How western Victoria's drought became the Brolga's most important public interest story

When I started as a journalist for the West Vic Brolga in April, the region was in severe drought.

We hadn’t seen consistent rain for 18 months, and there was no end in sight.

The long-term impacts continue to take a toll on the agricultural industry, and likely will for months, maybe even years.

Since April I’ve written 15 stories related to the drought. I don’t come from a farming background, I grew up in town, but through writing these stories I gained a deeper understanding of just how much devastation the drought caused.

It can be difficult for country men to speak up about their mental health. To hear so many farmers talk about the toll these conditions took was evidence of how unprecedented the drought was.

In May, I spoke to Myles Keith, a sheep, cattle and crop farmer from Ararat, whose property saw 1,000 acres of land and 22 kilometres of fencing lost to the Bayindeen bushfires. 

When drought followed, Keith told me it pushed his family to “the absolute limit”.

He described the experience of “farmers ripping off farmers” purely to secure a truck of hay to feed their cattle, calling it “sickening”. 

 Reporting on this, and the fury west Vic farmers felt over the introduction of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund, opened my eyes to their struggles, their strength and their camaraderie.

One story I worked on in June was a touching example of this.

During a series of charity hay drives to West Vic, I spoke to Michael Beecher, a dairy farmer from Cooriemungle, who received a semi-trailer of feed from Aussie Hay Runners.

That semi-trailer was loaded with hay by farmers from Gippsland, returning a favour from five years prior, when it was western Victorian farmers donating hay to Gippsland.

I got to collaborate on this story with Jacob Wallace, the reporter from our sister publication, the Gippsland Monitor. This allowed us to cover the hay departing and arriving.

Living on the land requires resilience, perseverance, creative thinking and preparedness. It is not an easy life, and in 2025 it’s been my privilege to give locals a voice and share their stories with you.