No phone, Tim Tams and the Governor-General: An insiders’ look at the TRAIL Emerging Leaders program

Angus Dunne and Madison Tims are living proof of what happens when you invest in people. We sat down with them for five minutes to unpack their favourite moments and biggest takeaways from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF) TRAIL Emerging Leaders program.

Challenged, inspired and pushed beyond their comfort zones physically, mentally and emotionally, the duo has just returned from a week spent in the Australian bush with powerful insights into themselves, their peers and the future of leadership in rural Australia.

Welcome back to the real world! Tell us about your favourite moments from the week?

Madison: The best part of this experience was sharing it with my cohort and TRAIL family, who have turned into lifelong friends from a variety of industries and locations. These memories made over the last week will be treasured for life. The rural sector can sometimes be lonely, but we have all left as part of a community.

Angus: One night, our guide Lauren suggested we do ‘Tim Tam nominations’ – you nominate someone who inspired or supported you that day, they get a Tim Tam, and then do the same. It opened up an amazing amount of gratitude, laughter and appreciation between the group. We were at the end of a big day, and we were all feeling these things, but we hadn’t said them out loud. It was a great reminder of how much the little things matter.

It’s a big takeaway that will help improve my leadership. Moving a bit slower was another key learning – not having a phone for six days and being off of emails, calendars and calls was a great gift – it felt pretty weird! The big lesson here was realising that I actually don’t know the best way to use a smartphone and all of the other tech without it feeling like I’m a on constant treadmill.

As we started to build deeper relationships and dig deeper into more personal learnings, the power of having a community to do this work with was front and centre. For many of us it can feel isolating to lead change projects, so it was reaffirming to hear the common challenges we shared and see the group start to push each other to improve. The big lesson here was that I need to share more of what I am struggling with, and make being part of a community a priority.

What surprised you most about the whole experience?

Madison: I expected to be physically challenged – and that definitely was the case – but I wasn’t expecting the mental and emotional challenges. I got to experience a lot of exciting outdoor activities that also tackled my ‘stretch’ zones in a physical, mental and emotional capacity – abseiling, cave climbing and raft building.

Angus: I was surprised by how resistant I could be to stepping outside my comfortable leadership style – but also equally surprised to see that once I started stretching further and leading in uncomfortable ways how quickly that effort and tension to do so reduced with support from the group.

Any final words?

Madison: Thank you to AgriFutures Australia for providing us with this life-changing opportunity – I’m incredibly grateful, and words cannot explain the vast learnings I took from the TRAIL experience. I’m excited about the future of my leadership journey and the next chapter in the agricultural space.

Angus: I want to acknowledge the commitment of AgriFutures to building leadership within agriculture through sponsoring programs like TRAIL – I would not have been able to complete the program without their support, and it’s been a watershed moment in my leadership journey.

Applications for AgriFutures-sponsored positions in the 2026 ARLF TRAIL Emerging Leaders program open in September 2025.

Find out more about AgriFutures’ investment in leadership and capacity building for rural industries
Learn more about the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation