by Dylan Stone
Born and bred in Broken Hill, Julie Manoel completed her Enrolled Nursing Course at the original Broken Hill hospital, then completed Registered Nurse training at Royal Adelaide Hospital and not long after that she became a medic on a dive support ship.
“I was in the last hospital trained group before nursing studies transitioned to university training, and I worked in the ICU at the RAH.”
Outside of her day job, Ms Manoel has always had an interest in scuba diving and took a job working in the hyperbaric unit.
In the unit, we would treat all different illnesses, necrotising fasciitis, and serious burns but also, we would treat divers presenting with decompression illness, otherwise known as the bends.”
A chance encounter with a diver who was being treated for the bends led to a conversation that would change Ms Manoel’s life. The patient said his company was looking for a Medic to work offshore on his dive support vessel. After some discussion about what the role entailed, Ms Manoel applied and got the job.
After some difficult training, including a “terrifying” helicopter course, Ms Manoel jetted offshore. “We flew in the helicopter for around one hour until we got to the dive vessel and soon found out that I was the only female on-board the vessel, alongside 300 men. Back then there were no other females working in the industry and it was an eye opener.
“I was treated like gold, and learned that the majority of the people on board were there to work and they treated me like a sister and welcomed having a female on board to chat to.”
While working offshore could be challenging – the role had its perks.
“The thing I enjoyed most was quiet time on deck watching sunrise and sunsets which are amazing at sea. At night someone would set up a circuit on the helideck and we would exercise or walk around that.”
When the month-long contract finished, other contracts were offered to Ms Manoel, and she was eventually working overseas on pipe lay vessels, other dive vessels but then onto oil rigs where she ended up getting permanent work.
“On the oil rigs, I was trained to be a helicopter landing officer which meant for each helicopter that arrived and departed, I would be involved with the landing and preparation of crew arriving and departing. I went from Perth, to working in the Mediterranean Sea for Reading & Bates [now Transocean].”
During these roles, Ms Manoel travelled extensively, and worked in other areas too, including South Korea, Malaysia, Brunei, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Holland and throughout south east Asia.
“There were a few dramas too – on one occasion, enroute to India we were unable to receive stores on-board due to a variety of reasons, the weather turned bad so we couldn’t get a supply boat etcetera, and so we ended up living off kimchi and baked beans. If I never see another piece of kimchi it will be too soon.”
During one contract, Ms Manoel made a friend in 24-year old Ganesh.
“He used to tell me how lucky he was to have a good job and that one day he wanted to study to become a doctor.”
But In an horrific incident, he was crushed on deck.
“Although we stabilised him, the weather was so rough we had to wait significant time for a chopper to be able to land on deck. I flew on shore with him and enroute one of the doors swung off the chopper. I was trying to ignore it, thinking to myself we have to keep going to get him to hospital.” Sadly, Ganesh didn’t make it.
Shortly after the loss of her good friend, Ms Manoel accepted a contract with Chevron, who, “had a policy whereby they had to employ a certain number of women and also a certain number of minority groups”.
“I didn’t agree with having to employ a certain number of females as often, I overheard new crew saying, ‘she’s one of the ones we had to employ’. Little did they know that by that time I had been working offshore for over 20 years.”
Ms Manoel returned to Broken Hill Hospital in 2016 to work as an after-hours manager. In 2022, she accepted a role as the Director of Nursing/Site Manager, with her priorities being “patient centred care and making sure each patient and their family are treated with dignity and respect”.
As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, Ms Manoel today celebrates her own birthday.
“I realise how fortunate we are to be living somewhere where we don’t have to wait for good weather for a helicopter to take us to work. We can walk to work if we wish.”
International Women’s Day is certainly a day of importance for Ms Manoel.
“In the Far West Local Health District, gender diversity is widely acknowledged. Women bring different perspectives and approaches to the workplace, depending on the individual’s background and experience. This results in a much more inclusive workplace.”
“I think of how far women have come, especially compared to when I first started my work at sea on the oil rigs.”
