Living History

Your First Job

Getting your first job is often considered the first step toward gaining independence—although a lot of the time your first job isn’t an indication of where your career will eventually lead.

Famous Australia author, Thomas Keneally, who wrote the Booker Prize winning novel Schindler’s Ark, originally intended to be a Catholic priest and worked as a school teacher before becoming an internationally celebrated writer. Mary MacKillop, Australia’s only saint, started working at age fourteen as a clerk. Rolf Harris, the creator of the ‘wobble board’ began his career in children’s television.

What was your first job—and was it the kind of job you’d always dreamed of? Did you start work to help your family, or to save up money so that you could start your own? What were your first purchases with your own pay? We want to hear about any aspect of your first job: how you got the job, whether you liked it, how much you made... anything!

More Information

Want more information on this topic? Check out the following links?

Picture Australia

Australian Stories

National Museum of Australia

Contributions