Buy Regional helping NSW businesses bounce back after fire, drought
From the ‘batman’ of Guyra to the whisky kings of Corowa, meet the amazing bush entrepreneurs who’ve survived the year from hell.
NSW
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In his “bat cave” on his farm, Mitchell Woods has handcrafted cricket bats through drought, fires, family illness, livestock theft and now a pandemic.
The Guyra grazier and cricket tragic began making his Ram’s Heads Bats in 2013 when his wife Kylie was diagnosed with breast cancer and son Hamish with type 1 diabetes.
“It was a dry year, and I used to do a lot of work off-farm,” Mr Woods said.
“I was looking for something to do while Kylie was going through chemo so I could be about while she was recovering.”
The 50-year-old, who used to muck around making bats as a kid, went and learnt the art from former Australian cricketer Ian Callen — and his cottage industry was born.
Using English willow sourced from the Yarra Valley, the bats with their distinctive Ram’s Head logo can now be found across the county.
He crafts them in his ‘bat cave” — a converted blacksmith’s forge on the family’s 520ha sheep and cattle farm. Since starting the business he has averaged about 30 bats a year.
Like many rural towns in NSW, Guyra was hit hard by the worst drought on record, which peaked last year as bushfires burned north and west of the town.
Many farms were pushed to the brink and the Woods were forced to sell off livestock due to lack of water and feed, then thieves stole 500 sheep.
“It was quite a blow because now livestock prices are good. About 60 per cent of our income disappeared, and it will take us five or 10 years, to recover,” he said.
Ram’s Heads Bats were originally sold through word of mouth.
But after they joined online initiatives promoting bush products, demand grew so much they had to step up production, which provided a welcome revenue bump.
“Before Christmas we sold nearly two years of cricket bats because of Buy Regional and Buy From The Bush programs.” he said.
COVID has slowed down sales as the cricket season was cancelled but things are picking up again and Mr Woods is hoping he’ll sell 50 bats by the year’s end.
“We’re all trying to be more self-sufficient. If things get tough, you have to try to survive,” he said. “Fifty bats a year would be fantastic I think. Every little bit helps.”
Ten per cent of all bat sales go to juvenile diabetes and cancer research.
Bats begin at $150 to $525 for adult bats. Visit the Buy Regional Hub or go to Ram’s Heads Bats on Facebook
WHISKY DISTILLERY FIGHTS BACK IN HARD TIMES
It’s been a tough 12 months for business in the bush after the triple blows of drought, fire and COVID-19.
But the people of regional and rural NSW are nothing if not innovative and, with the help of online marketplaces such as Buy Regional, many are tapping into lucrative new markets.
Corowa Distilling Co, a family-run business on the banks of the Murray River, is among those to diversify as tourism dollars dried up and virus restrictions slowed business.
Founded by Dean and Beau Druce, the whisky distillery only filled its first barrel of single malt in 2016 but its releases were selling out when the Black Summer bushfires kicked in.
“We lost that December-January tourism, which is normally everyone’s biggest time of the year around here,” said marketing manager Tom Whitechurch.
“That was the start of a really terrible year. Momentum picked up slightly until March 20 when we closed our doors completely and actually switched to making hand sanitiser.”
Hand sanitiser was near-impossible to find in country areas at the peak of the pandemic and their production helped keep 20 local staff employed.
“For a lot of businesses in that six-week hard lockdown, you could not be open unless you had hand sanitiser. So we made tens of thousands of litres and I would say 80 per cent stayed within a 100km radius,” he said.
The Distilling Co and its onsite restaurant and wedding venue have been a big success story for the town of 5500.
Employing 35 locals, the distillery sources much of its produce regionally, right down to the grain used in the whisky.
Corowa was built by the grain industry and, in 2009, the Druce family bought its decaying flour mill for $1 from council on the promise of restoring it to its former glory.
Today the old mill churns out some of the country’s best whisky and the Corowa Whisky and Chocolate restaurant and wedding venue are major drawcards for border tourists.
Mr Whitechurch said the tourism downturn had forced many businesses to diversify and, in their case, build an online presence through initiatives such as Buy Regional.
Buy Regional was launched last October by the state government to help connect city shoppers with regional businesses affected by bushfires and drought.
So far, more than 500 businesses have signed up to the online marketplace, with about 25 per cent reporting an online sales boost of more than 50 per cent.
Mr Whitechurch said the platform had been a chance to “show people what we’re producing here in the little town of Corowa” and the reach had been incredible.
“Our area alone has so many beautiful businesses you just wouldn’t expect to come from such small towns,” he said
“It’s so exciting to see them still growing and appealing to more people around the country.”
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said Buy Regional had been one of the silver linings of 2020.
“Buy Regional is not only about giving businesses in the bush the gift of new customers and helping to stimulate local economies, it’s also about boosting morale in rural towns and connecting people in the city with our innovative regional retailers,” he said.
“You can’t underestimate the benefit a single purchase provides to a regional business and the flow-on effect of that sale.”
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