I’m Deanna Johnston and I was born and raised on a mixed farming property near a little town called Naradhan in Central West New South Wales. I went to a one teacher primary school and then I attended Yanco Agricultural High School which was a boarding school.

I was involved with the McCaughey White Suffolk Stud and travelled to many shows in NSW, VIC and SA with the show stock team. A national finalist in the Young Guns Competition held by LambEx with the topic of ‘Attracting young people into the prime lamb industry.’

I completed my commercial woolclassing certificate by the time I was sixteen. I was a state finalist for meat breeds junior judging and merino fleece junior judging and Sydney Royal Easter Show.

I initiated a shearing school at Yanco Agricultural High School with the support of AWI. Our team won Champion Secondary School at the National Merino Challenge in Sydney where I placed 3rd overall.

Now I am a Wool Young Farming Champion supported by AWI and I currently work at Outback Pioneers where I wear a few hats but my main hat is shearing demonstrator for Nogo Station.

I am looking forward to meeting you all. I hope you’re all just as excited as me to talk all things wool!

 

       

Deanna visited out school on the 17th August. She spoke to approximately 60+ students from grades 7-12.

The students loved her visit and were very much inspired by what she had to say about the Wool Industry.

Many students asked to speak to her afterwards to ask questions about the industry. They were then thrilled to show Deanna around our farm. Deanna gave our students so much of her time and they appreciated every moment that she was there.

The following is from some of the students who were in attendance.

 

Deanna’s visit was very inspiring and I learnt a lot from her. Deanna spoke about some of the different aspects of the wool industry and what the industry was like in the past. She talked about the wool as a fibre and how hard it was for her to become a female sheep shearer in a male dominated industry. Deanna spoke about how she got into wool classing and how far she would like to take it. She told us about how wool is measured in microns and what you would use the different classes of wool for. It was a privilege to have someone like Deanna come all of the way to talk to us about something that she is so passionate about.

I really enjoyed the time that she was here. I feel that it was a very valuable experience.

By Clay Whiteman.

 

Deanna Johnston

Deanna’s visit was very encouraging as she told us her story of struggle and hard work to reach her dreams. She provided us with a lot of motivation to follow in her footsteps of achieving our dreams. Deanna presented us with information on the wool industry from the past, present and new inventions being placed in for the future. She shared with us her personal experiences on the arsing issues of Drought throughout the farming community. It was a pleasure to have met Deanna, as her stories and information she shared inspired everyone in the room and motivated us to strive towards creating a better future for ourselves. – Remi and Mackenzie