Working in Australia: Caroline Lovell

Caroline Lovell went to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa shortly after completing the archive course at UCL.

I came to Australia in October 1999 on the Working Holiday Visa scheme, which allowed me to work in Australia for any one company for up to 3 months at a time.

After registering with several temp agencies including specialists in archives and records management, I got my first job working on a project to update the collections database at the Sydney Town Hall Archives. This was a job which involved data entry for the most part, but also gave me the opportunity to wander around the Town Hall doing inventories of the furniture and antiques. I believe I am one of the few people who can say they have crawled underneath the mayoral chairs and tables (looking for barcodes)!

After Christmas I started work for the State Rail Authority on a records management project to cull/archive the legal files. This was not the most glamorous job I have ever had as I was working in a basement with filthy old records but it lead to me networking with other archivists and record managers who are active in the Australian Society of Archivists and Records Management Association of Australia. As a result I have found people to call upon for support in the job I now do which is as a record manager for the Contracts Group of Rail Services Australia.

I was originally employed to get through their filing backlog, however, when I began to make suggestions for improvement in their records management, I was asked to take on responsibility in this area and personnel support was provided for me. I have recently been told they would like to keep me on beyond my 3 months, if possible, so watch this space!

Basically I would say join up with the recommended agencies, get on the Aus Archivists mailbase and attend a few Society meetings and network. You would be surprised where opportunities come from!

Last modified 07/09/2004