brother and close mate both took their own lives says the heartbreak drove him to sell his property to build a platform supporting others in the industry doing it tough.
Mental Health
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A South Australian shearer who lost his brother and a close mate to suicide within months says the heartbreak drove him to sell his property to build a platform supporting others in the industry doing it tough.
Tom Hutton, who grew up on a farm in Mount Compass, said he and his younger brother Harry had worked side-by-side in shearing sheds for years.
Harry, he said, was the kind of bloke who lit up a room — always lifting others, making them laugh, and ready to lend a hand. But behind the humour and hard work, he was quietly battling demons which ended in him tragically taking his own life in 2022.
“The worst part was, it was me and my youngest brother who found Harry,” Tom said.
“We knew he was going through some things but no one knew how bad. He’d been a bit erratic in the last three months but never thought it would come to anything like this.”
Just six months later, another shearer Tom and Harry had worked closely with took his own life as well.
“I can’t really work out what it is,” he said.
“A lot of these people do have support around them, but they don’t open up to it for whatever reason.”
The double blow pushed Tom to act. He and his partner sold their 10-acre property in Finniss and poured everything into Find My Crew — an online platform they built as a marketplace of sorts where shearers and farmers can connect, access support, and find reliable work with people they trust.
So far, more than 70 local operators have signed up, and momentum is growing.
“We didn’t care about losing the house,” Tom said. “We knew we’d have somewhere to live. This was about helping others who feel stuck.”
The site is designed by people in the industry, for the industry. It links growers with shearing crews, helps workers find verified jobs, and assists with payments, insurance, super, ABNs and other practical support.
Tom said it’s offering vital help at a time when the mental load for many rural workers is enormous — especially during drought, financial pressure, or when juggling the demands of family life.
“Men don’t like to talk,” he said. “They feel like they have to provide, and when they can’t, they bottle it up. You see them working 100-hour weeks and still getting nowhere. That breaks people.”
The impact of Harry’s death was felt far beyond their immediate family.
His funeral filled the Mount Compass footy oval, mourners forming a silent circle around the boundary.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” Tom said. “It showed how many lives he touched.”
Now, he hopes Find My Crew will give others the support Harry never asked for.
“The pain never goes away,” he said.
“You grow around it. But if this helps even one person see there’s another way, it’s worth everything we gave up.”
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Originally published as Adelaide Hills farmer Tom Hutton launches Find My Crew after losing brother, mate to suicide
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