Shine Awards 2022: Hoedowns for Country Towns’ Kate Strong and Claire Harris nominated

Kate Strong and Claire Harris are clocking up 30,000km across rural Australia, teaching linedancing to raise funds for farming towns.

Camille Smith

3 min read

September 16, 2022 - 2:59PM

The Weekly Times

Shine Awards celebrate women in the bush and their contribution

Claire Harris and Kate Strong are nominees in The Weekly Times Shine Awards, supported by Harvey Norman. They are in Victoria this month, giving farming communities a reason to kick up their heels while raising funds for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Find out where to catch them below, and nominate another rural woman who deserves recognition for the Shine Awards.

Kate Strong and Claire Harris have clocked up nearly 25,000km on the road – and as many steps on the dancefloor – over the past 22 weeks.

The young women are the duo behind “Hoedowns for Country Towns” – a nine-month bootscooting trip across rural Australia to give country communities a reason to kick up their heels while raising money for good causes.

Kate Strong and Claire Harris are travelling across Australia teaching linedancing in country communities to raise money for rural charities. Picture: Jackson Madders

Travelling through every state and territory, Kate and Claire are hosting linedancing events in some of the nation’s most isolated towns, with all proceeds going to seven rural charities.

“This whole trip gives us a reason to go to towns where farmers have had a tough couple of years,” said Kate, 24, who grew up on her family’s farm at Clifton in southeast Queensland.

“There are so many people that live in rural areas and persist with heartbreaking climate changes and all the rest.

“They are such tough resilient people who need a reason to give themselves permission to let their guard down and have fun.”

Rural communities have jumped at the chance to learn how to linedance, raise money for charities that help locals and have great fun with Kate and Claire. Pictures: Glen Wright Photography

Agriculture journalist Claire, 25, met Kate at a Toowoomba line dancing class in 2018 and the pair instantly hit it off.

They discovered mutual loves: bootscooting and supporting rural communities. So in 2021 they started planning their cross-country mission.

“When we committed (to the plan) we were very much in the middle of lockdowns and restrictions,” Claire said. “Because it has been such a tough couple of years, we thought now is a reason people needed it more than ever.”

With Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia behind them, and 33 events under their belts, they will head to South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and NSW, before returning to Queensland in November.

They are supporting Aussie Helpers, Cottages for Country Care, children’s charity Variety, the Blue Tree Project, Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, Rural Alive and Well and Sober in the Country.

“When you combine them together they are quite a force of helping rural people,” Claire said.

The community response to their trip so far has made the risk of leaving behind their jobs, friends and family all worth it.

“It was really hard leading into it knowing what it was going to be like,” Claire said.

“Kate and I love line dancing. We had this idea that we thought could be something communities would like. But just because we like it, communities might not have jumped on board.

“We hoped that they would.”

The young women have spent long days on the road, living out of a car, for the past 22 weeks.

Claire Harris and Kate Strong of Hoedowns for Country Towns. Pictures: Glen Wright Photography

They shouldn’t have worried.

“Councils, groups and schools have reached out and said we love what you are doing. The fact that has happened is really exciting,” Claire said.

So far, they have raised $6500 for Queensland charity Aussie Helpers, $1200 for NT group Variety and they are finalising figures for WA charity the Blue Tree Project.

All the funds raised in each state, stay in that state.

“The only thing we are taking out is to cover fuel, food and accommodation,” Kate said.

“Anything surplus goes to the charities. The more events we can run, the greater the sum we can donate.”

Kate said being on the road for months, living out of a car, was the hardest part of the trip. But response from the people they met made it all worth it.

Claire Harris and Kate Strong in action, teaching linedancing in a rural town.

“We have been really privileged to be a part of so many amazing hoedowns,” she said.

“We have had anyone rock up and give it a go. The feedback has been amazing.

“There are some days I wake up and think ‘I’m in the car again’.

“I do love the car and do love what we are doing, but sometimes I just really want to go home and spend some time with the baby calves.”

They have one more week of hoedowns planned for Western Australia, before spending three and a half weeks in South Australia.

They expect to be running hoedowns in Victoria from mid-September to mid-October.

Kate and Claire are nominees in The Weekly Times Shine Awards, supported by Harvey Norman. If you know a rural woman with passion, dedication, belief, spirit or courage whose story deserves to be told, nominate her now.