Expanded team brings more experience to support programs

Telfer’s Community Relations team has enlisted the support of two highly experienced individuals as it expands itsactivities in creating opportunities for local Indigenous people in the areas of training, employment, sport and recreation.

New country, similar story for Ben Bryant

Ben Bryant has joined Telfer’s Community Relations team as an Employment and Training Officer, bringing with him extensive experience in developing sports and recreation programs for communities in some of WA’s more remote locations. Ben was an outstanding young sportsman, having coached tennis in the United States and played Colts-level football before a severe knee injury ended his AFL aspirations. Ben cut his teeth in the industry many years ago when he was appointed the first Youth, Sport and Recreation Coordinator for Dundas, the State’s biggest Shire, based at Norseman. Ben was given an empty hall and a most encouraging and supportive Shire chief executive in Brian Willoughby, and told to get on with whatever he thought would work. Ben did. He implemented programs and activities that captured the interest of the area’s young folk, particularly the Indigenous community.

“Young people need firstly to be enticed, then given reasons why they should stay involved, and helped to make it easily possible for them to continue to participate,” Ben said. “After a while, they realise they have been presented with opportunities to create better lives for themselves and they accept the responsibilities that come with independence. “Then they really start to fly, and it’s pleasing to be part of that evolution.” After Norseman, Ben moved to the remote township of Kulin, in WA’s wheatbelt, where he encountered and conquered similar challenges. Ben moved on in the sport and recreation field to take up a position with the City of Wanneroo, delivering new programmes and becoming heavily involved in the fast-growing area’s leisure planning initiatives before long-time mentor Leon van Erp enticed him to the State’s far north-west.

“Telfer is very different to what I’m used to,” said Ben. “There’s no wheat and, as far as I can see, no sheep. “Apart from that, everything’s the same: I’m working with good young people who want to make a difference, who seek more opportunity, who find it initially difficult to do so, who’ve got the guts to give it a go, and who will - because of those attributes - generally succeed in creating a better life for themselves. “If I can be of assistance in that process, I’ve had a few wins. And that’s more than can be said for the Eagles or the Dockers this year!” Ben can be contacted on mobile 044 744 03 55.