Big fish, little place

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! Brooke Watts is a regional business consultant, speaker and community connector based in Central West NSW. Raised on her family farm in Molong, Brooke’s work is deeply shaped by place, people and the belief that opportunity should not be limited...

Today’s episode is the longest one yet, and yet, I could have talked with Edwina Sharrock for another hour!  Edwina and her family live out the outskirts of Tamworth in New South Wales and she is the epitome of a regional entrepreneur.  As an alumni of Cartier Wome’s Initiative, she has come full circle with business from startup, scaleup seeking capital, to buying acquired and now starting again,...

Adam and his family now call the coastal town of Yeppoon in central Qld home.  As the son of Italian immigrants who moved to Mareeba on the Atherton tablelands, Adam is a deep thinker who is curious about humans and how we show up in the world. In this episode we talk about our young people in the regions, how we need to be careful of the stories we are telling and how we can look at existing solu...

Welcome to Big Fish, Little Place - a podcast by The Connection Table. I’m your host Julia Spicer, a serial entrepreneur thriving in a town of less than 10,000 people. In each episode, we share stories of those doing great things, from small locations. Because it doesn’t matter where you are across Australia, big ideas, personalities & impact can be found in the smallest and most remote parts...

My conversation with Sarah Dimitrievski is fast-paced and solution focused, just like Sarah!  Sarah has had almost 30 years in the manufacturing and construction industries, is passionate about the role of women in both of these industries, the power of the regions, and how AI and AR could be an opportunity to unlock potential for rural Australia. She is a woman on a mission to solve the housing c...

This conversation has so many “tweetable moments” as Oprah Winfrey would say! Renae Kunda and her husband Roy are Cape York Motorcycle Adventures, in far north Queensland.  With insights like “regional people learn to adapt without panic” and “we don’t wait for perfect, we create it” there’s no surprise that their business has been leading and creating a whole new industry for the last 35 years. ...

Sam Marwood and I crossed paths many years ago as he kicked off Cultivate Farms.  Since then his passion for young people to own farms hasn’t dimmed.  As the 5th of 6 children, at 8 years old he had a rude shock finding out he wouldn’t be handed the family farm!  He has strong convictions around the role that nature plays in Aussie farmers being paid for the good quality food they grow, and wants...

There is so much to dig into in this episode!  Matt is a Churchill Fellow having travelled the northern hemisphere to regional communities who had brought themselves back from the brink.  He calls Beechworth home and started the Asutralian Centre for Regional Entrepreneurship or ACRE to support communities across australia.  We discuss how communities can buyback community assets, how we can all a...

My guest today is Dan Redman, a 4th generation wine maker from Coonawarra, a town of 30 residents on the SA/ Vic border.  I loved this conversation and the way Dan described his family business, how he knew he always wanted to be part of the wine industry, and what he and other wine makers do in their region to ensure that they all succeed.  This really is a conversation about how when people work...

Many people may know Mallacoota as a result of the horrific fires that decimated the region at the end of 2019.  Images of the coastal community on the NSW/ Victorian border went around the world as a result of the fires.  This conversation with Paris focuses not so much on the fires, but the catalyst for change and growth in the Mallacoota community as a result - the establishment of the Wilderne...

Today’s episode has me talking with Ash Watt, one of the co-founders of Why Leave Town - a business all about holding our money in the main street of our rural and regional towns. Ash is a great example of someone who grew up regionally, did some time in the big smoke, and then returned to live regionally.  Ash has been a paid beer tester, started a backyard cricket club with a mate, and is a clas...

Liz Moss now calls Karratha home, incidentally Australia’s most expensive suburb, overtaking Bondi recently.   Working for Pilbara Innovation Partnerships, Liz speaks to me today about what building trust across the Pilbara region looks like, what happens when genuine place-based activity occurs and what she would do again in a public/ private partnership opportunity.  Liz talks honestly and passi...

Today with my guest Tracy Cooper, we talk all things change - what’s changed in rural leadership since the 90s, how do we handle chosen and unchosen change, how is it altering how we lead organisations, corporations and even families, and lastly why we still need to focus on the health care sector across regional Australia.  There’s so much in this episode, let’s get into it! Big Fish Little Place...

Through my work I have had the chance to take a contract with Welcoming Australia.  This is how the delightful Ken Dachi and I crossed paths.  In today’s interview, Ken will talk about how he arrived in Leeton in the Riverina of NSW via Kenya and Europe; he’ll share his unique perspective on privilege and how we can use it to act and to do good, as well as his hopes for the future of regional Aust...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! You will realise quickly that my guest today, Bec Fing, is well known to me!  Bec has called Goondiwindi home for 25 years, grew up in Dirranbandi in SW Qld and works across Australia predominantly supporting farming families with work health and...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! Oh my goodness, today’s conversation is a real treat!  Elise Stephenson is researcher, entrepreneur and is the Deputy Director, The Global Institute for Women's Leadership  The Australian National University.  She also calls Bynalong home, 1.5 ho...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! I have known my guest today Juliane Cowan, for roughly 10 years.  Not only has she always lived courageously in nth west Qld, but that is now the name of her business.  She is a bridge builder - more on that in the episode, she has intense curios...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! In this episode, I speak with Kylie Falconer who is based in Glenn Innes in NSW.  You’ll hear Kylie talk about the importance of community based organisations having clear visions and why it is important for community members to have ownership of...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! Today’s conversation is with Casey Budd from Moree, NSW.  Casey is an agronomist, wife & mother, interested in property development and creating wealth for her family whilst appreciating the lifestyle of her rural community. Casey’s conversat...

Lillie Holcombe opened her first retail bricks and mortar & online business, Harry & Kit  8 weeks after her first son was born.  The shop was in Goondiwindi and 4 years later she now also has a shop front in Toowoomba, Qld. Lillie’s story is one of girl meets country boy, moves to country, works remotely while considering what her future holds in her new community, and then absolutely foll...

Today’s episode is with Tash Johnston, founder of Drought Angels.  Tash calls the Western Downs of Qld home, originally Chinchilla and now Miles.  Drought Angels turns 10 this year and as a charity organisation supporting farmers and families during drought, Tash shares some of the ways in which the organisation has grown, some of the challenges they have faced, and what the next 10 years looks li...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! Adrienne Rourke from Stellar Consulting Services is from Mackay.  In this episode she shares with us the concept of inclusive growth, why we need to break the cycle of tall poppy syndrome when sharing stories around our regional businesses, and w...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! This week I speak with fellow Goondiwindi-ite/ Goondiwician, Jerome Leray. Jerome and his now wife Emma moved to Goondiwindi to establish their business InFarm. Emma is also a pharmacist, and Jerome was a founder of Discover Farming - a not for p...

Big Fish Little Place is a podcast by The Connection Table. This podcast showcases that great people can impact the world from anywhere across Australia! In this episode I speak with Annabelle Brayley who is based at Morven in SW Queensland. Annabelle’s overwhelming message is to embrace opportunities and through our conversation you will hear how her ability to say yes, without necessarily having...

Sam Fryer hails from Hughenden in Qld.  He is a positive and solutions focused human who is using his life experiences to improve opportunities for yung people in agriculture.  We talk about succession planning, community contribution, how to support vital services in the region and what could happen if we look at land ownership differently.   Enjoy this conversation with Sam Fryer. Big Fish Littl...