‘My rain dance in my undies after rock god Barnsey made it pour’
Farmer Rick Bennett puts the precious, ‘life changing’ 40mm of rain that fell over drought-stricken regional NSW yesterday down to a combination of Jimmy Barnes and a rain dance.
NSW
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Farmer Rick Bennett puts the precious, “life changing” 40mm of rain that fell over drought-stricken regional NSW yesterday down to a combination of Jimmy Barnes and a rain dance.
A picture of Mr Bennett, stripped down to just his undies and Akubra and joyously soaking up the rare deluge, captured the heart of Australians as the farming community celebrated across the state.
The 56-year-old has lived in Tottenham in NSW’s central west all his life but has never witnessed a dry spell as bad as what regional NSW has endured for the last three years.
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Forced to lose more than 70 per cent of his cattle and failing to produce any crops in the last 18 months, he told The Daily Telegraph he had veteran rocker Barnsey to thank for the welcome wet.
“My wife and I went to his concert on Saturday night, I was saying to Tracy ‘If Jimmy can’t make it rain no one can’,” he said.
“We had a few drops on Saturday then all Sunday we were watching the clouds build up. I didn’t think it was going to happen then it started to pour down.”
The farmer said they only had enough water for another six weeks and they were preparing to destock the rest of their cattle.
Fortunately, the downpour has filled up their dams and given them some relief after battling the worst drought in living memory.
He was so excited about the rain he stripped off his clothes and took off into the slowly growing puddles.
“I did a rain dance a couple of months ago and my daughter’s boyfriend said I needed to top that when it rains,” he said.
“So the clothes came off. A lot of people said they thought I was wearing a G-string I wasn’t, just a nice pair of tradie undies. I probably would have done a big dive or something but I’ve got a fractured arm.”
“This water was a God-given gift. It has been life-changing for us.”