Our People in Tasmania
Katherine Wallace - Smithton
A preference for office work over cooking launched Smithton’s Katherine Wallace on a new career in the Royal Australian Air Force.
The Smithton High School graduate, who has now specialised in office administration, had two bites at the cherry before settling in her current job.
“At school we had the recruiting guys come round and I originally joined up with the Navy because I thought a good way to go was as a cook, I used to enjoy it, until I joined and I didn’t really enjoy the bulk side of it — cooking for two hundred people at a time,” Katherine said. “Then I had a civilian job before I tried the RAAF.
“I have a family now and the Air Force is more home-based, it’s better for a family.”
These days Katherine is based at RAAF Amberley near Brisbane, but she still gets around the country. Recently she flew to WA with Amberley’s Air Defence Guards for Exercise Western Rodeo, where the unit completed training in its primary role of defending people and aircraft from ground-based threats at home and overseas.
“It’s a stable job. “I don’t know how to explain it, you get a good feeling from doing what you do. It’s a sense of pride, really,” she said.