ANNA LEE WINMAR

Trainee Operator on Dump Trucks

The Cat 785D mining truck can carry 150 tonnes and has tyres taller than a grown man. When she’s sitting behind the wheel of one of these beasts, with pop music blaring and the road to herself, Anna Lee Winmar, 32, feels on top of the world. After nine years working as a FIFO cleaner, she made the leap to working on the mines and couldn’t be happier. The FIFO life requires a lot of sacrifice but she knows she is forging a better future for her daughter, and her new role fills her with joy.

“They’re huge, the Cat 785Ds,” she says, her enthusiasm for her new vocation shining through. “It’s crazy but it’s good. I was very nervous at first. I thought, Oh God, people are not going to like me. They’re going to shout at me and stuff. But I love it. I love driving. I never used to.”

Anna works a 2-1 roster, flying to Kalgoorlie for two weeks at a time, then returning home to

Perth for one week off. She relishes time at home. Being away from her 14-yearold daughter, Rashaye, is hard, even though they talk every day. “I was

18 when I had her. So I pretty much sacrifice my life to make a better life for her,” she says.

She has previously worked on sites that were “a bit seedy” but that isn’t the case now.

Anna spent eight years trying to get her foot in the door here and she says, “I’m finally in and I’m loving it. The crew’s good. The people – they make it.

It’s pretty much my second home.”