Perth man struggles without flowers

Gerald Contreras lives three thousand kilometres from his partner Cesarina Fitzgerald in Kununurra. He sent her flowers at least once every two months to show affection.

“Being Kununurra, a very small town, there's not many options to surprise my partner with love gestures.”

Robinsons end 30 years of flowers

Diane and Chris Robinson ran Kununurra's main flower business for three decades, growing tropical blooms locally and trucking flowers from Perth year-round.

Why the Robinsons closed shop

The Robinsons decided to retire. They struggled to find a long-term shop assistant, making the decision to close easier. The town has a permanent population of about five thousand five hundred people.

“If we perhaps had somebody that was staying, we wouldn't have shut the shop quite so quickly.”

Bianca Brown fills the gap

Bianca Brown started assembling and supplying flower bouquets while running an agricultural transport business. She sources flowers locally and from Perth, and plans to scale up next year.

“Already I'm at the point where I probably could put somebody else on and I'll probably look at scaling up next year and seeing where it goes.”

Contreras eager to try new service

Gerald Contreras said he was keen to use Bianca Brown's flower delivery service. When he flew to Kununurra to surprise his partner, he found no flowers in town and bought almost half the florist's small…

“I think I bought almost half the stock.”

Sophie Cooke's Saturday option

Sophie Cooke lets people visit her family farm and pick flowers themselves to buy, but only on Saturday dry season mornings. Customers buy blooms for homes and special occasions.

Room to grow the flower industry

Sophie Cooke said a number of residents had started arranging flowers to meet the town's needs. She said there was scope to grow more flowers and expand the industry further.