One hundred and sixty-two Ni-Vanuatu men and women have started work on mango farms in rural Northern Territory after spending 14 days in hotel quarantine.
The seasonal workers are participants in the Australian Federal Government's pilot seasonal worker programme.
ABC News reports the programme aims to get Pacific seasonal workers back on Australian farms during the coronavirus pandemic.
They are helping to fill a labour shortage on Australian farms and are expected to be in the country for at least nine months.
Their job can be gruelling. The workers can spend hours in the hot sun, stripping trees of mangoes.
Other workers in the packhouse fill hundreds of trays with the fruit, ready to be shipped to supermarkets around Australia.
The Northern Territory Farmers Association has said it hopes more Vanuatu workers will be able to follow this first cohort, to help with the harvest season.
Other states are also considering creating similar programs, to allow workers from Pacific countries with no confirmed cases of coronavirus to work on Australian farms.
The peak body Fruit Growers Tasmania has said it was watching the outcomes of the Northern Territory trial and considering development of a travel bubble with Pacific countries.
Lucy Felix was working in her garden in Eton village, Vanuatu, when she got an unexpected call about an opportunity on a Northern Territory farm.
The single mother had been selected by Vanuatu's Labour Department to harvest mangoes in Australia during the coronavirus pandemic.
She was shocked by the offer.
Vanuatu's borders had been tightly closed since March as an emergency response to COVID-19, and she did not think she would be allowed to leave the country.
But she did not want to miss this chance. Workers like Ms Felix earn up to $25 an hour on Australian farms — about nine times the $2.70 minimum wage in Vanuatu.
And like many other Pacific seasonal workers, Ms Felix relies on income from the seasonal worker program to pay for her children's school fees.
Other workers have used the money to pay for their own education, family wedding ceremonies or to invest in new businesses in Vanuatu.
Ms Felix believes the timing could not be better.
Sales from her fruit and vegetable stall in Vanuatu's capital Port Vila were suffering, a downturn she blamed on the COVID-19 crisis.
"Vanuatu has laid off many people in their permanent jobs, so there [are] no jobs for everyone to pay for their families," Ms Felix said.
She said this trial in Australia was a chance for her to "help things come back" and complete her vision — to start an agricultural business in her village.
But the decision was not easy, and Ms Felix said she really misses her 13-year-old daughter, who is being looked after by her grandmother.
"They know why I'm here so I hope they understand and I'm looking forward to going back home and seeing them," Ms Felix said.
Photo file Caption: Ni Vanuatu seasonal workers depart for Australia