Finding a positive in this drought is no easy feat, especially when there's probably a layer of dust covering it, but two Goondiwindi youngsters have found a creative way to turn the lack of rain on its head.
Macie and Will McNulty, The Grove, Goondiwindi, have started bottling the dust, offering customers the chance to own a piece of history.
A bottle of 'Once in a lifetime millennial drought bulldust - SuperDry' circa 2019 from Mooch + Wombat DUSTillery will set you back $5, with all proceeds going towards Christmas presents for bush kids doing it tough this year.
DUSTillery head of logistics, accounting and marketing (aka Mum) Hannah McNulty said the little entrepreneurs had seen great success since they began on Saturday, already raising more than $2000.
"It was all a bit of a joke; I said to the kids just make three, you'll sell one to your grandparents and that will do," Ms McNulty said.
"We thought I'd put it on my Facebook and make a big joke out of it, but it's gone crazy."
There's no shortage of dust at The Grove, having been in drought for the past two years.
"We've had really bad dust storms here, those ones that just look like the world is going to end," Ms McNulty said.
"We got three dust storms in a week about two weeks ago, and I was becoming a bit defeated by it, so sick of cleaning up dust, and I noticed that the kids were getting negative about it too.
"To be able to spin it on its head a little bit too and see that the dust has a bit of a positive and a silver lining is really special, because at the end of the day there's nothing anyone can do to make it rain."
The one wrinkle in their plan was that Dad (aka Heath McNulty) has gone off beer recently. Luckily for Mooch + Wombat, local restaurants have committed to keeping their empty beer bottles and donating them to the cause.
Ms McNulty said people from all over Australia had placed orders or donated to their cause.
"We've got orders from Darwin, right down south," she said.
"We've got kids that are donating their pocket money, and we've got the most incredible stories coming through.
"We've got people that have bought cartons but only want one and they've donated the 23 back.
"A lot of them are just donations, they don't even want the stubby, they just want the gifts to go towards bush kids."
Now that production has been streamlined, the focus has turned to identifying the bush kids who are most in need of a bit of magic this Dustmas.
"We're very sensitive to everyone's situation, like we would expect everyone to be to ours, but we just want the magic of Christmas and we want people to recognise that others need help and to nominate them so we can get presents to them," Ms McNulty said.
"We've been in drought for two years and it's pretty bad here, but we tell the kids there are people worse off than them, and I know that that's the bush mentality so I just hope that we can find some kids and give them a bit of magic on Christmas.
"We'd love for the kids to be able to do a road trip and deliver the presents, but I don't know if I can make that happen before Christmas."
Ms McNulty said despite the resilience of kids, the drought was clearly taking a toll.
"I just think the fact that their home is a dustbowl, like many other kids, is the hardest thing," she said.
"Kids are incredibly resilient, but I feel like everyone says that, that they're resilient, but then they're kind of getting forgotten in all of this, because they're still witnessing it all.
"We've got a thing here where the dads go to a mental health get-together and there's a lot of support for mums, but there's not really a lot for the kids and we need to change that."
If you know a bush kid who is in need of a little magic this Christmas, please contact Hannah McNulty at hannah.m.mcnulty@gmail.com
