Woodwork – it was the only thing that kept me at school. And Br Rowbottom, he was a great influence.
I knew right from the start that I wasn’t going to Uni. I wanted to pull out of school in Year 9 and work on the farm. Mum and Dad encouraged me to stay at school. Fortunately, woodwork had become a subject that you could do as part of VCE. I got in the top 5% in the State for woodwork. I was glad I persisted to finish Year 12. The maturity you gain is very valuable in a workplace.
Straight out of school I was doing full time hours, working at the supermarket (which was my part-time job at school) and working on the farm at home and at the neighbours.
I ended up at Woolies for 10 years, and while I never saw this as my long-term career, this was where I picked up important people skills and skills for managing staff. The end of my time at Woolies came about, when I had started thinking about how much I had enjoyed woodwork at school, and how I could incorporate that with what I was doing. The next week a job at Pontings was advertised in the paper. I started out doing a retail job, but ended up as Operations Manager.
About 10 years ago Pontings and I bought South West Tools & Industrial, which at the time was just a little business, only employing 3 staff. South West Tools & Industrial is a tool retailer that supplies any industry (plumbers, builders, farmers etc.) from Portland to Camperdown. 3 years ago the business took off, we now employ 11 staff.
In 2016, I was elected to the Board of The Australian Industrial Supplies group. The AIS group is the largest group of independent industrial stores in Australia, consisting of over 70 stores Australia wide. I was elected to the Board even though I did not have a university degree like most of my fellow board members, but because of my years of experience in different retail fields.
Working alongside other tradies has been a big influence. Their comments led me to decide to build my own house.
Uni is not for everyone. You can have a very successful career with the skills you will gain through your classes in the Industrial Skills Centre. And it’s not just one career. You will find that things you learnt in Year 9 and Year 10 will come back to you at some point, and they might take you in a different direction.
