Patron's message

The farm has provided a rich and enduring inspiration for those who seek to interpret life in Australia. Early interpreters such as Steele Rudd, Henry Lawson, and others from the ‘wattle and bottle’ school of the late nineteenth century, turned to the Bush in their unremitting search for ‘national identity’. Contemporary farm writers still look to the Bush but offer new visions, new ways of interacting with the landscape and new insights into the soul that binds our regional communities.

Farm writers help to build awareness of the challenges confronting people in rural and regional communities. Those challenges are many and complex and affect the young and the old, the fixed and the fleeting. The work of the New South Wales Rural Press Club (formerly the Farm Writers' Association of NSW) helps us meet those challenges. The Club builds our resilience, offers hope when times are tough, and shines a shimmering light on the path ahead. It brings the prophets in from the desert.

I commend the ongoing work of the Club and its committee and am deeply honoured to be its Patron.

Minister for Agriculture

Minister for Regional NSW

Minister for Western NSW