FIFO life might be a staple for many families, but it can be hard on those back at home. Author Kiara Ellis discusses how her book helped her kids understand the nature of their dad’s work.
There’s a good reason that Western Australia is often called the epicentre of Australian mining.
The state is home to truly vast reserves of precious resources, including the largest supplies of iron ore and gold in Australia, as well as equally vast reserves of people directly employed in the mining sector – more than 20,000 people across 125 operating projects, in fact.
But not all of those people live close to the mine sites and WA hosts a record number of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers.
Kiara Ellis’ husband is one of over 60,000 FIFO workers who catch a flight to one of WA’s mining operations.
For around a week or so at a time, the site will become his base; he will sleep, eat, and work there, before heading home for a well-deserved week off with his family.
Having been together for 12 years, Ellis is accustomed to her husband’s time away from home.
But when the couple had their first child, she began to realise she’d have to help her son understand this way of life, too.
“My son loved going to pick his dad up from the airport,” Ellis told Australian Mining. “But he started asking us questions in the car on the way home like, ‘where do you sleep?’ and ‘what do you do at the airport all week?’”
It wasn’t until her son revealed that he thought his dad lived at the airport for a week at a time that Ellis realised she would need to help him understand.
She initially hunted around for books to help explain where Dad went when he was away. There were lots of books to be found on big emotions, but not much in the way of answering a child’s favourite question: why?
“I felt like we needed something tangible to educate them a bit on mining, and to show them that there’s a purpose for their parent leaving home for a bit,” Ellis, who is now a mother of two, said.
The idea for FIFO & Me was born.
The book was written over four and a half years, with a break when Ellis had her second child.
While her newborn daughter slept, Ellis would write and, when much of the world shut down over the COVID-19 pandemic, she found an illustrator and an editor.
“COVID has been awful, but it has had its technological advantages. My illustrator (Andrew McIntosh) is in Melbourne and I was able to make the book over my laptop,” Ellis said.
“The books are printed locally here in Perth. They bear the Australian Made and Owned logo. It was so important to me to support the Australian industry.”
Ellis felt it was important for FIFO kids to learn about what their parent does at a mine site while they’re away, so she has dedicated an entire page in FIFO & Me to showing children that the materials their parent helps to mine are used in things they utilise every day, from bikes to refrigerators.
Similarly, the book shows the pit-to-port process of the mined materials, starting with blasting and moving right through to crushing and exportation.
There is also a page on the personal protective equipment (PPE) used by the workers.
The book is in full colour, with a rhyming prose that keeps kids engaged and entertained.
Ellis tested the manuscript out on families with and without a FIFO parent, to ensure all kids would enjoy the book.
“It’s important that it’s written in a language that kids understand,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that just because you’re not a FIFO child doesn’t mean that it’s not something that you can read, because it has a lot of education in and behind it.”
Another important consideration when Ellis was writing FIFO & Me was inclusivity. The book features a range of illustrated characters with different genders and ethnicities to celebrate the diversity of the Australian mining sector.
And this led to the development of the second edition of the book: FIFO & Me: Mum edition.
After a family day at her husband’s work, Ellis saw first-hand how many women were working in mining and wanted to ensure all children could benefit from her books, regardless of which parent was the FIFO worker.
As such, featuring a reclaimer on the front cover of the book was no accident. This was an intentional design decision by Ellis to show the little girls reading her book that they could do anything in the mining sector, from operating heavy machinery to climbing the ladder to become a CEO.
“I think we can get a lot more women in the mining sector by taking a grassroots approach,” Ellis said.
“We should start talking to kids now and showing them that this is not unachievable. Women deserve to be celebrated for their work.”
Although just launched, the books have already gotten the Australian FIFO community talking.
Many kids have been gifted the book on the day their parent flies out, and Ellis has enjoyed hearing about families reading the book together.
“I really wanted to create this connection and this tangibility so kids could understand and see what’s happening,” Ellis said.
“A pivotal moment in the book is when the parent is in the donga (a temporary dwelling used by FIFO workers) and talking to the kids on FaceTime. This is literally what families do every night when a parent is away, so it was important to me to capture real moments like that.”
The FIFO life can be tough on the worker and their family. Multiple studies have been conducted on the impact this type of work can have on a worker’s mental health, and even the worker’s partner, but not a lot has been done on the impact on children.
However, one study likened the experience of FIFO kids to that of a grieving cycle, which really resonated with Ellis.
She hopes the books will give children an understanding that their parent isn’t gone for good, but rather that they’re off to do an important job and will be back soon.
“My husband sacrifices a lot, but FIFO life, like anything, has its benefits, too,” Ellis said.
“He gets amazing quality time with the kids where he can go to school drop-off and pick-up and school events. He goes to their after-school activities.
“Even when we were newly married and didn’t have kids yet, we were taking holidays in his time off, and that was amazing.
“It’s a double-edged sword.”
For the Ellis family, FIFO – and the broader mining sector in general – is an integral part of their lives.
In the future, Ellis hopes to write more children’s books about the resources industry, incorporating the many different elements that are mined in Australia.
“I want to branch out to underground or gold mining to show kids the importance of all different aspects of mining,” Ellis said.
“We’re holding up the economy, and we really are a mining country. I think it’s important kids understand that.”
Visit kiaraellis.com.au for more information on FIFO & Me and FIFO & Me: Mum edition.
This feature appeared in the September issue of Australian Mining.