Purposefully breaking the glass ceiling

Karen told me that she made an inauspicious start to her working career. Having not received a Tertiary Entrance (TE) score from her studies at Tully High in North Queensland Karen said she worked at odd jobs around town before doing a Certificate in Tertiary Preparation at Innisfail TAFE College. From Innisfail she was accepted into the University of Southern Queensland to study a two year Associate Diploma in Civil Engineering before doing extra studies to receive her Bachelor of Technology (Civic) and Graduate Diploma in Engineering (Environment).

In addition to seeking responses on her success in the highly competitive world of engineering, I was also fascinated to peer into the window of her cultural past.

Karen reflected on her childhood, growing up near Mt Mackay and Mt Tyson during the wet season. She especially loved watching the low cumulus clouds that hung over the imposing mountains. Doting memories were also aroused on the childhood topic of hearing the constant low hum of the sugar mill during the cane season and seeing the bright yellow of the cane fires at night illuminating the evening darkness.

Karen had fond memories of going swimming with her siblings on a hot summer’s day after school with her mother Val, (nee Brooks, Jidabal woman from Millaa Millaa) who always ensured picnic baskets were full of mangoes, lychees and watermelon to satisfy their hungry appetites.

Karen recalls the excitement of visiting her father Ron, (Kuku Yalanji man from Mossman) at the railway station and of him finding time in his busy schedule to give her and her siblings a ride on the baggage trolleys up and down the platform. She said her father had a range of jobs on the railway that took him all over the state. In fact, she and her siblings were born in different locations due to her father’s work transfers: Rona (Cloncurry), Ron Jn (Maryborough), Karen (Babinda) and Kirstine (Goondiwindi).

The one constant in Karen’s story is the importance of her family in her life, which she sees as “my basic unit of support and whose views I respect and value”. Although she is an engineer and her brother Ron is a lawyer (also based in Melbourne) she said they never forget their cultural roots and humble beginnings.