Mildura Rural City Council (MRCC) is home to an array of La Trobe alumni, from a wide range of disciplines. Three of them took the time to share more about their roles, what led them to their careers and debunk some myths about their engineering, planning and environmental health professions.
Adam Burke completed year 12 at Mildura Senior College before undertaking a gap year to work and building up some funds before pursuing studying a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) at La Trobe’s Bendigo Campus.
“At school I enjoyed maths, science and problem solving, thus leading me to engineering based on a recommendation from a teacher. I chose La Trobe due to being able to study at the Bendigo campus – I am a country boy and preferred to stay in the country rather than in a city based campus.”
Adam is now the Engineering Design Team Leader at MRCC and leads a team of five staff members.
“The team is responsible for the survey and design of council’s civil projects - roads, footpaths, kerb and channel drainage. On a typical day, I would attend meetings, discuss projects with my team members, undertake design reviews, complete designs and attend site visits to discuss both active and future projects.”
Adam says the typical stereotype about engineering is that most engineers are introverted and would rather sit in a corner and be left alone! Adam says that he likes how varied his role is and that every day is different.
“Every day brings a new problem to deal with and no two projects are the same. I think if you like problem solving, are a good learner and have the ability to think outside the box – you’d make a great engineer.”
Jacqui Murnane’s pathway to La Trobe was a little different. After working as a Planning Assistant at MRCC, she decided to upskill and pursued studying as a mature age student. Jacqui completed a Graduate Diploma in Community Planning and Development via La Trobe’s Bendigo Campus. When Jacqui completed the course, it was a mixture of online study and weekend classes in Bendigo. The Bachelor of Planning (Honours) is now available fully online.
“The flexibility of being able to complete block study and attend weekends in Bendigo, was a great help. For me it was definitely worth the effort to undertake the formal course and I had the added benefit of studying and working at the same time. Theory is important but equally or more important is the industry experience. That way you have both a nice certificate for your wall and a pretty good understanding of how to do the job as well!
Like Adam, Jacqui says no day is the same, her role Is very busy and never dull. Jacqui also notes that to be a good planner, “you have to be good at project managing yourself!” She adds that finding a good mentor was key to her making a successful career in planning.
“I owe a lot of my progression in this field to having a really good mentor for 13 years who was willing to delegate a myriad of assorted tasks to me. This allowed me to learn planning and non planning skills. A lot of skills required in planning are transferrable between jobs. My career started as a bank officer, I then moved to records management in a water authority, then records management in an Adelaide Council, before coming back to Mildura into planning administration.”
Bryce Kerr is an Environmental Health Officer at Mildura Rural City Council and says he was unaware of the career when he in high school. Bryce completed year 12 at Ouyen P-12 College.
“When I was at school, I didn’t really have a career in mind. I figured that if I studied what I enjoyed, it would lead to a job that I would enjoy.”
Bryce completed two degrees at La Trobe University - Bachelor of Human Nutrition and Bachelor of Science with Honours, majoring in microbiology.
“In high school I was mostly interested in biology and physical education. After searching, I decided that human nutrition contained the most topics I would I enjoy. After finishing my nutrition degree, I spent the next year working on my honours thesis, with about 90% of the time spent at CSIRO Food Innovation Centre and the remaining 10% at La Trobe University’s campus in Bundoora, Melbourne. It was a really good experience and sent me down the path of food safety.”
Bryce says Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) have a wide range of responsibilities and are authorised officers under several local government acts.
“This means there is a vast area of responsibility. However, the most common areas I deal with are food safety, checking accommodation for their suitability, aquatic facilities, beauty and health, pest control, domestic wastewater control and mosquito management.
“On most days I will spend about two to four hours of the day out of the office conducting various types of inspections. Once I have completed inspections, I then spend time preparing reports and other administrative duties for record keeping.
“One of my favourite roles as an EHO is mosquito management. This will often involve driving out to various locations in the municipality and setting mosquito traps. Learning about the different types of mosquitos and the viruses they carry, is very interesting.”
“Speaking to friends and family, when I tell them what I do they will often ask if I get a lot of push back from proprietors who own businesses. However, while we do rarely get some difficult people, they normally do warm up once we explain the reason behind our decision making. The vast majority of people we deal with are very approachable and happy to take onboard any recommendations we make.”
Within the Bachelor of Health Sciences (delivered online), there is a major on offer in environmental health.
