Women In Trades Wednesday- Rachelle Dunn
Rachelle Dunn, wife to Rob and mum of two adult girls I am currently employed by a logging contractor to process logs- ie cut log stems to length on a skid site in the bush. I operate his Sumitomo 370 machine which weighs nearly 40 tonnes, with a Southstar processing head that weighs around 4 tonne. In the last 6 months, my role has changed a bit. I’m helping out in his office/admin work half of my day, then heading out to the bush crews for the other half of the day to help with quality control or to process logs.
I started working in the bush in 2014 at the age of 41, after 20ish years working in corporate offices. I had always wanted to be in an outside job and loved the openness and isolation of the bush. I was also really interested in big machinery, not worried about getting dirty, and wanted to be part of an operational team. While working in an office for a corporate forestry company, I approached a logging contractor and asked them about how I could get into the industry. He told me they would take me on if I was keen to learn and showed enthusiasm.
I started on the skids, marking and checking quality of the logs, and hopped onto the processing machine every smoko while the regular operator was having a break. My time in the seat got more often where I could fill for people. After 2 years, the regular operator moved onto another crew and I got his seat full time. I’ve been processing on a machine full time for 4 years.
My day starts at 5.30am, driving to the bush site that we are working in. We have a crew toolbox meeting and start work at 7.00am in the machines. We work through until 3.30 then head home. We can be up to an hours’ drive away from home, so it makes for a long day. If it’s a good day and the machine is running well, I could cut up to 600 tonnes of logs. But sometimes a hose on the machine could blow and I’d have to replace it, or something could break on the machine which would need repairing. Being a team, the others would always help out to get the machine back up and running as quick as possible. At the end of the day I’m required to do general maintenance on the machine which includes greasing and filling with fuel and oils. This is the most challenging part of my job, as the physical part of lifting and moving containers of oils around on unstable ground is harder for me. Also, I’m not very mechanical minded. But as a mentioned before, there’s always someone to help out, and its really enjoyable learning that side of the job and being able to do it myself.
I love being in a big machine, I enjoy feeling the power and strength of them and how easy they can lift and move up to 3 tonne logs. I enjoy being outdoors, away from all the busy town people, just being with my crew who we get to know pretty well and have a lot of banter and laughter. I like the rewarding feeling at the end of the day seeing what we’ve produced as a team. And its so cool seeing the logs I’ve cut on a back of a truck heading to a port or mill. Being in the bush or on a machine is not a job just for guys. If you are willing to work hard, get dirty, can give banter and take it, it’s a great fun career choice.
