Exposure to the various presentations and discussions on that workshop day in 2014 highlighted the largely uncritical way in which I had previously understood the complexity of rurality and its educational and social implications. This suite of papers makes a valuable contribution to better understanding the issues confronting the current state of rural education research in Australia. The ongoing research and thinking underpinning these papers serve to focus the attention of education policy makers and implementers on the ways in which key stakeholders view rurality and how this matters in the preparation, employment and support of a quality teacher workforce in Australia.