Christie’s passion for industry

The competition strives to find young men or women who have a passion and involvement in agriculture and show movements, and provide them with opportunities to further their knowledge in these areas at a local, state and national focus.

Ms McLennan felt her long history with Taroom Show Society, occupation and cattle knowledge made her a strong candidate for the competition.

Heavily involved in the Taroom Show Society for the past seven years, Ms McLennan holds the positions of vice president and showgirl coordinator.

“As a committee we have been encouraging young people to get involved within the show movement by entering in the showgirl or rural ambassador competitions so I thought I would put myself out there and enter in it myself,” she said.

“The biggest thing that I wanted to promote about our show is that the country show movement is still alive and well.

“I wanted to communicate to the wider public that people living in rural and remote areas still have these wonderful agriculture shows that are thriving in most communities, I don’t think (that) gets recognised enough.”

A Brahman cross beef producer, Ms McLennan has a passion for beef, purchasing steers out of Roma saleyards to put on her lease block at Taroom, before selling onto feedlots.

“We predominately try to purchase Brahman cross cattle that have a bit of Charolais or Angus,” she said.

“We find they perform really well for us but the Brahman also means they can withstand harder conditions if the season turns tough.”

Ms McLennan said the rural ambassador competition allowed her to learn a lot, developing self confidence through public speaking, networking and sharing different ideas.

“This year's competitors were exceptionally diverse,” she said.

“There were competitors from such different backgrounds including dairy farming, cotton research, teachers and different aspects of the beef industry.

“This allowed me to develop an understanding of issues developing outside my area and what everyone else is facing in the industry.”

Ms McLennan said the most exciting part of winning the competition was travelling to Las Vegas in November to attend an international conference to learn what was involved in agriculture shows and fairs around the world. She will then go on to compete at the National Rural Ambassador State Finals at Adelaide Royal next year.