Poowong’s spirit captured on film

POOWONG was chosen as Dairy Australia’s 2017 Gippsland Legendairy capital and a short film recognising the town’s achievement was recently released.
Poowong Community Consultative Committee member Jackie Wilmann nominated the town in the Legendairy capital program.
She said the video was a positive way to show Poowong’s history and to have the community recognised.
“It has been amazing to watch the ripple effect of all of this, especially on social media. Our video has been seen by more than 45,000 people,” Jackie said.
As Gippsland’s winner, the town received $2500 which will be put towards the Poowong Landcare Group’s healthy pastures program.
Jackie said the group had applied for the program the year before but was unsuccessful.
“This year we focussed on the Landcare group, because it was looking for funds for weed awareness,” she said.
“Poowong is a pretty humble town, but we are obviously a dairy town so we thought why not give it another go.”
The application required information about how the dairy industry has impacted on the town and how the local community worked together in a positive way.
Jackie said a lot of the town’s foundations were developed by farmers over the years and continue to be run by farmers to this day.
“A lot of the groups around town have at least one dairy farmer on the executive committee,” she said.
Poowong demonstrates a lot of community spirit, with many events and programs held throughout the year.
“We are such a small town, but we have so much going on,” Jackie said.
Being announced as the Gippsland capital was a shock for Jackie and the town.
“We were pretty ecstatic. It was nice recognition to get. Poowong is a dairy town, but we were also recognised for being so community minded,” she said.
“It has been a tough time for the farmers, so this was another way to boost morale.”
Jackie said the Poowong Community Consultative Committee and the Landcare group had applied for a further grant through South Gippsland Shire Council, which will match the $2500 if successful.
“The Landcare group is focussed on the weeds issue, how it affects farmers and how new people to town may not be aware of those impacts,” Jackie said.
“With that amount of money, we can run more awareness programs, particularly focussing on educating children about the issue.
“We also want to write a children’s book.”
The film about Poowong can be seen on The Star’s Facebook page or at www.legendairy.com.au.
The winner of the national Legendairy capital will be announced later in the month.

Fingers crossed: Poowong dairy farmer Matt Wilson is looking forward to the announcement of Dairy Australia’s 2017 national Legendairy capital, later in the month.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Oct 17 2017. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry