Farm Tours for Sydney Girls

Source: Deniliquin Pastoral Times, 3 August 2007

Country hospitality is one feature a school group from Sydney will take away from Deniliquin this week.

The group of 15 students and three teachers from MLC High School, Burwood in Sydney, visited the area as part of Australia’s Biggest Ever Christmas in July held on Sunday.

The school was approached to attend the local celebration by Jeff Gambin himself, who has been involved in the school for about four years.

Mr Gambin introduced his organisation Just Enough Faith (JEF) to the all-girls school, who then formed their own JEF committee.

Attending a recent JEF fundraising day at the school, Mr Gambin told them all about Deniliquin and the Christmas in July celebrations.

Eager to get a first hand look at how the drought is impacting on the country, the group of students were glad to travel to Deniliquin.

They set off from Sydney last Saturday, enjoyed a fun filled day at the racecource on Sunday and visited a few local farms before heading home again on Monday.

The girls gushed about the friendliness of the community during their stay.

They said they found the people of Deniliquin and district to be “so nice”, “accepting” and “very welcoming”.

They said they enjoyed talking to people about local issues and also enjoyed seeing the entire community working together on Sunday.

As part of their trip, the students will make a video presentation which includes interviews with some community members. They questioned people on life in the country and the impact of the drought.

While happy to have been involved in the Christmas in July celebrations, the students and their teachers also had a lot of fun participating in on-farm tours before heading home.

They toured the dairy owned by Graham Willis, which they said was an eye opening experience.

The girls helped Mr Willis hook the cows up to the milking machines, and even got to taste fresh milk.

They were hesitant at first, but then many went back fir another glass of the “refreshing and natural” milk.

The school group also toured the Wettenhall property where they looked at canola crops and each had a turn on the farm quad bike.

They finished their tour with a visit to Ken Crossley’s farm where they drove around the property and had a wonderful morning tea.

Rural tour ... Andrew (far right) and Kellie Crossley (at front with dog) show the MLC girls around their Conargo Rd property on Monday.

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