A young north-western Queensland couple have started two businesses that home-deliver outback produce and gifts.
Story Kate McManus Photos Hannah Puechmarin
For Angus Brodie, 29, the north Queensland floods of 2019 were the catalyst to set up a business he’d been thinking about for some time. “As cattle producers, we’re typically bound by the markets, drought and, as we found out, even floods,” Angus says. “Our family has been producing grass-fed beef in the north-west for more than 30 years. By launching Horizon Grazing online, we’ve been able to create a new outlet for our sales and supply great-tasting beef directly to shoppers all over the country, which is so exciting.”
Customers place online orders for a Horizon Grazing box filled with their choice of beef cuts produced on Angus’s family cattle station Redland Park, 25km south-east of McKinlay. The meat is then cryovacked into portions and delivered, fresh, to their front door.
Meanwhile, his fiancée Jo Cranney, also 29, had spotted a gap in the retail market while working as a paediatric nurse in Mount Isa. In the midst of record-breaking drought and on the back of the Black Summer bushfires, she was eager to support outback businesses. “I was looking for the perfect gift for family and friends,” Jo says. “Something stylish and beautifully presented but, importantly, something that directly supported outback makers, creators and growers.”
Finding nothing suitable, Jo started Wattle I Gift. She curates a selection of gift boxes filled with products sourced exclusively from more than 20 other small rural businesses. For example, the Tucker Box includes honey from the Blue Mountains, macadamia nuts from the Atherton Tablelands and a poppyseed dressing handmade at Jandra Station at Bourke.
This story excerpt is from Issue #139
Outback Magazine: October/November 2021
