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Most people might prefer to forget the low pay and seemingly long hours of their first very job, but The Standard asked some well-known south-west identities to reminisce and recount their experiences in the roles that introduced them to the working world.
Tell us in the comments below, what was your first job?
BEFORE he was Victoria's premier, before entering politics and even before his veterinarian days, Dr Denis Napthine was as a hard-working contract hay carter.
For several years from the age of 16, the South West Coast MP spent school and university holidays earning his crust on the land like so many of his constituents.
"I grew up on a farm at Winchelsea and used to do contract hay farming in the district when I was in senior secondary school," he told The Standard.
"The thing I loved about it was that it was outdoors and it was physical, which made it good fun.
"It built up all my muscles.
"I also got paid per hay bale so if you worked hard you got more money.
"It was a real incentive for a young money-hungry student."
And what does a 16-year-old Winchelsea country lad and future Member of Parliament put his hard-earned savings toward?
"I was saving up to help buy a car and later pay for petrol.
"Between hay carting and rearing a few pigs I had enough to buy my FB Holden."
The tiring work and long hours brought a sense of achievement and a taste of adult independence, but Dr Napthine also recalled the occasional fright.
"It was tiring and tough work but the only thing that sent a shiver down my spine was the odd time a bale came up with a snake on it.
"I wasn't terrified of them but when you grabbed a hay bale and a snake came with it, you all jumped and it was every man for himself.
"It was first time I was treated as an equal by other adults and I had suddenly gone from being a kid at home to being one of the team that was working.
"There was that sense of pride in heading off to work and a sense of achievement in carting the hay because you could actually see the bales come out of the paddock and stacked in the hay shed.
"You were expected to work hard, do your share and you went home absolutely tired, absolutely buggered but satisfied."
RUSS Goodear is known for wearing a lot of hats in the Warrnambool community. In just the past 12 months, the 2014 Australia Day citizen of the year has been a musician, festival director, event manager and entrepreneur.
Years ago he worked in the local abattoirs and at one point found himself employed on a Bass Strait oil rig.
But just like Dr Napthine, Goodear's working life began with clear blue skies, harvested paddocks, hay bales and manual labour.
"My first real job was hay carting," the Good Idea Advertising owner said.
"I was about 17 and had just finished my Higher School Certificate in 1966.
"I put the books away and headed out into the back paddocks of Western District to 'bring in the hay'.
"I went to Geelong Teachers' College to train as a teacher in early 1967, so hay carting was a job that occupied part of my summer holiday."
Working in the great outdoors with his school mates seemed like a great plan on paper, but almost immediately it proved to be an exhausting and tough gig.
"I recall it was hot and dusty and by day two I had blisters on both hands.
"We had a team of three mates on each truck and had to bring in the hay from the paddocks to the hay stack.
"One person drove the tuck (not me), one person fed the hay bales into the elevator, and the third person had to stack the bales onto the truck.
"I was always on the lookout for any snakes that may have been sleeping under a hay bale.
"I never saw one but I was very cautious.
"I think the machinery scared them away."
Goodear said adjusting from classroom studies to outdoor labour was a challenging transition but it at least affirmed the notion that his skill set was more useful indoors.
"It made me realise that manual labour was not going to suit me.
"I have fond memories of that summer holiday, but I was glad to get back to the study."
COMEDIAN Tom Ballard takes show business seriously and has for a long time.
As he explains, many of his latter years in Warrnambool were partly spent taking tour groups through the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum's Shipwrecked sound and light show.
The 25-year-old Reality Check TV host remembers that dressing as a 19th century sea captain gave him an early chance to hone his theatrical skills.
"I had to watch and listen to that show hundreds upon hundreds of times. It still haunts my dreams," he told The Standard.
"I really wanted to be an actor at the time so I convinced myself that this was a proper 'acting gig'. That was a nice little ego boost.
"Plus there was a lot of downtime when the audience were watching the movie part of the show, so I got to just sit in the little people-movers and play some ye olde Nintendo DS."
After beginning as a keen 15-year-old, Ballard recalls leaving the job several years later during his VCE studies at Brauer College.
"I was certainly a fresh-faced swarthy sea captain, that's for sure.
"(The job involved) putting on a dodgy accent, asking people to turn off their mobile phones, leading them through the show, opening and closing gates and capping off the night with a long, dramatic monologue about the jewel of south-west Victoria, the Loch Ard Peacock. It still brings a tear to my eye.
"Generally it was good training for performing, I think. No matter how tired I was or how little I could be bothered saying those damned words for the umpteenth time, I still had to be 'on' because I was being paid and people had forked over their money to be entertained.
"That's a pretty good lesson to keep in mind when you're doing a comedy festival and performing the same hour of stand up 22 times, night after night.
"Plus I got pretty good at Nintendo DS."
BROPHY worker and musician Lyn Eales also spent her teenage years as a Flagstaff Hill tour guide, dressing in period costume and taking groups through the maritime village.
She was 16-years-old and it was her first real full-time job after working Friday nights and Saturday mornings in a newsagency.
"I remember I was the model once for an entire outfit - including the undergarments," she said.
"It was fun taking tours with children and challenging them to find 'medical equipment' in the Doctor's House, which of course were very limited and often included plants and herbs from the garden.
"The elderly tours were particularly enjoyable as we would enjoy scones, jam and cream whilst having a sing-a-long with Mr Clancy in the tea rooms."
While she also also worked at the reception desk, Eales found the true highlight was spending time with the interesting visitors.
"People on holidays are always delightful and have a relaxed view of the world, which is catching.
"There were amazing views - be it beautiful sunny days, or dark, stormy oceans.
"Unlocking and locking up all the buildings on site was oft times cold, dark, raining and just a little bit scary.
"I left the job with a love for the Lady Bay, the views, old relics and treasures, the Loch Ard Peacock, the excitement of looking for the Mahogany Ship, the characters who worked there, and of course - dressing up."
MATTHEW Monk has worked in a plethora of professional roles around Warrnambool. Just this year he's been a publican, football coach and radio show talent.
His voice is familiar to thousands in the south-west community, but his introduction to many people likely came 20 years ago when he spent his days behind the counter at Mitch the Friendly Butcher.
"It was where Aldi is now and obviously not operating anymore," he told The Standard.
"I was 19. I liked the customer engagement and earning some cash, but I also had to spent a lot of time cleaning up and making sausages.
"It was a great experience and taught me you had to work for your pay.
"It also gave me a unique skill of tying sausages."
Since his butchering days, Monk has become immersed in the food and hospitality industry as a manager and owner at Flying Horse Bar and Brewery.
Two decades later it's clear that seeing how the sausage was made has never put him off eating meat.
"I love snags and I'm very carnivorous still," he told The Standard.
AS the founder of Warrnambool's biggest fund-raising effort to date, many south-west residents have been invested in Vicki Jellie's work over the past five years.
However, very few would know the Peter's Project Foundation chair and director's introduction to hard work came as a doe-eyed receptionist at a Jewish family-owned accounting firm on Melbourne's Commercial Road.
"As most people did, I had an after school job when I was 16 at the local milk bar, but I guess my first 'real' job after I finished secondary school was as the 'office junior' in a chartered accountants office in Prahran," she said.
"I was 17 and it was my first time living away from home in the city."
Ms Jellie loved the diversity of her co-workers and enjoyed learning from their different backgrounds, ethnicities and ages.
"It really opened my eyes to city life as a young country girl who just moved to Melbourne.
"Working and living away from home made me very independent.
"I was always pretty reserved but a couple of the ladies who worked there took me under their wings and I learned a lot."
While the job taught her the vital customer service skills of good manners and clear, concise communication, there was a downside common to many workplaces of the time.
"Almost everyone in the office smoked indoors.
"It was terrible. They smoked at their desks while they were working.
"I had to go and buy their cartons of cigarettes for them as part of my job description.
"The job also involved making cups of tea for the clients and staff, and running up and down the stairs with a tray full of cups of tea without spilling them."
NEWS stories involving Michael Neoh invariably seem to make up The Standard's front page headlines every week.
But years ago, the Warrnambool City Council mayor was directly responsible for selling copies of the tabloids.
At age 12, Cr Neoh was a paperboy for Rogers Newsagency, delivering The Sun and The Standard to Warrnambool homes each morning, as well as The Herald at night to the Victoria Hotel and bottle shop.
"I was up at 6am to count, fold and then deliver papers in the morning to households," he recalled.
"After school at 3.45pm, I'd collect the Heralds and try to sell out.
"I liked that it was in your own hands to try and sell out of Heralds, with the hustle and bustle of walking through a pub, generally smoke-filled, yelling out 'Herald!'.
"There were good tips to be earnt, so I learnt you get rewarded for the time and effort that you put in."
Braving Warrnambool's sometimes harsh morning weather at times, the mayor said delivering newspapers taught him the value of hard work and good customer service - both vital skills as a public servant.
"You had to make sure you didn't miss a house in the mornings and if you were a paper short you always went back to collect another one and then made sure it got delivered."
A CAREER in politics must have seemed a long way away for Jacinta Ermacora in her first job, working as a rouseabout in her parents' shearing shed.
It now falls in stark contrast to her duties as a Warrnambool City councillor, but the councillor said at the time she relished the chance to be elevated into "the real world of work".
"I loved working with the shearers, loved the certainty of the strict rules on how a shearing shed is run," she said.
"Sometimes there was boredom, but I got to take time off school to do the job so I didn't complain.
"It was probably more boring when Dad and I were crutching ewes - there was plenty of time between sheep.
"Dad would also ask for the cricket scores from the car every 20 minutes or so, and that's how I fell in love with cricket.
"It was always exciting if Dennis Lillee got another wicket!"
Although she was only 14 or 15 at the time, Cr Ermacora was responsible for taking the belly wool away from the shearers, throwing and skirting the fleeces and separating dags and poor quality wool into different packs, as well as sweeping the boards between sheep.
"That was a reasonably busy job, not much time between sheep if there were two shearers.
"As I got a little older I occasionally ran the shed filling in for Dad, which involved counting out sheep and confirming numbers with the shearers, penning up, and checking the food was ready for the end of each of the two hour 'runs'.
"I never pressed up the wool packs, Dad said it was too dangerous.
"One lifelong skill I learned during crutching was how to put a novel down then start reading from the exact same spot.
"The job gave me confidence, a love of practical work, and the knowledge of what a full day's work involves.
"I also learnt the feeling of being valued in my family's business and the ability to daydream whilst doing repetitive tasks."
IT makes perfect sense to discover South West Healthcare CEO John Krygger was, almost predictably, introduced to the world of medicine as an eager teenager straight out of high school.
Before attending university, Mr Krygger took a gap year job at the West Gippsland Hospital as a 17-year-old Warragul boy working as an administrative trainee.
"As I had grown up in the town I knew the majority of staff and there were some real characters and practical jokers who worked there," he said.
"There was a great sense of fun.
"As a junior employee I undertook several menial tasks including folding each employees weekly pay cheque and placing it in their individual envelope.
"Thank goodness we now have electronic funds transfers of wages."
Working across the site helped form an early understanding of the different departments within a health care structure.
"I didn't realise it at the time but it proved to be a tremendous introduction to the inner workings of a health service.
"The job involved providing support to a number of departments within the hospital, including finance, pay office, supply, medical records, radiology and pathology.
"The two main things that I learnt at this early stage was that health services in the main attract caring and compassionate staff and seeing so many people suffering ill health made me realise that your personal good health is such an important attribute to a happy and productive life.
"As I progressed my career I realised the importance of high quality health services and the impact that this can have on individuals lives."
JAALA Pulford was 16-years-old when she landed a job at a Castlemaine greengrocer, working Saturdays before eventually securing the more lucrative Sunday shift.
Little did she know, it would be a practical and pertinent introduction to the world of time penalties and award rates.
"Hard work was valued," the Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development told The Standard.
"Only employees who had been around a while were offered Sundays.
"I learnt about award wages, junior rates and penalty rates, which were handy for a future union official to know.
"I can also pick a perfect pineapple every time."
Ms Pulford recalled her many tasks at the greengrocers were carried out beneath the soundtrack of Bendigo's FM radio.
"It was a mixed business - mainly fruit and veg sales but some deli counter and sales of lollies, ice cream cones and yes, even cigarettes.
"I had the job of putting the carrots in the 1kg bags - after a while you don't really need the scales.
"All calculations were done on a notepad.
"Making up chicken rolls was also memorable, as was restocking the rotisserie."
She said her boss was a cheerful man with an extraordinary work ethic, who likely gave countless people their first jobs over several decades.
"He was a Greek migrant who worked hard, long hours to support adult children at university in Melbourne, and another child with a disability.
"Having my own money was fabulous, though I'm sure it all went on 1990's fashion and embarrassing CDs.
"The early starts were a bit rough for a 17-year-old.
"In winter it could be freezing cold. Sometimes there was disgusting rotten fruit sludge in the box room."
AS Deakin University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jane den Hollander has overseen training and teaching for thousands of young adults entering the professional work force.
Her first venture into the working world came far away from her current environment, at just 24 when she graduated with a science masters degree in South Africa.
"My first 'real' job was a research assistant at the Tenovus Centre for Cancer Research in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff," she said.
"I had completed my Honours and Master degrees in Wits in South Africa, had recently married and was in Cardiff to begin a PhD the next year."
While she had previously done casual lab demonstration work as a student, the graduate position was the role that earnt her enough money to buy a much-desired sewing machine with her first wage.
"This was the first job I had won on an interview and which paid what seemed like a fortune to me.
"I had decided to enrol in a PhD at the University of Wales and was committed to making some money to ensure I did not go broke as scholarships only go so far.
"The work was fun and the people were great friends but eventually the routine of doing the same testing day after day did get tedious."
Some of the skills honed in the job have stuck with Professor den Hollander to this day, including administrative processes and working as part of a team.
"I liked the laboratory and its camaraderie.
"It was a team and each person had a role - it is where I learnt about getting things right every time and to be part of a team doing my bit.
"It was important work and good lab techs are very methodical and don't make mistakes, and their work is minutely recorded.
"I learnt all of that process which I have to this day.
"We worked hard during the day and as we were a young team of equivalent age we would socialise in the evening, at a pub or a movie or cooking dinner at one of our homes - it is great to be young!"
Part of the professor's work as a bench scientist was researching a spina bifida project, looking at tumour markers as indicators of abnormality.
"I did a lot of chemistry, mostly techniques which today's first year students would be familiar with, but all automated and connected to a computer, which would graph the results.
"In those days every step was a manual intervention, with many repeats to get good data.
"The results from the analyses we did mattered to people and so being as precise and careful as possible was very important.
"I enjoyed the work but left to go back to being a postgraduate student, happy to be working on a project that was not routine and which had many challenges.
"I took my team skills with me and that helped me enormously back in the university department. I knew how to organise a lab bench and that saved months of learning and trial and error."