Home town pride: How our bush businesses are showing ingenuity in these uncertain times

But despite these obstacles, those that call rural Australia home are refusing to give up.

They say the city never sleeps but neither do our country towns where business folk are working around the clock in a bid to stand out from the rest with ingenuity, resourcefulness and just a hint of quirkiness.

They are keeping our towns ticking over and lending a big hand in supporting the nation's economy.

These are the faces of our bush businesses who are doing just that.

She lives in one of the most remote corners of the state where the country is a harsh and arid landscape pockmarked with salt bush, mulga trees and woody weed.

It's a landscape that has turned from red dust to green as rainfall replenished the rugged terrain while the sky takes on a dream-like hue at sunset as the sun's rays pierce the shimmery horizon.

And it's this backdrop that has given Lucy Gale the perfect creative ingredients to draw inspiration from for her business Little Ls Ceramics.

The 17-year-old from Pincally Station, north of Broken Hill, has been making ceramics for three years having learned the craft at school.

But while she has been back on the station homeschooling during COVID-19, Lucy decided to start her own business from home.

"I was born with an absolute love for creativity and knew ceramics would be part of my future," Lucy said.

"Having an opportunity to learn ceramics at school has enabled me to create unique pieces allowing my artistic side to shine through."

She draws inspiration from her mother Zanna Gale, who renovated their home while studying for an arts degree a few years ago.

"Mum had organic objects for the house, I liked how her designs helped me with mine, so I made ceramics to suit that," she said.

"Every piece has flourished from the utmost care, passion and a focus on texture, patterns and simplicity of a unique object.

"I like to create a variety of unique works that people can enjoy but that are multi-purpose, functional and certainly decorative."

In just a month, she has launched her business on Instagram and has been inundated with commission work as well as retail and supplying bed and breakfast accommodation with her unique designs.

But first she is using the money from her creations to purchase a kiln so she can set up a workshop from home.

"This proves you can live anywhere and run a business, as long as you have passion to kick it off," Lucy said.

Watching farmers suffer in the drought spurred Katie Finnes to create her own job in the community she has grown to love.

Katie took over Moodee and Sass last year, which was an established online and market candle business that had been operating for several years.

But two weeks ago despite drought, floods, bushfires and COVID-19, Katie decided to open up a shop front in Walcha.

"It was pure luck that I saw a shop front empty and thought it would be a great investment in Walcha, which has a good tourism trade," Katie said.

"I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and see how we would go and it's been brilliant."

She saw what was missing in Walcha and decided to stock candles, homewares and clothes that would complement other businesses in town rather than take away from them.

"I certainly opened at a challenging time but it's important for people to shop local and keep local people in business," she said.

Katie and her husband Craig also run a rural contracting business, which they started to get through the drought.

"Watching our local farmers fall to pieces was hard, so we started our contracting business and because we needed another income I retrained and started Moodee and Sass," she said.

"The best thing is I can run a business while looking after our three-year-old son Colt while supporting my local community."

Stephanie Day runs Paper Pear, which is an eclectic gallery in Wagga Wagga, showcasing Australian artists and makers of beautiful things.

There are more than 50 Australian artists and home-based artisans (many from rural areas themselves) who are promoted and supported, via her social media platform and the bricks and mortar gallery space in regional NSW.

"I'm passionate about keeping it local so the money stays here in our country- it's so important (especially at a time like now) to keep the small businesses in regional towns afloat," Stephanie said.

"In turn I'm able to support local businesses in Wagga Wagga so there is a flow on effect.

"I've recently celebrated 10 years in business and it's essentially a one-woman show, which I've run solely from my mobile phone with amazing support from my customers across Australia and beyond."

When the going gets tough, regional businesses certainly know how to support each other.

At Broken Hill Rosie Siemer from Sitting Bull has kicked off a number of campaigns in her town to support local businesses during drought and COVID-19.

She launched the Facebook group 'Our Hill is not Broken' for local businesses to advertise as well as the Broken Hill Business ISO challenge where local businesses danced to a song and tagged another.

"There are so many reasons to shop local as local businesses support school events, School Of The Air, gymkhanas and rodeos - and without community support it would be pretty sad," Rosie said.

"We saw in the drought when the bushies didn't come to town as often it crushed the local economy and people realised just how much Broken Hill relies on the surrounding graziers.

"It would be a shame not to support them in return and have specialised shops for them."

That's why Rosie opened the doors to Sitting Bull three years ago as she saw a need to supply country clothing targeted to young families and the next generation.

"We needed things for people who work and live on the land," she said.

"Just the other day, we had an order from White Cliffs who ordered their shirts through us, used a local designer to create their logo and a local embroider - that's three businesses who were supported in town.

"So supporting local works and it shows there is a flow-on effect."

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