Growing from a simple newsletter, the Rural Regional Remote Women’s Network of WA marks 30 years of connecting WA women and amplifying their voices.
Story Corinna Boldiston Photo Rosie Henderson
When Marg Agnew moved from her family’s Shepparton East orchard in Victoria to an uncleared farm block at Lake Varley in WA’s Wheatbelt during the 1970s, there was no power or plumbing and few opportunities to connect with other women. Later, building another broadacre farm from scratch with her husband on an uncleared block north-east of Esperance, WA, Marg came to understand life for many women across the state’s vast landscape.
“The biggest challenge facing women was isolation,” Marg says. “Women love to get together and chat, and I really missed that.”
Decades later, that experience helped spark the creation of the Rural Regional Remote (RRR) Women’s Network of WA, now celebrating 30 years of connecting and empowering women.
“I was subscribing to the Rural Women’s Network of Victoria newsletter because it gave me that contact with back home,” Marg recalls. “I read a short story about someone shutting a cocky gate. My husband always pulled ours too tight, and it really resonated with me that someone else felt the same anguish.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #169
Outback Magazine: Oct/Nov 2026
