Shine Awards 2021: Tamsin Carvan named overall winner, Penfold sisters win Youth Award
Four beef-farming sisters from Meandarra, Queensland, lost their export market overnight, but still found a way to make their family’s premium Angus brand a success.
Queensland beef producers Bonnie, Molly, Jemima and Matilda Penfold have been named the Youth Award winners in The Weekly Times Shine Awards.
They are the first recipients of the new award, introduced to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the campaign.
The Weekly Times Shine Awards, supported by Harvey Norman, recognises the achievements and contribution of women across rural and regional Australia.
Bonnie, Molly, Jemima and Matilda have been recognised for their resilience and innovative approach to diversifying their family’s beef business. They and their parents run a 150-day, grain-fed Angus beef operation on Queensland’s Western Downs, with their own brand called Four Daughters.
Originally launched to supply beef to Wuhan, the business lost its export market overnight when China banned Australian abattoirs last year. The girls thought on their feet, and drummed up domestic demand for their premium beef, delivering meat boxes directly to consumers.
The Penfold sisters join Milparinka pastoralist Ruth Sandow, Dirranbandi director of nursing Elyse Hannan, Grafton sawmill manager Donna Layton, Coonamble newspaper editor Lee O’Connor, Korumburra free-range egg producer Kumi Slade and South Gippsland small business owner Tamsin Carvan to round out an exceptional field of category winners in this year’s awards.
Grit, determination and resilience are qualities that shine in all their stories, but this year’s overall winner – Tamsin Carvan – stands out for her quiet, selfless approach to boosting fortunes in her South Gippsland region.
Tamsin launched an innovative retail and hospitality business called The Borough Dept. Store, which she has made a success despite heartache and hurdles, determined to draw visitors to her small town.
From a huge field of 180 remarkable nominees, 19 finalists were announced last week across the awards’ six categories: Belief, Courage, Dedication, Grace, Passion, Spirit.
YOUTH AWARD WINNERS BONNIE, MOLLY, JEMIMA AND MATILDA PENFOLD
IT’S a dawn-to-dusk job in a tough industry. And that’s exactly why the Penfold sisters love life in the beef business.
“We see it as our future,” says 23-year-old Bonnie, who works with Molly, 21, Jemima, 19, and Matilda, 17, alongside their parents, Karen and Dan, running cattle across the family’s 40,000 hectares at Meandarra and Yaraka on Queensland’s Western Downs.
The sisters are hands-on in all respects, and have been integral to launching the family’s new premium 150-day grain-fed beef brand, Four Daughters.
“A day in our life is very busy,” says Molly, rattling off their everyday tasks: feeding cattle, fixing fences, building sheds and working on machinery. On Fridays, the family clocks up hundreds of kilometres delivering beef to customers.
“We work every day until the sun goes down. It keeps us out of trouble,” Bonnie says.
The original plan behind launching Four Daughters was to export premium beef to Wuhan. They were just a few container-loads in to the venture last year, when the plan hit a major snag.
China suddenly suspended trade with Australian abattoirs, starting with the Casino facility that processed their cattle.
“I think everybody in Australia and everybody in the processing business was shocked,” says their mum, Karen. “The girls were the very upbeat ones. They said, ‘We’re right – let’s try this’.”
The girls decided to look closer to home for customers, launching Four Daughters “pink boxes” – 13kg beef packs that include cuts from all parts of the carcass. Australian customers quickly jumped at the chance to buy the nose-to-tail product from the young farmers. Direct sales are now a pillar of the business, which strives to close the gap between city and country.
Their grit, determination and passion for their industry make the Penfold sisters worthy winners of the inaugural Shine Youth Award.
MEET OVERALL WINNER TAMSIN CARVAN
Tamsin Carvan has championed Gippsland and its producers for years and has a string of small-business successes to her name, each one focused on raising the profile of her town.
When Tamsin moved to Korumburra two decades ago, the region’s lush pastures and abundant produce were food for her soul.
She found so much to love about South Gippsland – rich with dairy, beef, fresh vegetables and vibrant wines – that she made sharing it with others a life goal.
Her latest ambitious project, called The Borough Dept. Store, is a celebration of the best of the region, and she hopes it will make Korumburra a destination to visit.
The beautifully restored grand building, which was originally a Coles Variety department store, launched as The Borough in 2018.
The original plan was to operate as a retail and cafe collaboration with four small businesses trading under the one roof: Tamsin’s cakes shop and provedore, a second cafe, a wine shop and a florist.
Tamsin was the brains and engine room of the whole operation. But she never liked to take the credit.
Then Covid hit, and threw Victorian retailers and hospitality into survival mode.
Huge challenges threatened The Borough’s viability, not least the trading halts during the state’s countless lockdowns, which prompted her co-tenants to try different business models.
“Over the past year we pared back everything we were doing so we could survive financially and do the best possible on the things we could do. We have always focused on trying to create a bit of joy … that’s our little motto,” she says.
“Ultimately, post-Covid, we’d like to rejuvenate the idea for a department store, but right now people can come here, get meals or buy the ingredients to make their own.”
Her cake, cafe and provedore business is now the heart of The Borough, which has been buoyed by strong support from locals during the pandemic.
“There were so many times I thought we were done for. Amazingly we have survived,” she says.
She has never let her passion for the project dwindle, despite suffering deep personal loss over the past two years, with the unexpected death of her partner, Allan, two years ago, followed recently by the loss of her ex-husband. The tragedies reaffirmed she is doing the right thing, in the right place.
“In the end, nothing matters except the people and the love you make out there,” she says. “The quality of your relationships with people is what it’s all about.
“We are making people feel welcomed and loved.”
For the inspiring way she spreads joy and pride in her region, Tamsin Carvan is the deserving Overall Winner of the 2021 Shine Awards.
SHINE AWARDS 2021 CATEGORY WINNERS
BELIEF
Ruth Sandow, Milparinka, Corner Country, NSW
Ruth is chair of the Milparinka Heritage and Tourism Association and the driving force behind creating a 1100km tourist loop called Sturt’s Steps, designed to draw visitors to remote Corner Country in NSW.
COURAGE
Elyse Hannan, Dirranbandi, Queensland
Nursing director at Dirranbandi Hospital who has remained committed to providing the best care to her community throughout Covid, even in some of the most trying circumstances.
DEDICATION
Donna Layton, Grafton, NSW
After losing her property in the 2019-20 bushfires, Donna shouldered the burden of keeping the local sawmill running despite the shortage of available timber and devised a plan so workers could keep their jobs.
GRACE
Tamsin Carvan, Korumburra, Victoria
A true champion of her community and her region’s producers, Tamsin launched The Borough Dept. Store in her South Gippsland town to save the historic building and create a collaborative retail and hospitality space to showcase produce from the region.
PASSION
Kumi Slade, Willow Grove, Victoria
An expert in efficiency, Kumi has applied those principles to the pastured free-range egg operation she launched with her husband, to run a streamlined and sustainable farming business that aims to regenerate the landscape.
SPIRIT
Lee O’Connor, Coonamble, NSW
Sheep and crop farmer Lee bought her local newspaper, the Coonamble Times, rather than let it close and had to juggle daily feeding of livestock during the recent extreme drought while rebuilding the paper.
ABOUT THE SHINE AWARDS
The Shine Awards are a campaign led by The Weekly Times in partnership with Harvey Norman.
Nominees’ stories have appeared in The Weekly Times and The Australian over the past year, with a dedicated campaign that put rural women in the spotlight for the past 14 weeks.
In five years, the Shine Awards has attracted nearly 1000 nominations and celebrated 90 finalists and winners.
Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page said the company was incredibly proud to partner with The Weekly Times for the fifth anniversary edition of the Shine Awards.
“Shine is no longer a concept, it is a fantastic, vibrant community,” Ms Page said. “Drought, bushfires, floods, Covid are all documented in each of their stories – history told in real time. Yet these challenges are not the story; the triumph, innovation, determination and brilliance of the women of Shine, these women are the story. They are our history and our future.”
“Australia is vast, but these women’s stories bring us closer. No longer a town on a map, but a fabulous woman bringing that town to life for us.”
The Herald and Weekly Times chairman Penny Fowler said the awards showed the human spirit at its brightest.
“It’s remarkable to consider the past five years and how our regions have endured bushfires, droughts, floods and even a global pandemic. These have been very tough times.
“It is always humbling and a great honour to judge these awards as these women truly make a difference to their communities.
“If you want to know what it takes to triumph over adversity, how to shine brightly in darkness, then please take the time to read their stories and help us celebrate Shine’s fifth birthday.”