Marg Carroll travels Australia meeting the inspirational young Australians who are making a difference in our outback and bush communities.
Beyond the steady diet of drought, debt and despair about the bush in our media, something exciting is happening, something few seem to have noticed. It's a new vision for the future being created by young rural Australians. Some tackle national issues. Others impact at grassroots level. All give hope for the future.
Reinventing the Bush are dynamic people who, from the Top End to the Tasmanian highlands, from the rugged Kimberley to the struggling Murray, are reinventing possibilities for the bush. Every story gives insight into people, places and issues which affect the lives of Australians today. Together they dispel the tired image of rural youth as preoccupied with beer, utes, and the latest Bachelors & Spinsters Ball. The stories build a tapestry of experience, from taking on testing leadership roles and saving our rivers, to tackling Aboriginal health and building a Future Farmers Network.
Author and photographer Marg Carroll grew up in the beautiful Murga valley, not even a dot on the map of central western New South Wales. A town planner, farmer and graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, she is deeply committed to rural Australia. Marg has set up and coordinated innovative programs in health promotion, the first New South Wales Abbeyfield family-style house for older people, New South Agriculture's statewide Rural Women's Network and her local landcare group. Her first book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives was supported by the National Council for the Centenary of Federation and is in its fourth reprint. Margaret has three children and lives and works on the family farm with her husband Bill at Molong in central western New South Wales.
