Working in Australia: Jo Horner

I left England in June 1999 and travelled through South America and New Zealand before arriving in Sydney, Australia in July. My first job was as a records assistant with PricewaterhouseCoopers to assist with moving their records to a new building. This was a great opportunity to see a large corporate organisation in operation. My second job was with an insurance company called NRMA who were investigating floating on the stock market. I was involved in ensuring the records for this process were accessible and available.

My third job in Sydney was working for Centrelink, the Australian equivalent of the Social Security. Although this was not an archive job (I was booking interpreters by telephone) the job gave me an insight into working in Sydney in an area other than archives.

Working in Sydney is a great experience but don't expect to get the job of your dreams or become a millionaire. Living in Sydney is expensive and because of the nature of the working holiday visa, many records jobs are very routine. Tax for working holiday makers is very high and increases the more you earn. However Sydney is a fun place to be and a must for any traveller to Australia.

Other areas of Australia have records jobs but they are few and far between. After leaving Sydney I got a job on the Gold Coast for the Gold Coast City Council carrying out a Vital Records Audit (a proper archive job!) This has been a wonderful experience for me but there are not many temping jobs available on the Gold Coast so my partner had trouble getting a job.

Travelling and working in Australia is a great adventure. You will meet a lot of friendly and outgoing people and especially within the archive profession, people are always glad you made the effort to go to Australia. Enjoy the experience!

Last modified 07/09/2004