big picture stories

Jess Brown

Posted: December 9, 2013

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Jess Brown

After completing my studies at the University of Tasmania, I made the decision to begin my career as an Accountant in Melbourne.  I wanted a change of pace and to experience living in a bigger city and seeing as though Melbourne is so close to home, it was the obvious choice.  Even though I loved my time in Melbourne, I always had it in the back of my mind that I would one day return to live in Tasmania – it was just a matter of when.

The ‘when’ came about three and a half years ago and I haven’t looked back since.  On deciding to move back to Tasmania, I was offered the opportunity to work at Norske Skog and quickly settled into life not only in Hobart but also at Boyer.

It’s not hard to settle into a place like Boyer – the history and sense of community at the Mill lends itself to welcoming any newcomers to the fold and before you know it, you feel like part of the family.  I can only imagine that this is the case at all of the industrial sites taking part in the Big Picture Campaign.

Although I am a relative newcomer to the Boyer family compared to most of the people who work here, big industry has always had a presence in my life – my mother worked at EZ (Nyrstar) before I was born and I lived in Lutana as I was growing up in the 80s and 90s so I was always aware of industry.

In my time at Norske Skog however, I have become more aware of the impact that such industries have on our State.  Big industry does not only impact on those people directly employed by them.  It has a significant flow on effect throughout the entire State and I think it’s fair to say that every single person in Tasmania is affected by big industry in some way, every single day whether they realise it or not.

Since I started working at Boyer, my partner, James, and I have been lucky enough to be able to buy a house in a really great area.  It’s been a labour of love for us as we have renovated our home over the course of the last two years.  Along the way, we have utilised the services of lots of local tradies and retailers to help us out and, once we’ve finished our house, we will engage even more locals to help us organise our wedding – provided we make it through the last of the renovations in one piece that is!  We also like to enjoy the best of what our suburb and greater Hobart has to offer which includes frequenting restaurants and bars – although some may argue we enjoy ourselves a bit too much at times.

I think the most important thing of all is that, although we are enjoying our life at the present, we can see a bright future ahead for us in Hobart.  We can see ourselves enjoying more of what Hobart has to offer and also raising a family – we already argue about which school we will send the kids to.  And I think that if we didn’t have the security of industries and big employers like Norske Skog in Tasmania, we might be imagining our future elsewhere in Australia or perhaps even internationally.  And that would be a real shame.