This is Geoff and Rob, the guys behind the last standing Aussie millet broom makers. This week ABC Riverina ran a story about them, featuring the headline that the business was fighting for survival. You, like me, might think this means they have financial issues. But they don't. They have succession issues. So if you've never considered a career as a broom maker, this might be your big chance score a new career and keep this amazing tradition going. The Tumut Broom Factory is the last original millet broom factory in Australia. Brooms are made completely by hand by Geoff and Rob, who run an open factory, inviting visitors to drop in and watch the process. You can literally watch a broom being made and buy it at the end. The factory is in the small town of Tumut in Snowy Mountains.
Millet for the brooms is imported from Mexico as there simply isn't enough grown in Australia to support the little enterprise. Millet grows over a 90 day period, is harvested by hand and the heads taken off for the brooms and dried.
At the broom factory, the millet is tied to the handle with wire and stitched with a plastic thread & trimmed. And voila! A broom to last a lifetime.
These iconic Aussie brooms are a household staple and it's incredible to think that so many have been handmade, at 50 brooms a day, by a couple of guys in a little town in the Snowy Mountains. But the thing is that they are getting older, cheap competition is growing and while they think they have a few years left in them yet, they fear the business will go with them when they finally retire. So, if you are interested in a grass (millet) roots business, you should make your move now as there's probably just enough time to get a Broom maker's apprenticeship with Geoff and Rob and be ready to take over the empire and continue the tradition when they retire. Alternatively, if you'd like to buy a broom, and can't drop by the factory, you can find their stockist list on their website. (Minimum direct orders are 12.)Images: Tumut Broom Factory