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When you next enjoy a Coopers Ale, one of the people
you can thank for it is young apprentice fitter and turner
Luke Heinjus.
Eighteen year old Luke, who started at Coopers Brewery
at Regency Park in March this year, joined third year
mechanical apprentice Jason Wright as part of the
brewery’s 16-person maintenance team, responsible
for making sure the beer keeps flowing.
“We consider ourselves the heart and soul of the
brewery,” says their boss, Maintenance Manager
David Tanner. “Without us, there’s no beer.” That
would be a tragedy not just for Port Adelaide Enfield
but for the nation.
Since moving to its $100 million, state of the art brewery
at Regency Park 10 years ago Coopers, which will
celebrate its 150th year in 2012, has become the largest
remaining Australian-owned brewer.
In August this year the brewery installed a new plant
– no doubt with Luke and Jason’s assistance – which
boosted brewing capacity by up to 50 per cent. It is
currently producing more than 60 million litres of
beer each year, worth around $180 million.
Like every good employer, it takes its training
responsibilities seriously: “Even in our small team we
make sure we turn out a fully trained fitter and turner
every two years,” adds David Tanner.
With its much larger workforce, Port Adelaide Enfield
Council constantly has around 10 trainees and
apprentices on its staff – including people like 18-year-
old arts administration trainee Georgia Humphreys.
“It’s been a really diverse experience, doing lots of
different things, but it’s been really great to see the
community side of art and how much it means to
people,” says Georgia, who in her spare time loves
performing as a hip hop singer.
With fresh experience of working with school children
on a school art project, helping with a community
workshop for the 2011 Christmas Parade, collating
event information for Council’s website and helping
with the Cultural Calendar, Georgia is already gaining
valuable experience.
“I think it’s really important to have a vision for public
art and to know how it can help regenerate an area,”
she adds.
Given the wide range of activities now undertaken
by local government, Port Adelaide Enfield Council
can provide traineeship opportunities across many
Council areas including horticulture, libraries and
administrative support roles.
Helping to create the jobs of the future
A Strong
& Diverse
Economy