Anne Butorac
Ten years ago, in my early fifties, I left the Education Department, the organisation I had worked in for most of my working life; initially as a primary school teacher and eventually as Manager of the Social Justice Branch. I was proud of that work, but there came a moment quite suddenly actually when I felt it was time to part ways.
Probably the biggest hurdle for me was letting go of the work routine I'd got hooked into. That routine had spanned over 30 years. While there had been changes in where and how I worked, I can now look back and recognise that my career had been amazingly consistent. I worked in the same professional field, typically working Monday-Friday from approximately 7.30 to 5.00, and working for years at a time (usually about a decade) before I felt the urge to move on. My working life was so organised.
After leaving the Education Department a new pattern of work gradually developed. Perhaps pattern is not the right word because as a consultant I could not predict from year to year or even from month to month exactly what work I would be doing nor for whom, nor how much income there would be. Nonetheless, the consulting went well with a diversity of projects including, Im pleased to say, the many opportunities to work with Aboriginal communities and organisations.
At the same time that I left my job, a group of us bought an historic old building that had been a suburban bakery. We turned it into a gallery. We had no experience in retail or in running a small business but the Old Bakery on Eighth Gallery has prospered. These days we not only have an excellent range of Western Australian fine art and craft for sale but curate original (and very popular) exhibitions which feature talented local artists. This has been a wonderful learning experience, especially getting to know the artists and appreciate the intricacies of their work.
I also am involved with a local precinct action group and am a Board member of the Small Business Development Corporation.
Along with these involvements I am also a carer of a centenarian mother who shares my home with me.
Helping build Re-vision just seems like the most natural flow-on from all of these experiences.
So, ten years down the track I truly appreciate the great diversity in my working life. The one drawback: it takes me much longer now to answer the question what do you do? than when I could simply quote the name of a job.