Whitehorse News - March 2023

Wednesday 8 March is International Women’s Day (IWD). At Whitehorse, we’re passionate about gender equity and fortunate to have women represented across all levels of our organisation.

Jackie Perkins is a Gym Instructor turned Infrastructure Cleansing Officer.

Jackie has been employed at Whitehorse for more than 15 years. A keen athlete who competed in the Olympics as a long-distance runner, she fit in easily among the fitness junkies at Aqualink, making a career as a Gym Instructor. That was until 2020, when COVID hit…

“During COVID, I was redeployed to infrastructure cleansing and I just loved the freedom of it, as well as being outside,” said Jackie.

“After lockdown, I went back to my job as Gym Instructor for a while, but ended up moving back to Infrastructure Cleansing and have been working there ever since.”

A typical day at work for Jackie begins at Box Hill Town Hall, where she picks up the Glutton (think a big vacuum designed for street sweeping) and traverses the streets of Box Hill, cleaning up any mess in sight. While out and about, she also gets rid of any pesky weeds and reports large amounts of dumped rubbish.

“Something residents may not realise is just how much rubbish we actually collect,” said Jackie.

“If somewhere looks particularly clean, that’s probably because one of us were there earlier that day to clean it!”

Jackie loves the autonomy her role provides, as well as the opportunity to be outside all day. While weather extremes can sometimes make the days a bit more difficult, Jackie enthusiastically takes it all in her stride.

“I love exercise, so it’s great to be on my feet all day, walking around our beautiful municipality.”