Back Roads: Feb 6

This week Back Roads is heading to two old farming towns, Pyramid Hill in Victoria’s north and Nhill in the state’s far west.

The communities lie 260 kilometres apart but are connected in the most surprising ways.

Presenter Heather Ewart discovers when both towns faced a shortage of farm workers they looked beyond their backyards for solutions. In Pyramid Hill, the local piggery recruited skilled workers from the Philippines. The town was quick to jump into action to support them, offering the newcomers a fresh start and a fair go.

The community even stepped up to raise funds to reunite one family who couldn’t afford to bring their three eldest children to Australia.

Incredibly, Filipinos now make up a quarter of Pyramid Hill’s population and have revitalised what was once a dying town.In 2010, Karen refugees from Myanmar began settling in Nhill to work at the local duck processing factory. They found a sanctuary in the town, a place where they feel safe. According to one former refugee, “we feel like human beings again.”

As they say, from small beginnings big things grow. Like in Pyramid Hill, the positive spin offs for Nhill were unexpected. Heather seeks to find out what other towns can learn from the experience of these two country communities.

8pm Monday on ABC.