Peter Sergeant: The Person Behind FAQ Support
Peter Sergeant’s journey begins in Canowindra, a small rural town in New South Wales, Australia. Born and raised on a highly mechanised mixed farm, Peter learned early the value of grit, innovation, and self-reliance, qualities that would shape his entire life and career.
In 1967, at just 24 years old, freshly married, and full of ambition, Peter launched his first business in Orange, NSW, selling and servicing agricultural machinery. Through persistence and strong relationships, he built it into one of Australia’s leading agricultural machinery operations, with five branches across the state.
But life in regional Australia is never without its challenges. When the worst drought in a century hit in 1980, Peter was forced to close his business. It was a tough blow, but also a defining moment. Rather than giving up, Peter chose to learn, adapt, and transform. The lessons from that experience became the foundation for his lifelong mission: to support regional, rural and remote communities and others through uncertainty and change.
Over the next four decades, Peter became a trusted advisor to individuals, businesses, communities, non-profits, and governments across Australia and overseas. He’s delivered thousands of workshops and seminars, empowering people to solve real problems, seize opportunities, and grow desired outcomes with purpose. His work laid the foundation for Economic Gardening in Australia, the action architect, a grassroots approach to growing local economies by cultivating local businesses, non-profits and leaders.
Peter also co-founded Mensheds Australia, turning the idea of “sheds” into practical, welcoming spaces where men could connect, contribute, and support the community. Today, he continues to champion Sheds as community problem-solving hubs, what he calls the “Community engine rooms of renewal”.
He has seen firsthand how some communities and individuals thrive after hardship while others stall in the face of smaller challenges. The difference? Resilience, clarity, support, and a willingness to change. His core belief is that adversity is inevitable, but sustainable growth and enjoying a regional lifestyle are optional.
One key to recovery after the big drought was to take up Chinese cooking as a hobby. Of course, he has written extensively about how cooking can change a person’s thoughts and actions under pressure or when experiencing new opportunities, helping people move forward with confidence, direction, and outcomes that matter.
FAQ Support was born out of this philosophy. Peter built the Regional Knowledge Base to provide practical insights on living, working, and leading in regional, rural, and remote Australia. It’s not theory, it’s decades of experience, case studies, and tested advice on planning, marketing, leadership, well-being, community building, finance, and more.
Today, Peter is updating over 70 of his self-authored books, each packed with valuable ideas for anyone trying to make a difference. Whether you’re running a business, starting a non-profit, helping your local council, or just trying to get traction in a small town, there’s a resource to help you move forward. He has a heart wired for service, to distil complexity into clarity.
His work demystifies the complexity of regional life and provides clarity where others offer clichés. His messages deliver simple but powerful outcomes. Strategic and values-driven, he brings a practical vision to every corner of regional, rural, and remote life. Whether rebooting after failure, leading post-crisis recovery, or building infrastructure that connects people, Peter makes things happen.
Quotable quotes.
“It’s too hard doing it by yourself. Let’s do it better together”. Peter Sergeant
“Your capacity to accelerate improvements can be severely limited by your inability to improve planning practices”. Peter Sergeant