Sophie Conlon
South Australia’s first female district agronomist never thought she would one day hold the position of mayor at District Council of Grant, but an interesting journey lead Kylie Boston to stepping up for the community leadership role.
Growing up on a farm, Ms Boston said she did not have an opportunity to take over the family business so decided to go to university.
“I used to love idolising our local agronomist over on the Eyre Peninsula so that’s what I love doing so went to uni so that I could do that,” she said.
“I’ve got a degree in agriculture and we were nearly half and half male and females and that was one of the first years where that was that happened and I think that kind of set us up really well to be quite well versed going into the workplace.”
Upon completion of her studies Ms Boston found herself working for the Department of Primary Industries and Regions at the Struan Research Centre, just outside of Naracoorte, and has stayed in the South East ever since.
She worked in Keith as the district agronomist before moving to Mount Gambier/ Berrin and continuing in that line of work.
Although Ms Boston was breaking down barriers early in her career, she never used to tell people what she had achieved.
“I was actually the first female district agronomist in South Australia back when I started in Keith and I am quite proud of that,” she said.
“I didn’t used to tell people at all and I have been because I thought well, unless we talk about those things then you don’t know.”
When it came to the agricultural industry Ms Boston said she had “some of the biggest unconscious biases”, but she had been spared from a lot of gender discrimination.
“I don’t know whether it’s because I’m quite happy to sit and I’ll just start the conversation,” she said.
“I think because of that, none of this then actually ever bothered me.”
Making a career jump Ms Boston said her parents had instilled her with a love of her community, which she believed was why she ran for council in 2018 and then mayor in 2022.
“So the journey then to get to mayor from being an agro which is what I love doing, I suspect it is because of my parents because you probably do what your parents do,” she said.
“My parents were very community minded and I can remember being dragged around to so many events because they were either the president or the secretary or whatever, from anything from the community groups or sporting groups and stuff like that.
“I’ve just always been quite community focused and I guess that’s probably how come I ended up here.”
Ms Boston was named council’s Citizen of the Year in 2018, which further sparked her interest in the organisation.
“We had lots of older [councillors] and it was our turn,” she said.
“If we wanted to see improvements I thought it was our turn to step up and have a go.”
Being councillor, and now mayor, has been a lot of work for Ms Boston, but she said she it was important council had a connection with the local community.
“Unless we have that connection with the local community I’m not sure that we could do a good job in a being on council or now with being being mayor,” she said.
Although, Ms Boston leads the council and is the face of the community, she said she did not see herself in that light.
“I didn’t ever look at it as a leadership role, and I still probably don’t,” she said.
“I don’t know why we don’t see ourselves as leaders and whether that’s a confidence thing for women.”
With four female mayors across the seven councils in the Limestone Coast, Ms Boston said there was a nice gender balance, which she also saw on a smaller scale within the Grant council chamber.
She said the hardest thing about the role was finding time to do everything- keeping up with her agronomy work, her family and community commitments- and would not be able to do so much without support from her family.
“When you’re in leadership roles, that’s probably the hardest thing is just trying to balance and have time to do everything,” she said.
“If I had a younger family I don’t think I could be doing what I would be doing now.
“I think that’s one of the hardest things that we all talk about is that balancing if you choose to have a family and want to still work professionally and then also give back volunteer wise, it’s really hard.”
While acknowledging the achievements of her foremothers, Ms Boston said the fight for gender equity and equality was not over.
In 20 years she has seen attitudes around working mothers shift, more inclusivity in the livestock industry and helped carved a path for the next generation of women.
“There is lots of terrible stories out there that have affected people and it’s really sad that that’s actually happened,” she said.
Looking to the future, Ms Boston encouraged young women to embrace their communities and give everything a go.
“Talk to people because you never know where it might lead you,” she said.
“All of us are worthy, no one’s less worthy than anyone else, just a few of us sometimes get the opportunity and we’re just doing it a little bit more public.
“So if you get those opportunities, have a go.”
