Prior to working in her role at RFCS, Bonnie spent the better part of the last 10 years floating around QLD, NSW and VIC in the agriculture industry, trying a variety of roles until she found one she was passionate about. Bonnie has worked in mostly seasonal ag – a cotton gin, grain harvests as a chaser bin driver then a header driver, a pen-rider at a feedlot, vintage seasons in a winery on the weighbridge and the lab, a rousie in the shearing sheds, a ringer during mustering season in NW QLD and a general farm hand. Bonnie puts this as being a “jack of all trades, master of none”. Bonnie has spent the other portion of her working life in hospitality – mostly pubs/hotels and although she enjoyed the social aspect, ag was always the end goal.
Bonnie grew up in Bega, on the far south coast of NSW and left to adventure the country a few years after graduating high school. Bonnie also spent six months on an exchange program in USA when she was 15-16, to which she credits her independence and willingness to explore solo.
Bonnie is a Justice of the Peace for NSW and recently completed her Diploma of Financial Counselling. Although she started a Financial Planning degree, she has now transferred to a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management at CSU to further progress her knowledge.
Bonnie’s passion for her role as a rural financial counsellor comes from her time spent in the agriculture industry and seeing the challenges farmers faced. She was working in a shearing shed when she saw a devastated farmer with about 1,000 less sheep in the yards than expected during a significant drought, and she enrolled in university the following week with the intention of finding a way to help farmers prepare for the bad times, survive the worst and to be a resource of support and knowledge when they needed one.