Regional Living Instead of FIFO: an Experience

Jane* and John* decided to move to the town closest to John’s mine site with their baby. The town 45 minutes away from the mine site with a population of around 762 people. For them moving was the right decision to make as they had just started their family and wanted to be together every night. Jane was still on maternity leave and was able to make the hard decision to move.

 

Being a stay at home mum Jane found it very difficult to keep busy, as she has always liked due to “Having limited resources and activities to do for a stay at home mum”.

 

Jane recommends putting yourself out there and getting actively involved in the community, for example Jane joined a sports team and the CWA playgroup.

 

In the end Jane and her family lived in this small town for a year before going back to the FIFO life. They mainly decided to go back to FIFO as Jane who was on maternity leave from the same mine site her partner worked at was made redundant which ruled out her returning to work. As it was such a small town there were limited opportunities for Jane to work elsewhere.

 

“We enjoyed our time as a family and miss it. We loved being part of a small community and it always felt like a very safe place”- Jane

 

*Name changed for confidentiality.