We meet a family who have had to find a new way to make money during the drought. They are making hats.


WENDY WHITE: Teacher's right, dear's right. You forgot the "a" in leader.

JESS: Oops, half a mark?

WENDY WHITE: No, no mark for that one. Read's right, and hear's right. Well there you go. Now you have to write them out five times.

MEGAN MAGILL: For mother of four Wendy White, juggling work and family life means she doesn't get to bed until midnight.
What started as a way of bringing in extra money two years ago is now a thriving business.

The Whites had relied on their small cattle herd at Raglan in Central Queensland for a second income. But when the drought hit, Wendy was forced to try something new. That's when she discovered her millinery skills.

WENDY WHITE: First we had an original hat and then I had people ask me for bigger brims or larger brims so we make three brim sizes now. Then we started with one style and now we've got like three or four different styles.

MEGAN MAGILL: When Wendy started selling 100 hats a week, she convinced her husband to quit his job as a full-time truck driver and work for her.

ALEX WHITE: If you had of asked me a couple of years ago or told me that I was going to be selling hats I'd've laughed at you.

MEGAN MAGILL: Alex White describes himself as a travelling salesman, peddling his wife's latest creations around small towns.

ALEX WHITE: The ladies think it's different, they haven't had men selling lady's hats out there before. I think they like it for the fact like if they put something on that looks wrong, I'll just tell them straight out. I don't muck around. I just say 'look it just doesn't look right, how about we try something else?

MEGAN MAGILL: And locals are doing their bit to support the venture, buying hats despite declining rural incomes.

WENDY WHITE: I think that country women know the quality of a brim, only because most of us have to spend time out there in the sun.

MEGAN MAGILL: The Whites are already planning to expand interstate. But their good fortune isn't going to their heads. They say farming families must diversify.

WENDY WHITE: You can never really just rely on one business anymore, you've sort have got to have two or more underway.

ALEX WHITE: That way, when something is down, the other thing will hold you up.