Farm Meets Fashion: Indigenous Artist Wins at Melbourne Fest

When farmer Sue McClure started knitting scarves with Indigenous designs she found online, something felt wrong. She knew she needed permission from the artists whose culture she was borrowing from.

That instinct led her to Sherry Johnstone, a Keerray Woorroong and Yorta Yorta woman based in Warrnambool. The two women discovered they shared more than just a love of textiles.

"We had a passion for the land and being mindful of our footprint on our environment, and caring for country," Johnstone said. What started as a simple conversation turned into an organic partnership.

McClure operates a massive knitting machine from her farmhouse in Pigeon Ponds, a tiny town in far-western Victoria. The machine stretches 4.5 meters long and cost $180,000, capable of creating entire garments from scratch.

Johnstone brought designs inspired by her connection to country: banksias, flowering gums, and even pieces of bark she found in paddocks. McClure transformed those visions into wearable art using Tasmanian merino wool.

Their first collaboration earned second prize at the National Wool Museum's Future in Fibres competition last year. A judge suggested they submit a lookbook to the Melbourne Fashion Festival, but neither woman knew what that meant.

They googled it. Then Johnstone spent two weeks designing ten outfits, each telling stories from her ancestors and celebrating the landscape around her.

The real pressure fell on McClure, who had just one month to bring those designs to life. She enlisted a Melbourne expert to program her Japanese knitting machine, creating samples before producing the final garments.

Then disaster struck. The power went out the day before the clothes were due in Melbourne.

McClure finished the final stitching by hand on her verandah, working in the afternoon light. The garments made it to the city just in time.

The Ripple Effect

In February 2026, their designs hit the Melbourne Fashion Festival catwalk as part of the Beyond Blak Runway. McClure said she was "overcome with emotion" watching their creations walk the runway at Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

The collaboration sparked something bigger. Johnstone launched her own brand called Flash 1A, a playful Indigenous expression meaning something impressive or stylish.

She's now designing jumpers, hoodies, ponchos, and dresses, all produced on McClure's farm using that giant knitting machine. The partnership proves that respect, collaboration, and genuine connection can transform culture into fashion while honoring its roots.

When asked about Paris or London fashion weeks, McClure laughs: "No, I'm too old for that." But from a farmhouse in Pigeon Ponds, these two women are already making fashion history.