I was doing occasional odd jobs for my dad in his business but I really wanted to do something more; but I really didn’t know where to start.

It looked as though I was just going to cruise along the whole year, bumming around from day to day.

I found out about the traineeship at the Queensland Department of Education and Training while I was at a friend’s birthday party. Another friend of mine was already on the same traineeship and she encouraged me to submit an application to the work area she was working in and who to get in touch with for more information.

It was quite a stroke of luck in a way because I had been thinking about what a good option a government job would be in the long term. I knew a little bit about the public service, because my mum had been a civil servant for a long time and her advice was really useful for helping me to make the decision to apply. It was one of the best choices I have ever made!

My family are very important to me and I have tried to learn from their experiences and heritage. When you say the word “heritage” to people in mainstream society, a lot of them think it has something to do with a thousand year old tradition involving dancing, singing and a mysterious ritual. But it is so much more than just that. It’s the cumulated experience of my family and ancestors.

Even though I grew up in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, my family’s history is something that has always been an important part of me and my approach to life. I consider myself fortunate having several different aspects to my heritage, being both Italian on my father’s side of the family and Indigenous on my mum’s side through my grandmother. So I have a lot of respect for the cultural diversity that I have inherited and I see embracing your cultural identity, whatever it’s made up of, as being important to who you are.

I believe it is really important for everyone to work, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, because employment gives you greater control over your own fate and gives you the ability to help the people you love and respect. Meaningful work helps you discover your own identity and make a firm place in this world for you and your family and friends to live in. As Indigenous people, whatever mob you are from, it’s important to start thinking of ourselves less as somehow separate to the rest of society, but more as a unique and important part of it.

Opportunities like those provided by the DET and other AEC employers not only give meaning to individuals, but help Indigenous people provide more meaning for our workplaces. Knowing that there is a real job at the end of our traineeship provides a real incentive to perform well.

The Queensland Government is an AEC employer committed to 2800 real, sustainable jobs for Indigenous Australians by 2014.  
03 December 2010