Montana Breen is currently chasing a Certificate III in plumbing at TAFE in Wagga, setting a high standard for women in trade. From Junee to Wagga, Montana has gone from humble farm work to bigger projects, hoping to one day open her own business.
Wendy Hughes, her Grandmother tells us about Montana and her trajectory after picking up the trade.
“Montana lost her mother (Catherine) to breast cancer when she was 13 and that’s how she ended up living with us, her grandparents.
“My daughter had moved up to Queensland she came down here and went to school and they did a traineeship through the school and she worked for a plumbing business in Junee then she moved on to Wagga.
“Montana wants to start her own plumbing business up. She loves plumbing.
“She overcame the hardship of her childhood thanks to good backing from family.
“We’ve got 100 acres and she started to do a bit of work around the farm with her Pop and she ended up saying one day, “I think I’d like to do plumbing.”
“Montana has always been a bit of a tomboy and rides and shows horses and when she was helping her Pop she came back up covered in mud and she said ‘you know what Nan, I think I wouldn’t mind being a plumber, I don’t mind it’. I looked at her and thought well the mud doesn’t affect her.
“She will do outside work, if fences need mending she’s right onto it.
“She took up the plumbing and I was a bit sceptical at first, but she just loves it and she’s very good at it.
“To me she is an inspiration to young people, especially being a girl in a male dominated job, but those sorts of jobs are starting to open up a lot more to girls. Young girls are now saying this is what I want to do, be an electrician or a mechanic.
“Montana has not had it easy in her life and we are really proud of her that she has gone ahead and done something and forged ahead with what she wanted to do.
“At first I don’t think she knew how to deal with it. It’s hard when it’s a male dominated scene and she’s the only worker (not where she is now as they employ a few women), and she felt that men didn’t know how to act around her. But she’s overcome that and I explained to her that they are the ones that have to deal with it, just be yourself.
“She has overcome that and gets on with them all now. We are very proud of her, especially as she’s still only 18 and growing up herself.”
Montana herself also spoke with the Junee Independent about her journey to where she is today.
“My grandparents are there to support me.”
“I pretty much started with farmwork, doing a bit around home and I used to live on a dairy farm and did a fair bit on pumps and that usual work there.
“I did a school based apprenticeship for a little while and then thought ‘this is much better than school’ so I dropped out and started being a plumber.
“I love trying to fix things. You have different hot water systems, heaps of different types of things that need to be installed, just learning about all the different stuff and the ins and outs and it’s really rewarding at the end of the day when the customer is happy because you’ve fixed a problem and they have got their hot water system running again or their gas stove ors omething like that.”
Montana hopes that she can one day start her own business.
-Jack Murray
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