Linda Widdup will never forget the moment she rolled into the town of Tailem Bend in rural South Australia. Situated on the lower reaches of the Murray River and roughly 85km from Adelaide, the farming area surrounding Tailem Bend has been in desperate need of a hand up. Over time, droughts have ravaged crops, with one of the driest years on record leaving many Australians without much hope for the harvest season.
When Linda arrived in the town just on lunchtime in early November, representing the group she founded in Aussie Hay Runners (AHR), she immediately prepared to provide help to surrounding towns such as Mannum, Robertstown, Sutherlands and Dawesley. The sorrow on full display quickly took her aback.
“When I first heard what was happening in South Australia, I thought, ‘bugger, we need to help these people’,” Linda told OwnerDriver.
“What I saw was heartbreaking – the suffering that people are going through is horrendous. The smallest we can do is provide some temporary relief.”
After enduring eight months of rainfall deficiencies, South Australian farmers needed help. That respite came in the form of a 34-truck convoy carrying $104,500 worth of hay and another $20,000 of other supplies. It all started when the mayor of Mid Murray Council Simone Bailey wrote to Linda explaining the devastation that was occurring.
From there, Linda got moving, getting in touch with livestock and agricultural bodies to receive the information she needed to organise the origins of a run. Before she knew it, Linda was on the phone to farmers in the region, hearing about their struggles and what she could bring to make the tough times just a touch more bearable.
“I heard it all on the phone – we could’ve taken 100 truckloads of hay and it wouldn’t have been enough for some of these poor people,” she says.
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The run, completely funded by AHR, was originally designed to have 26 trucks transport 832 bales of donated hay valued at $79,040 to 52 farmers and their families in need. The final number saw more and more people commit to action, with a total of 34 trucks participating in the run on the opening weekend of November, transporting a combined total of 1,100 hay bales valued at over $104,500 for 68 farmers.
“We’re extremely proud to help farmers – it’s not a hand out, it’s a hand up,” Linda says.
“A lot of people came and brought hay to donate because they know how desperate the situation is in the region.”
Meeting on November 1 in Ararat, the convoy headed to Tailem Bend the next day, with the Lions Club of Tailem Bend generously providing lunch for the helpers and local butcher Kane from Murray Bridge generously donating the meat for the BBQ. On the way through, Linda and the team passed numerous small towns where people were waiting for the trucks with signs, cheers and smiles.
It was a welcome change of pace for the devastation that Linda had heard on the phone in the lead up to the convoy.
“Our live tracker on our Facebook page meant people could follow us and be waiting for us when we passed through their community,” she says.
“I remember coming through Nhill and everyone was on the side of the road, cheering, beeping and air pumping.
“In Keith we had kids waiting out the front to greet us, and they squealed with delight when our trucks came through and the drivers began tooting away. It was so heartwarming to get such an unbelievable reception.”
The journey into South Australia also gave Linda the chance to receive more last-minute donations from truckies around the nation who wanted to do their bit. At the service station in Tailem Bend, a stranger came up to Linda and handed over money to buy some extra supplies for the farmers. It’s not an unusual occurrence for AHR, but it’s these small moments of kindness that justify Linda’s decision to run the group. “When we finally got into Tailem Bend, it was incredible – people had big signs saying, ‘We Love AHR’, while so many others were waving and cheering,” she says.
“We met some really lovely people while having lunch.
“Once we left Tailem Bend, 27 of the 34 trucks went in all different directions, covering so much ground – one truck went as far up as Peterborough in wheat country.”
In the rural town of Sedan, about 100km east of Adelaide and 20km west of the Murray River, people immediately came to help with unloading.
Linda says carloads of kids arrived promptly, with many people helping to make the process easier for all involved. With various community members and companies also offering personal goods and stock feeds, the emotional day reinforced the importance of these truck runs.
While it was AHR’s maiden run into South Australia, it’s just another chapter of its growing history as a valuable relief provider.
Started back in 2019 by Linda in country Victoria, AHR only had four trucks to begin with. Quickly the network of people providing floats and trailers grew to allow the group to complete its first run into drought-stricken parts of rural New South Wales.
“I was seeing images and videos on Facebook of what people were going through and, from my place down in Carlisle River in the Otway Ranges of Victoria, which is always lush, green and drought free, I couldn’t help but think how hard it would be if I couldn’t feed my animals,” Linda says.
“After speaking to Lions Clubs and generational farmers who had many years of animals on their farms, it broke my heart and I had to get involved, so we launched our first run.
“I wasn’t even out of Dubbo before I had 13 loads of hay, so we put them in utes and trailers and got them there.”
Since then, AHR has completed 42 runs around the eastern regions of Australia, including into the NSW city of Grafton on the Clarence River, as well as into south-west Victoria and King Island.
“For the Grafton one, the NSW Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) put a declaration to us. As a project of the Heyfield Lions Club, we worked with clubs in the area and put 65 truckloads of hay together to head up there in 2022.
“It was our largest truck run to date, and it was incredibly tough to see how bushfires had impacted the region.”
The South Australian run is already having an impact in the state, with federal MP Tony Pasin calling on the state government to assist AHR and other organisations similar to it with fuel costs and rural financial counsellors. The Member for Barker joined AHR on the run, with his experience now leading to calls for the state government to provide help in any way and match the New South Wales government’s move of providing fuel cost help to these groups.
“Regions of our state are experiencing the driest conditions on record and our livestock producers are struggling as fodder prices soar with quality feed becoming increasingly difficult to find,” he says.
“Getting fodder to where it’s needed is no small task and the organisers of various hay runs do an amazing job to support livestock producers in times of drought. A helping hand to assist with fuel costs from our state government would be a modest but meaningful way of assisting drought stricken South Australian farmers in their hour of need.
“The drought is gripping, failed crops and the lack of feed for livestock is extremely disheartening. Our struggling farmers need to know that their state government has their back when times get desperate and that’s simply not happening.”
For now, Linda and her team aren’t content with the maiden truck run into South Australia. Already, they are working hard to secure donations and get back into the state early next year to try and provide more assistance to farmers that need it the most.
“If we can get some donations, then we can go back,” she says.
“I’m currently ringing around trying to find some hay and some donations so we can put some fuel in our tanks and get up there during the harsh summer.
“I’ve got 74 trucks at my disposal if needed, and everyone is happy and ready to go. I’d love to fill 74 trucks with hay and help in whatever way I can.”
To get involved with AHR and help Australian farmers in need of help, contact Linda at aussiehayrunners@gmail.com or 0421 972 332.
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