The sign at the entrance to Eugowra describes the NSW village as bushranger country.
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Now, it's the centre of a new battle for the bush, with Nationals leader David Littleproud visiting central western NSW, hoping to reclaim the key seat of Calare.
On Monday, Mr Littleproud made a flying visit to Eugowra - which was almost razed by a devastating flash flood in November 2022 - to promise $1 million for the community childcare centre.
It will be the first of many coalition commitments to ensure regional Australians have equal access to child care, health care and infrastructure, Mr Littleproud said.
"It shouldn't matter (about) your postcode," he told reporters.
"One of the reasons I got into politics, living in western Queensland, I was jack of seeing young people go over the range and never come back.
"It's time to bring young people home and keep them home ... you can have a career, you can have a future in regional Australia."
Mr Littleproud's impassioned pitch to even the score for the bush was delivered in the same small farming village that inspired the local member to turn his back on the party.
Andrew Gee, who secured 60 per cent of the two-candidate preferred vote for the Nationals in 2022, sensationally quit later that year to become an Independent.
Mr Gee cited his desire to speak freely about the needs of his flood-ravaged constituents after the disaster damaged about 90 per cent of buildings and killed two locals.
He also took issue with the Nationals' opposition to an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Signs supporting Mr Gee are displayed at the entrance to Eugowra, in the windows of temporary pod housing and at the buzzing Fat Parcel cafe in the middle of the village.
Calare is a microcosm of the political challenges facing the National Party across regional Australia, home to a growing number of tree-changers and young people.
The Nationals' candidate, former state MP Sam Farraway, is challenging Mr Gee and popular independent Kate Hook, whose campaign is funded by Climate 200.
The climate campaign body was founded by businessman and philanthropist Simon Holmes a Court.
Mr Littleproud said there was no room for people from the cities, such as Mr Holmes a Court, to influence life in the country, particularly on the future of energy production.
"It's great for these ideological people from capital cities, pumping money into regional areas, telling us ideologically how we can live," Mr Littleproud said.
"I just ask the good people of Eugowra, or the good people of Orange and Bathurst, how their energy bills are going?
"I don't think it's going so well."
Mr Farraway said the people of Calare needed a clear way forward as the region grew.
"What Nationals do best is we listen and you send us to Canberra to address these issues," he said.
Australian Associated Press
