STORY BY MICHAEL HARDEN, PHOTOS BY DANNY WOOTTON

The origin story of Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co is ripe for a Seachange-style mini- series treatment. It would start with protagonist, Brylie Rankin, needing a break from working in the hospitality industry in Melbourne, moving to Tasmania with her then- husband, only to discover after they arrived that she was pregnant.

Needing to be closer to her family because of the impending kid, they end up in Daylesford and, after the birth, return to working in restaurants. As she is waiting tables, Brylie notices something that plants the seed that will transform her life.

"I kept getting asked for local mineral water and all we were serving was water imported from Italy,” she says. “The area is known for its water and that’s why many people were coming to Daylesford but no one was bottling the stuff. And so we decided to do it ourselves.”

After chatting to some of her customers about her idea, Brylie was approached by a local who had a licence to extract water on his property and asked if she wanted to use it.

“We went out to his property to taste the water and it was beautiful,” says Brylie. “And that’s how the whole thing started.”

Money was an issue to begin with – they didn’t have any. So they started the business with a $5000 credit card debt, their garage and the family car.

“We had incredible support from locals from day one, but we also needed to get into a bigger market,” she says. “So I would race down to Melbourne, sell, sell, sell, race back, pick up Arkie from school, go into mother mode and then, when she’d gone to bed, do all the invoicing and load the family truck – that being the family car. The sound of my kids’ childhood was the jingle-jangle of the bottles loaded in the back.”

People responded quickly to what they were doing and to the philosophy Brylie brought to the business.

“I always wanted it to be an artisan, environmentally-conscious business and that’s what we’re built on,” she says. “Our goals were always to be sustainable, community conscious and to showcase the region using this beautiful product that we didn’t have to do much to.”

Running a business from regional Victoria is more costly than in the city, given the greater distances and transport costs but for Brylie, the location is key.

“It’s important for me for us to be here and not just because the locals have been so sup- portive,” she says. “It shows that you can run
a successful business like this in a town like Daylesford and, by employing locals, the whole community benefits.”

The success of the 13-year old business can be measured not just in longevity but with the expansion of the product range. Starting with just still and sparkling mineral water, the Day- lesford and Hepburn range now runs to 34 products, including water flavoured with juices, organic soft drinks and kombucha, that are available across Australia.

Series one of Brylie Rankine’s treechange has a happy and successful ending. It will be fascinating to watch what happens in season two.