The former Canobolas Rural Technology High School teacher will receive the award for her services to agricultural education and equestrian sports, which include the partnership program she founded with Canobolas High and the Moleanna Agricultural High School in Maliana, East Timor in 2004.

Modest about her achievements and shocked by the honour, Ms Pinnell was one of the driving forces in the school’s agriculture department for 34 years before she retired.

She said her former students’ accomplishments were more deserving of recognition than her own.

“It’s so gratifying to see students who I taught at Canobolas go out into the agriculture and equestrian industries,” she said. 

“They’re out there on all different levels. Some are owning their own properties, some have gone back to work for mum and dad, some have become veterinarians. Of all the senior agriculture and equine students I taught, 80 per cent of them have gone out into the industry. That’s probably one of the best things.”

Canobolas High’s partnership with Moleanna has ensured the East Timorese school has enough livestock and teaching resources, and also provides an opportunity for professional development of agriculture teachers. The program Ms Pinnell set up still continues to this day, with a shipping container-load of resources sent over each year.

Ms Pinnell also managed the school’s student Sydney Royal Easter Show team for over 25 years, which grew from a handful of Angora goats to over 30 animals under her leadership.

She was also an instructor in a Department of Primary Industries training program for international veterinarians and research scientists from 1996 to 2006, part of the Goat Market Assurance Program for the Dairy Goat Society of Australia in 2001, organised the Wontama Nursing Home pet therapy program, established the Angora and Dairy Goat Stud in 1981, which achieved the caprine arthritis encephalitis and Johne’s disease-free accreditation status in 1998, and is still part of the Australian Stock Horse Industry’s youth camps each year.

Ms Pinnell said she hoped to see more importance placed on the teaching of agriculture in schools, especially in rural areas. 

“In Australia, agriculture is such an important industry,” she said. “ We have to take a more positive approach on how we promote agriculture as a business. Agriculture as a profession is just as good as a doctor or lawyer, that’s what I’ve always believed.”

alexandra.king@fairfaxmedia.com.au