In a busy kitchen at an outback mine site, a group of women cooking Christmas puddings have raised millions of dollars for Broken Hill's Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
Some of the women have travelled hundreds of kilometres from remote stations to help out in the three-week operation, raising funds for a beloved outback institution.
RFDS Women's Auxillary Broken Hill branch president Merrylyn Turner said the group made more than 2,000 puddings this year, and their goal was to sell all of them.
"Since 1989, it will be $2 million we've raised for the RFDS – it's a year-long preparation where a lot of work goes into," she said.
"The RFDS here is your lifeline, they're the ones that are going to do the swoop and scoop and quite possibly save your life."
Hard work — and a lot of fun
The Women's Auxiliary has been making these desserts for more than six decades.
Dinitee Haskard has been helping with the Christmas puddings for six years, and loves being surrounded by women from the local community, creating sweet treats which will be eaten by thousands.
There are dozens of ladies involved, with ages ranging from their 60s to 70s, but the group is looking for younger members.
"We have a lot of fun making puddings, it's very hard work, but we do have a lot of fun," she said.
"Especially hearing from the ladies that have been there a long time, they tell old stories, on how they used to make them and what they used to do to make them."
The group was unable to produce puddings last year due to COVID-19 but they're back together in the kitchen this year.
Some of the ladies have been preparing and steaming the puddings for more than two decades and come from Broken Hill or surrounding stations in western NSW.
"It's quite amazing and humbling working with these women … we get together for three weeks where we can have a week of cooking and a week off," Ms Haskard said.
"And everyone that's there on that day gets to have a bit of pudding with custard and cream of course."
National love for 'secret recipe'
Ms Haskard loves being a volunteer for the "worthwhile cause", which can raise up to $80,000 a year, benefiting rural and remote health in the region.
"One year we bought mannequins, another year we bought mobile ultrasounds to use on the plane, and one year we donated money to the wellbeing centre," she said.
It is with basic ingredients like eggs, flour and spices, that the team put together a "secret recipe", attracting customers from across Australia.
"We get orders from as far as Queensland to WA to, in fact, just about every state and territory in Australia … it gets bigger every year almost," she said.
"We get lots of people that ring up and say, 'Yeah, my grandma used to make puddings for the RFDS'."
While she cannot disclose the decades of mystery surrounding the pudding recipe, Ms Haskard said it's the "love that goes into it" which makes it special.
"If those puddings could talk, well, they'd probably make your hair curl with some of the stories that the ladies impart, it's really quite something," Ms Haskard said.
