Christine Fyfe

Moving from a small village in Scotland in 1990 with three small children (6yrs, 3yrs and 11months) was an adventure for me and as I realised later a bit of a pressure for my hubby

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We both really wanted to make the move but I had the benefit of still being a mum looking after the children. My husband was going to another country with his family, no job. We were using a large part of our savings for the airfares. We had never been to Australia before and although we had been approved for Permanent residency due to my husband being a motor mechanic he still had no idea if he would get a job. There was no google in 1990 and the information we got was from library books!!!!

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We intended to move to Perth but changed our mind at the last minute as the information we could find suggested at that time there was more opportunities in the automotive industry in Melbourne

We had our fair share of setbacks to deal with in the beginning and it definitely wasn’t easy but finally we settled into the Australian way of life and our three boys loved the outdoor lifestyle right from the start. I remember thinking how much easier it was to get them to sleep at night.

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We made friends easily, helped by having children at school and once I had got over the embarrassment of my first invite to a BBQ when I was asked to bring a plate and I did exactly that just a plate (bring a plate means bring some food to share on the plate! I thought they were short of dishes!!!!) everything fell into place. I now have close friends who I love like family. My boys have all gone through the state schooling and I am very proud of all three, they all have great careers and if you meet me don’t ask about my children or you might be there for a while as I can brag for hours!!!!!

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Australia isn’t for everyone and for me I can’t explain in words why I love it so much but the lifestyle really suited our family. My hubby definitely hates winter so for him his first thing would be weather, I love the outdoors, the sunshine, the easy way of life, jeans and a T-shirt and a sausage in bread (maybe a glass of wine) catching up with mums at the park with all the children playing is the memories I treasure.

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Starting Australia Trade Connections in 2005 I wanted to make the journey easier for those that wanted to come. My husband who was now a manager needed good technicians and he knew where to find them. The people that have come since 2005 (there have been many) had the enthusiasm to work hard and make a better life for themselves and many for their family. They are driven to succeed given the opportunity. They recognize it is not going to be easy but have the resilience to make the effort. Most stay and go on to get their permanent residency and send me messages saying it is the best thing they have ever done. The people that go back have not failed they have learned where they want to live and they have been successful in finding out. The hardest thing for me to hear is someone that says they want to make the move but due to the age criteria for permanent residency they are unable to and they say I wish I had come when I had the chance.

My aim is to enable people to arrive with a good job, with the support of the employer and with all the information we can provide for them to make an informed decision.

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I love Scotland and I am so grateful for having grown up there but Australia is definitely now my home. I feel privileged to be working with some of the best employers in the country and hopefully I am playing a small part in assisting them to grow their business with motivated like-minded skilled people. I love my job