The St Joseph’s High School Aberdeen teacher has recently returned from the National Rural Ambassador finals, while he also helped organise the Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza in Scone.

At the awards ceremony in Launceston, Tasmania, Mr Mill beat a number of outstanding entrants from across the country to finish runner-up behind South Australian representative Jeremy Schutz.

He said it was a “shock” to achieve such a result.

“I won the NSW one and then headed down to Tasmania for the competition, which was out of all the states,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to get runner-up in Australia; I was pretty shocked to be honest, I really didn’t expect that at all.”

Following the finals, Mr Mill was soon back in a more familiar setting at White Park as he commanded the annual beef bonanza again with his trusty megaphone.

It was his seventh year as the event’s secretary, and he believed it had gone from “strength to strength”.

“It’s one of the biggest shows in the nation now,” he said.

“There was 68 schools from across the state, over 800 students, and about 380 head of cattle.

“[The bonanza] has really opened up opportunities for kids to enter the beef and cattle industry.”

This year’s event saw competitors don wet weather gear on day two as the skies opened and heavy rain arrived, making it somewhat soggy for the led steer judging.

“It wasn’t ideal with how much rain we had on the Saturday but we got through it really well, there was only positive feedback,” Mr Mill added.