One of the most valuable assets of Shelford farm Bickleigh Hillburn is a woman who never expected to live the farm life. She is meticulously organised and has a Deakin University Bachelor of Arts, specialising in commerce and public relations.

She is Louisa-Jane Cunningham and, since marrying local farmer Angus Poulston, she’s become the mastermind behind the administration and finances of this farmhouse.

 When she married her husband, Louisa-Jane did not just vow herself to the man she loved, she also vowed to share his fields, his crops, his sheep and his wheat.

Now she shares the struggles of survival during this drought, using her skills to help their farm survive it.

In 2000, Louisa-Jane completed an undergraduate degree and, five years later, she was awarded a Graduate Certificate in Commerce and Marketing.

After getting married, she moved to rural Victoria, leaving behind her life of working in tertiary recruitment and as a marketing PR.

As children entered the picture, Louisa-Jane began to become more involved in the farm.

Louisa-Jane and her husband operate a canola and wheat farm, and are planning to buy more sheep.

“My husband and I are quite complimentary,” she says. “I think he would much rather be on the farm doing things, than actually learning about ways we could incorporate some progress.”

“I’ve got involved in a lot more boards too,” she says. “I never envisaged these things would happen in my life.”

She has been involved in the Community Connections Board and the Adult Community and Further Education Board. She also sits on the Southern Australia Livestock Research Council, the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and the Otway Agroforestry Network.

As her children entered high school, Louisa-Jane and her husband decided to live separately from the farm to minimise the commute time for their children travelling to and from school.

This separate living situation has helped Louisa-Jane deal with the impacts of the drought and the potential negative effects that it can have on farmers’ mental health.

“We’re quite lucky,” she says. “I feel like it does take a toll because you’re constantly on tenterhooks because you don’t know if you’re going to be able to make any money.”

In April, the couple sold canola due to the lack of rain, which led to crops being unable to germinate. Meaning they had to use spray and different chemicals to keep the crops growing, costing the couple thousands of dollars just to maintain.

“It’s stressful because you’re doing all this work and nothing’s happening, and you have no control over it either,” she says.

In May 2025, the Victorian Government announced a one-year freeze on the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Levy for primary producers, which aims to ease financial burden.

Angus had been looking to claim this for their farm, however, found the process of receiving this help difficult. When claiming the help, volunteers are required to have their volunteer numbers on hand, causing her husband to spend an extended period over the phone just to initiate the process of receiving financial help.

“This should be easier,” she says. “It shouldn’t be a grind.”

Louisa-Jane seeks to have a solution that extends from just a one-year helpline, but rather holds longevity for the future of her farm.

“I want something that has future-proofing, rather than just going ‘here’s a band aid’,” she says.

Louisa-Jane hopes to see incentives put in place to help farmers, like herself, caught up in the drought. She hopes for watering systems that will help ease the impact of dams running dry, causing potential injuries to stock, costing farmers more money than necessary.

“If you can’t sell sheep and you can’t sell grains, you’ve got no idea what your income’s going to be,” Louisa-Jane says. “It’s not easy to run our farm when you have no idea what will happen.”

This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.