Three rural women representing the communities of Blayney, Cowra and Bathurst respectively are setting their sights on this year's The Land Sydney Royal Showgirl title after success at Dubbo.
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Sally Nicholls, Beatrice Patterson and Stephanie Ferguson won the zone final of the prestigious competition on Saturday night.
The result of the contest was announced at a ball attended by 245 people at the Dubbo RSL Memorial Club.
Praise flowed to all 21 hopefuls, including 2019 Dubbo Showgirl Tyla Comerford. Finalist Miss Nicholls, the 2019 Blayney Showgirl, said it had been an amazing day.
"There was a mixture of incredible women who are also amazing ambassadors," she said.
"Dubbo did a fantastic job of hosting the zone final, and it's so empowering to see such amazing young women and to be part of this movement."
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Miss Nicholls, a physiotherapist, welcomed the opportunity the movement provided.
"I love life on the farm and I love rural Australia so that combined, it has also given me the chance to talk about some issues, that being health and agriculture, that I'm absolutely passionate about," she said.
Zone final coordinator and 2018 Dubbo Showgirl Josie Anderson said everyone involved should be proud of their efforts.
"Dubbo had quite a good following for the night, we had about 35 guests from Dubbo Show Society come and support Tyla, so that was really lovely for Tyla," she said.
"She's a big part of our committee, and we're really proud of the efforts she's put in."
Judging included an interview and a lunch at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
"The zoo was lovely, we've had some rain so everything looked green, so it was so nice to showcase one of our main attractions," Miss Anderson said.
"We had friends and families hire bikes and ride through the zoo, and we've got a few girls going back there today with their families.
"That's something we aim to do, showcase Dubbo."
Miss Anderson said the zone event had enjoyed great support, both from her team of five, and local businesses.
"We were conscious of the drought and the effect which it is having on small communities so as a committee we have budgeted for expenses which has allowed us to give back," she said.
"We purchased cheese from Blue Sky Cheese in Mendooran, our gift cards from Miss Vet in Coonamble, Cookies from Food at Yours, personalised ear tags from Aussie Rural, we shopped locally as much as we could and paid for expenses such as the photographer so families receive all the moments captured for free.
"We really wanted to give entrants a small piece of Dubbo to take home with them so their gift bag includes items donated by Greenwood Designs, RFDS and Dubbo Show Society to name a few."