THE story of the little bush charity leading social change around alcohol use in the bush, and its founder who was this year given the local hero Australian of the Year award, is now widely known in agricultural circles.
Perhaps not so well known, however, is the way the big pastoral players are stepping up to meet Sober in the Country's challenge to create an environment in rural Australia where it is ok to say no to booze and where mates are helping mates put an end to the harm that excessive drinking can cause.
Prominent names in the cattle business - AACo, CPC, Paraway, NAPCo, Hewitt Cattle Company, Stanbroke and the list goes on - have unreservedly thrown their support behind the charity's messaging, are implementing what it is asking on station and are donating funds and resources to spread the work further in the name of saving lives.
SITC founder Shanna Whan said there was no doubt the dial was shifting.
The simple fact there was someone speaking about alcohol awareness at a national cattle industry conference was proof of that.
Ms Whan told an audience of hundreds of pastoralists at the recent Northern Territory Cattlemens' Association conference in Darwin she didn't expect to be popular, but that would never stop her from speaking out about outback Australia's worship of grog - the booze culture and the immense harm it can lead to for some people.
ALSO FROM THE CONFERENCE:
Ms Whan, who lives on the land at Maules Creek in north western NSW with her husband Tim, overcome a life-long battle with alcohol addiction that came perilously close to taking her life and vowed to use her 'second chance' to make a difference for others.
The purpose is never to tell people what to do - prohibition was not the message, she said.
"The entire ethos is, in fact, asking for something - simply that you be a good mate, that you respect someone else's choice to say no thank you to a beer," she said.
As simple as it seems, that is a life saving message, according to Ms Whan.
"Every single person here today knows a Shanna," she told the NTCA audience.
"The kind of person who can't stop at one or two, who does the crazy stuff, goes to a whole new extreme.
"It's all fun and games in your early 20s but we've also all got a Shanna in our lives who is in their 40s in the grip of chronic alcoholism and who might not make it.
"It happens gradually and usually very silently and it's a thing that stays behind closed doors.
"In eight years of speaking across Australia, whenever I ask a room is there anyone who does not have another person in their life impacted negatively by grog, the answer is always no."
Alcohol abuse and addiction was nothing short of a pandemic in the bush, she argued.
Rural people are 150 per cent more likely to suffer from alcohol harm than their city counterparts.
Six thousand rural people - the size of the town of Roma - will die this year from alcohol harm and those stats will repeat themselves year after year, Ms Whan said.
But bush people were also very good at being mates - and that was something we can work with, she said.
"If you can have a few safely, great - but can you also step up and make it ok to say no if someone else has to," she said.
"I dream of the day a bloke can walk into a pub in the outback and say no to a beer and no one bats an eyelid."
Her message to graziers, station managers and those running any beef operation - life in the outback is permanent 'iso' and the only outlet is often the rec club or the pub. So follow in the footsteps of the big guys and make sure there are alternatives to alcohol in these places, and that anyone, and everyone, knows it is ok to say no to alcohol.
"People in the bush are worth fighting for," she said.
"They show up in plagues, pandemics, floods and droughts and keep putting food on the table.
"We need to invest in people in the same way we invest in cattle, infrastructure or in courses to get the best handling skills."
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Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
