Meet the Queen Street cowgirl who hopes to mix her city education ambitions with a successful future rural career.
Ella Paine was born and bred near Queensland’s north west town of Winton and this week is participating in Beef Australia’s Beef Connections youth mentoring program in Brisbane.
“I’ve grown up in the beef industry with my parents running a Droughtmaster cattle property north of Winton,” Ms Paine said.
“I have a passion for cattle and really enjoy working in the beef industry.”
The Graeme Acton Beef Connections program is about developing the skills of young beef producers by providing training and personal development opportunities and a mentor to help them achieve their goals and participate in Beef Australia 2018.
“It’s a really good opportunity to meet liked minded people who are passionate about our Australian beef industry and the program gives me a great chance to network,” Ms Paine said.
“It’s also an opportunity to achieve some of my beef industry goals through participating in the Beef Connections program.”
Ms Paine is about to complete her studies at the Longreach Pastoral College and is heading to Brisbane to study a business degree next year.
A major focus for Ms Paine during the Beef Connections program will be her project aimed at increasing more enrollments in the Longreach Pastoral College’s northern beef course.
“I think Longreach is an excellent location to take up studies around our Australian beef industry and the college programs give students a real opportunity to go out and get real jobs in the beef industry,” Ms Paine said.
“The Longreach Pastoral College has the resources and connections to give willing students the educational base to launch a successful beef industry focused career.
“I think the most significant thing I’ve got out of our three-day mentoring workshop in Brisbane was understanding if my project was realistic and over the days I’ve unpacked it into a realistic set of tasks that will lead to accomplishing my goal.
“I’ve really realized I can accomplish this project over time.”
Ms Paine plans to use her educational grounding at both the Longreach Pastoral College and a city university to build a meaningful and successful rural industry career.
“I’m learning so much in the Graeme Acton Beef Connections youth mentoring program and will take all I’m learning back into my career in the beef industry,” she said.
“It’s great to be working with other young people in our beef industry who are passion about Australia’s beef industry.”
Ms Paine mentor for the Graeme Acton Beef Connections program is Steve Taylor.