Fortescue sends first Jawun secondees

Living and working in the East Kimberley has been an amazing cultural and educational experience for two Fortescue employees who recently embarked on secondments as part of the Jawun program.

Established in 2011, Jawun places skilled people from Australia’s leading companies and government agencies into Indigenous organisations. These secondees share their expertise and support Indigenous leaders to achieve their own development goals.

Fortescue joined the program in 2017 and sent its first two secondees - Steve Dent from Port Operations and Aaron Jessop from Integrated Planning. 

Steve spent five weeks in Wyndham where he helped support Ngnowar Aerwah Aboriginal Corporation set up their human resources management system. 

"I applied for Jawun to improve my knowledge of Aboriginal culture. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to immerse myself into the culture," Steve said. 

"It is an experience that is very hard to put into words but I am definitely appreciative of the new friendship base that I have built in that area as a result of this experience." 

Aaron was based in Kununurra with East Kimberley Job Pathways and helped to implement a quality management system. 

"I recommend that every Fortescue employee that the program - it is truly an amazing program to do," Aaron said. 

Fortescue will continue to work with Jawun to increase the number of secondees participating in FY18.