Image: LOVING THE WORK: Samara encourages other young women to get involved in a trade.
Source: Wangaratta Chronicle, Written by: Leah Anderson-Byrne, Photograph: Kieren Tilly.
Woman provides spark to industry
Samara’s work grind pays off in spades
FACTORY work just wasn’t cutting it for Corowa local Samara Ferguson.
The 24 year old recently started her Certificate I in Engineering Fabrication at Wangaratta-based company Evero and is loving every minute.
“I’d wanted to do something different for a while because I’d just been working in factories forever and I needed something more hands on,” she said.
“I’ve been doing it for about three weeks now and I love it; it’s hands on, I’m using my brain and once I’ve finished something I can look at it and go “I made that”.
“It’s also great to be able to look at things I’m doing and see improvement and go from there.
“Even in these three weeks, I’ve overcome my fear of angle grinders; I’m sweet with them now.”
Samara said she encourages other young women to get involved in a trade.
“If you’re interested, just do it,” she said.
“Don’t be scared and don’t think just because it’s all men you can’t do it; just dive in.
“It’s been really good so far and I’m so excited to learn new things because I enjoy learning and being able to look back at the end of it to see how far I’ve come.”
Evero managing director Brendan Ritchens said it’s been “great” to see the work Samara has done.
“Evero is a general engineering company; the mainstay of our work is within the manufacturing industry around Wangaratta and the broader region,” he said.
“One of the points of difference here is we train all our seven apprentices in house, which means they don’t go to TAFE, they’re just enrolled through the institution.
“We have an apprentice master who trains them; he’s an ex-TAFE teacher and has a teaching degree so he does all training on site where they get to be among live work.
“Samara is doing great so far, I’m looking forward to seeing her through the next four years.”
The Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation held a national webinar this month for girls and women to talk about the anxieties of entering a male dominated trades workplace with a panel of women currently working in the trades.
For more information go to https://www.twacf.org.
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