“JACOB WALMSLEY”

2021 Waroona Show Rural Ambassador and South West Rural Ambassador

At 24, Jacob has a sound background in Agriculture. He has spent most of his working career at his family farm in West Coolup where along with his parents Eric and Kylie and grandfather Ross (now passed on) run cattle and sheep.  Working closely with respected farmers, his practices have been well developed for both intensive and pastoral agricultural farming in Northern Australia, Kimberleys, central Australia and the Southwest. His farming attributes extend to the operation of various types of farm equipment, loaders and graders. A more recent passion and ambition is to work towards improved genetics and herd management in local and regional cattle herds in W.A. Jacob undertook a two year training program, and is the only non – vet to be certified & authorised under the WA Veterinary Board, to carry out Bovine pregnancy testing. He regularly contracts to farmers throughout the southwest testing herds, doing both manual and ultrasound   pregnancy testing. He is using this knowledge and skill to improve his own farm herd to maximise profits and return.  Jacob’s strong interest in Camp drafting has taken him to a highly competitive level in W.A, travelling throughout the state to compete in regional drafts, including being a WA Youth representative in 2016. Ground stewarding at the Waroona Show for the past 5 years and involvement from a very young age has demonstrated Jacob’s strong connection with the Waroona Agricultural Society. His knowledge of the grounds’ setup, reliability and youth are a valuable asset to the Committee in preparing for the onset of 18,000 visitors on Show Day.  Jacobs connection to the Ag society became a natural progression given the family history. Both of his parents are from families with a long affiliation with Agricultural societies.  Jacob’s father, grandfather and great grandfather all served many positions with the Waroona Ag Society. The Waroona Agricultural Society committee is very appreciative to Jacob for his contribution to the community and congratulates him on representing Waroona and the South West region, 2021.

WINNER: WA State Rural Ambassador – Mackenzie Walmsley 2019 -2020

Mackenzie Walmsley is the 2019-2020 Western Australian State Rural Ambassador as well as the Waroona Agricultural Society Rural Ambassador and South West Regional Representative.  Mackenzie will represent Western Australia at the 2021 Australasian Rural Ambassador competition in the foreseeable future.

“During my term, I am continually given the opportunity to meet and network with like-minded representatives from around the state and country in the agricultural and show movement industries. Since being the State Rural Ambassador, I have attended several WA country agricultural shows including the Collie and Bridgetown shows where I had the opportunity to meet fellow show volunteers, participate in ceremonies and partake in judging of competitions.  I also volunteered for the Wagin Woolorama as part of the Young Farmers Challenge orchestrated by the NextGen WA team, working as a judge for the active competition. In January 2020, RASWA kindly sponsored my travel, accommodation and placement at the Agricultural Shows of Australia Inaugural Conference in the Gold Coast. The conference consisted of three packed in days involving a range of informative guest speakers, presentations, networking events, a Gala Dinner and interactive Q+As. 14 of us were from WA, with 286 attendees from Australia, New Zealand and the US.

 This was an incredible opportunity as there were over 200 people coming together to discuss the value of our Ag shows and how we can remain sustainable for future generations, with an emphasis on retaining youth volunteering. All the conference topics were diverse and allowed everyone to take something back to improve on for their own show. The discussion topics included tips on securing sponsorships, managing leadership transitions, insurance and risk management, how to write the perfect grant application, why a biosecurity management plan is important for Ag shows, how to manage online threats and why animal welfare communication plans are important. Taking part in this conference has afforded me some new friends around the country. From this opportunity, I have been approached to contribute in establishing a new   Committee called NextGenWA, a youth committee who advocate for the importance of agricultural shows in WA.  To learn from other states’ experiences with NextGen committees, I have also taken part in several online conferences and meetings, learning from like minded volunteers. I am very pleased to be a part of this and hope to make a significant contribution, an experience that is all thanks to the Rural Ambassador program. During my term, I have also attended RASWA Committee meetings in Perth, learning the dynamics of a much larger and longer event, being the Perth Royal Show. Prior to the COVID events, I was also attending Agricultural industry themed social networking events. I was also a guest presentation speaker at the RASWA State Conference in February 2020 talking about the Rural Ambassador program and the future intentions of NextGenWA. The Rural Ambassador program has provided rewarding prospects in event planning, public speaking, networking and education that I am incredibly grateful for and I look forward to the ongoing opportunities throughout the year. If you have ever wanted to take part in volunteering, look at being part of your local agricultural show movement. It is a positive and rewarding experience! We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to have our 90th Waroona Agricultural Show this year, particularly given the unpredictability and uncertainty that the last few years have presented, I hope we can deliver a fantastic and memorable event that is the highlight for the year for everyone!“

We are very proud of our young Rural Achievers below, many of whom are still involved with the running of the Waroona Show

*South West Zone finalists are shown with an asterisk alongside their name.
¹Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no Rural Ambassador program for 2020.