WITH an Instagram following of more than 27,000, you'd be forgiven for calling Camille Camp an influencer, when in reality she is so much more.
To begin with, she's a fourth-generation stockwoman who might spend one day mustering a 2500 head mob of cattle with horses, bikes and helicopters, then the next day be drafting and processing those cattle in the yards.
Camille is also an accredited onboard stockwoman who did three voyages on livestock vessels at the start of 2020 from Queensland to Vietnam.
She had always been really keen to experience the journey that cattle take from Australia to overseas countries which was the original reason why she did her onboard stockperson course through LiveCorp in 2019.
However she also really enjoys the work and the lifestyle it provides so it's definitely something she plans on continuing with.
On top of that, Camille is heavily involved in the Young Livestock Exporters Network (YLEN), a group of young people from all stages of the live export supply chain that are committed to provide personal and professional development to its members.
Camille grew up in a family that has always been heavily involved in the beef industry, with her parents purchasing Kalyeeda station in the Kimberley in 1996 and the family moving there when she was just six.
"We brought Kalyeeda bare, which meant there was no homestead and no cattle," Camille said.
"For the first two years we lived in swags on stretcher beds - for myself and my brother and two sisters it was an amazing upbringing, we did our schooling through school of the air and in our free time we'd help dad with mustering and yard work.
"Working with my dad and the stockmen from a very young age has meant that cattle work and agriculture has always been a massive part of my life, it has always been a way of life for me, not just a job."
Camille's passion for the beef industry has been a part of her since childhood and over the years it has continued to grow, with that only being partly driven by a love of working with livestock
"I love being able to read cattle, it's a skill I've spent a lot of time improving and I love using that skill to work a mob of cattle in a way that gets the outcome you want without putting the animals through any undue stress," Camille said.
"Secondly, this industry is important to me because of the people who work in it and the common values we share - we know about hard work and hard times, absolutely nothing is taken for granted when your future success is in the hands of consumers, changing markets, the weather and many more variables.
"Lastly, I am passionate about this industry because I believe in what we are doing - as producers of cattle that are live exported to South East Asia, it's a real honour to know that our top quality beef is going to a developing country to help feed a nation that can't produce enough beef of its own."
Camille's Instagram account started out as any other personal page, with her just sharing photos of her life and work.
However, she pretty quickly realised that the photos of station life and what they do out there were getting a lot of attention.
"It seemed that people were really interested and wanted more, so from there I just continued to post photos of what we do and because there has always been such few representations of station/outback life on social media my followers grew," Camille said.
"I definitely never set out to get more followers or to create the platform I now have, my goal was simply to show what we do out here - the good, the bad and everything in between.
Camille hopes that by sharing her story as a woman in the agricultural industry she can help to bridge the gap between urban and country life, while encouraging more young people to consider a career in agricultural.
"Being a woman in ag means that I can contribute my own set of tools and skills to the job whilst also honouring my femininity," she said.
"As a woman that doesn't mean you have to be as strong as the blokes but it does mean you have to be able to spend the day in the yards running around, spend 12 hours on a horse or give it your all when you're carting portable panels.
"I'll do whatever work needs to be done and I'll do it to the best of my abilities, but I'll do it wearing a pink work shirt and pearls."
