Australian mining and other technical trades are at the heart of the Australian economy. These sectors have always been associated with toughness, tradition, and masculinity. Very few women feel called to work in these types of jobs; they often feel they lack the physical strength or ability to do such hard physical work. However, figures such as Brianna Thirlwall and Kylee Frankee prove that you can do anything you set your mind to as long as you put in the effort and professionalism.
Both women are electricians and have been awarded prestigious industry awards. Their respective stories are examples of perseverance, personal achievement, and decades of professional work. Brianna faced many health obstacles, including a battle that forced her to relearn how to speak and walk. Kylee, for her part, had to deal with twenty years of rejection before securing her first apprenticeship. In Australia, only about 3.5% of the electrical workforce is made up of women.
Kylee Frankee
Kylie is an electrician and dual instrumentation technician in Queens Land. She always wanted to work in mining, ever since the early 2000s. This was a time when women were expected to follow a more predictable career path. Her arrival in the workplace was seen as “unusual, even unwelcome.” Despite expectations, Kylie refused to give up. She made sure to find and take advantage of every apprenticeship course she could find after finishing high school. However, she dealt with rejection for almost two decades. Finally, in 2018, after eighteen years of struggle, the opportunity she was looking for presented itself: she secured an apprenticeship as an electrician at the Cannington Silver and Lead Mine, operated by South32.
She recently won the prestigious Outstanding Australian Tradeswoman, Operator, or Technician award. This award was presented at the Women in Resources National Awards (WIRNA 2025). Today, Kylee is second in command of the electrical maintenance crew at the mine.
Kylee’s advice to others who want to work in electrical or any other field is to never give up.
Brianna Thirlwall, The Struggle to Start Over
While Kylee battled social expectations, Brianna Thirlwall had to fight against a sudden betrayal of her own body. At just 21 years old, she was already completing her Certificate III in Automotive Electrical Technology in Mount Isa. However, she fell ill with post-viral inflammatory cerebellitis (a result of mononucleosis), an extremely rare condition in adults.
Overnight, Brianna ended up in the hospital. Her body attacked her cerebellum, which is the part of the brain that controls all fine motor skills. The impact was devastating: my sister had to be hospitalized and receive intensive treatment for weeks. She says she had to fight and figure out how to walk again. Even her speech was affected; she had to think carefully about every word she uttered with difficulty.
This forced her to pause her studies for six months. It was a long and difficult recovery. However, she remained determined to continue in this line of work. Her program coordinator at Glencore, Kate Sutton, attested to her fighting spirit, saying, “Brianna came back stronger, more focused, and more determined than ever.”
She managed to complete her apprenticeship despite all the odds. Thanks to this resilience, Brianna was awarded the Female Trade Student of the Year award. This recognition was at the TAFE Queensland 2025 Mount Isa Trade Excellence Awards.
The Australian electricians
Historically, Australian infrastructure trades have had very little female participation.
Men make up 96.5% of the electrical workforce. However, over the past five years, there has been a significant increase in female participation. Between 2000 and 2024 alone, female participation in electrical trades has reportedly risen by 65%. In just three years, the percentage of women in apprenticeships rose from 8% to 13% at TAFE Mount Isa, where Brianna trained.
So now you know, if you’ve always been handy and good at repairs, you might be interested in becoming an electrician. There will always be work in this field.