Female apprentice electrician on Snowy 2.0 proving to world she’s a match for any man on the job 

A female apprentice electrician working on one of Australia’s biggest construction projects alongside hundreds of male colleagues has revealed the highs and lows of her job – and why more women should take up the tools. 

Rebekah Wells, 29, from Geelong in Victoria, didn’t grow up wanting to be a tradeswoman.

‘I didn’t play Lego as a kid or fixing things and in high school I didn’t really push myself very far. I was good at numbers,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.

‘I did woodwork and metalwork for a bit, but I didn’t realise exactly who I was until I was about 25.

Rebekah is not afraid to show the dirtier side of her electrical apprenticeship

‘When you’re younger you sort of follow what everyone else does. And then when you really find out what you’re passionate about you follow it.

‘And also, it wasn’t an option back then. Things were different. You didn’t really think about going into a trade as a female,’ she said.

After working in hospitality for about 10 years after school, Ms Wells tried a different trade first. 

‘We did rock walls and I did that for about a year and realised that I liked being in a trade,’ she said.

‘I was standing on site one day with some of the operators and I said I wanted to find something that was going to suit my physical capabilities and something that was interesting and that would push me.

‘One of the guys said his son was a sparky, he loved it and that I should become a sparky. I said OK and two days later I enrolled.’ 

With women only making up 1 per cent of construction workers in Australia, Ms Wells is keen to help inspire more female participation. 

She got a great response from an Instagram post about her work at Snowy Hydro 2.0 in south-western NSW from a group of female friends in Geelong.

‘Probably 15 girls messaged me and since then I’ve had probably 30 or 40 people talking to me about what they should do and what is a stepping stone (to starting an apprenticeship).

‘I’ll always tell them the first thing is to look at doing an electrical technologies certificate, which is an introductory course. Just apply, give it a go. 

‘Everything is possible. We shouldn’t be restricted to generally acceptable expectations.’ 

She said she was grateful for the opportunity to work on a huge project that is crucial to Australia’s future renewable electricity generation.  

‘Our electrical superintendent wanted to get more females into the workforce on Snowy 2.0, so he put on a few of us, which was fantastic. 

‘A few have left and a few have survived. There are six of us across four different sites. 

‘On my site there are three girls out of 30 sparkies. In total on the site there are probably about 15 girls, including the office, and about 400 guys,’ she said.

Rebekah (pictured) is not just an apprentice electrician, she’s also handy at woodwork

Rebekah spends more time wearing hi-vis these days, but still finds time to dress up and enjoy herself 

Ms Wells said there is a strong bond between the few women on site. She lived with the other two women she directly works with in a house before they moved into the 300-person camp. 

‘We’re all out of our comfort zone and know that we have to band together and know that we have each other if there’s a need, which is really good.’ 

When she started, Ms Wells sometimes had to prove herself capable of doing the same work as her male colleagues.

‘It’s taken me a little while to find my own place with the men. They have this expectation “Ah, she’s a chick, she can’t move that”. But I go to the gym and I can run circles around them.

Rebekah (pictured right) sees her fiance Kyle (pictured left), a carpenter and back country tour guide in Jindabyne, when she has time off

‘It’s taken me about a year at this project and they’ve accepted me now as one of the guys. There’s the ones that are “I’ll hold the door” or “I’ll get that”. And I tell them no, I can do it.

‘Most of them, I’d say 90 per cent of them, just look at me like I’m a normal human being.’ 

Being around so many men, she sometimes hears the kind of talk that men get up to when they’re with each other. 

‘Some are a little bit more relaxed than others and yet sometimes they’ll swear or something and they’ll realise I’m there (and stop).

‘They’re pretty relaxed around me and I’m one of the guys now, which is awesome,’ she said. 

Though she loves what she does, the work is gruelling. She works two straight weeks of 12-hour shifts, then gets a week off. Sometimes she has to work 17 straight days and gets just four days off. 

‘We get up at 4.30am, they supply breakfast, we grab our lunches and head down to whatever job site we’re working on until 6pm. We go to bed at 8pm or 8.30pm so we can get eight hours sleep.

‘If you look after your mental state and get enough sleep, it’s so achievable.’

It is only in her time off that she gets to see her fiance Kyle, a carpenter and back country tour guide in Jindabyne. 

‘He accepts it and loves how passionate I am about my work,’ Ms Wells said. 

There’s about four years to go before the tunnelling scheme for Snowy 2.0 – linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of tunnels and building a new underground power station – is completed.

‘I’m doing my apprenticeship here and then they’ll hopefully employ me as a tradeswoman and then I’m hoping to move up the ranks to be part of Snowy indefinitely in the future,’ she said.

Ms Wells will be a fully qualified electrician at the end of 2023, but is also doing other courses such as leadership management and instrumentation in her spare time.

Rebekah (pictured) says pursuing a trade ‘doesn’t come without sacrifices’

‘I’m really passionate about this and what I want to achieve. I’ve got a long way to go. But you’ve got to struggle through and somehow have a life and follow this fly-in-fly-out roster. It doesn’t come without sacrifices.

‘I’m not just here for the money, I’m here for the experience. I want to become a really good tradeswoman.’ 

Though she is not there for the money, the money is good. 

‘I am currently paid quite well as a mature age apprentice,’ she said. 

‘Once I’m qualified I expect to clear (on average) about $10,000 per 21 day cycle, which is a 14 day swing and seven days off.’

That is around $170,000 per year.  

Rebekah is working on the Snowy Hydro project in south-western NSW (pictured)

When Ms Wells told her family two years ago that she wanted to be an electrician, they were more amused than anything. 

‘I think they might have laughed at first. Sometimes I come out with some pretty crazy ideas but generally I’ll follow through with them,’ she said. 

Her parents, Jane and Mark, are not laughing now, having seen the enormous project she is working on in Tantangara.   

‘I brought my family up here a couple of months ago and showed them all about the Snowy scheme at the information centre in Cooma.

‘My father went stark white. He didn’t say anything for about five minutes. Then he said “You’re working on that?”

‘My mum got the book and she’s reading about the first project and I think they now understand a bit more about what I’m actually doing. They’re really proud.’