FIFO FIFO work is a way of life for more than 60,000 people across WA mine sites.
“There’s a purpose for their parent leaving home” A NEW BOOK FROM AUTHOR KIARA ELLIS IS DESIGNED TO HELP KIDS AND FAMILIES UNDERSTAND AND ADJUST TO THE REALITIES OF THE FIFO LIFESTYLE.
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ustralia is, quite famously, a truly huge place, home to some of the most remote residential and commercial outposts on the entire planet. The country’s resources sector is perhaps the best example of this remoteness, with so many of Australia’s mining operations in extremely far-flung locations. And it is precisely this remoteness that makes for such a significant fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) worker population within the country’s resources sector, especially in Western Australia. The state is home to truly vast reserves of precious resources, including the largest supplies of iron ore and gold in Australia, as well as equally vast reserves of people directly employed in the mining sector – more than 20,000 people across 125 operating projects, in fact. But, of course, not all of those people live close to the mine sites and are consequently FIFO workers. Perth-based Kiara Ellis’ husband is one of over 60,000 FIFO workers who catch a flight to one of WA’s mining operations. For around a week or so at a time, the site will become his base – he will sleep, eat, and work there, before heading home for a well-deserved week off with his family.
Having been together for 12 years, Ellis is accustomed to her husband’s time away from home. But when the couple had their first child, it eventually became clear she’d have to help her son comprehend this way of life, too. “My son loved going to pick his dad up from the airport,” Ellis said. “But he started asking us questions in the car on the way home like, ‘where do you sleep?’ and ‘what do you do at the airport all week?’” When her son revealed he thought his dad lived at the airport for a week at a time, Ellis realised she’d need to help him understand. She initially hunted for books to help explain the situation but couldn’t find what she was after. There were lots of books to be found on big emotions, but little in the way of answering a child’s favourite question: why? “I felt like we needed something tangible to educate them a bit on mining, and to show them that there’s a purpose for their parent leaving home for a bit,” Ellis, who is now a mother of two, said. And just like that, the idea for FIFO & Me was born. The book was written over four and a half years, with a break when Ellis had her second child. While her newborn daughter slept, Ellis would write and,
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when much of the world shut down over the COVID-19 pandemic, she found an illustrator and an editor. “COVID has been awful, but it has had its technological advantages,” Ellis said. “My illustrator (Andrew McIntosh) is in Melbourne and I was able to make the book over my laptop.” Ellis felt it was important for FIFO kids to learn about what their parent does at a mine site while they’re away, so she has dedicated an entire page in FIFO & Me to showing children that the materials
Kiara Ellis wrote her book to help her son understand the nature of his dad’s work.