Alumni and Supporters

Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Environmental) Honours (2018)

Winner of the ECU Young Alumni Award 2022

Breanna Cameron is a superstar in the world of mining. She fell into the field by accident when, as a fresh faced highschool graduate, she left Geelong and headed to “boom town” WA for a two-week holiday.

15 years later, she’s not only still here, she’s also well and truly made her stamp – first as the youngest ever female excavator operator in WA, then as BHP’s first female underground mine manager in WA, and now as a company director of her own mining contractor services company – all before the age of 34.

“Originally I wanted to be a pilot, but when I started in my first FIFO role, I absolutely fell in love with mining,” Breanna says, adding she had a thirst for knowledge and “super ambition” to soak up everything she could about the industry.

By 24, she had worked her way up through the operator ranks to the pinnacle, but from there her options for further growth were drying up. For this curious go-getter, she needed a wider horizon.

“I wanted to progress into leadership skills and get an alternative skill set,” she says. “I knew if I went back and studied engineering it would unlock the rest of my life.”

So in 2015, Breanna left her full-time role to study engineering at ECU. She admits the first week was a rude awakening.

“I had no idea what a PDF was and my classmates called me nanna,” she laughs, but with the support of her lecturers and with her signature can-do attitude, she was soon thriving, In 2016, she was named a Top 100 Academic Student and in 2017, received a Vice Chancellor’s Commendation.

“I loved that, at ECU, they matched your enthusiasm. The more you did and the more they could see your hunger to learn, the more you were fed ideas and information,” she says.

“I did summer units to help progress through more quickly, I went overseas on an exchange to China, I was part of so many extracurricular clubs and industry events. I was even able to keep working in mining throughout and made the transition from open pit to underground while I was at uni.”

"I’m one of those lucky people who loves their job so much it doesn’t feel like work. Mining is not just a job, it’s part of me."

Almost 10 years to the dot after she set a goal to become a mine manager, she got offered the role by BHP. By this time she had already set up Juddrill, a mining contractor services company, with her fiancé. “We’re up to 10 employees now and we’ve got around 35 bits of mining equipment."

"It’s been an incredible journey together,” she explains, adding the transition from employee to employer has been the accomplishment she’s most proud of.

Breanna says she drew on so many of the skills she learnt in her extracurricular activities at ECU when starting her business. “We didn’t outsource anything,” she laughs. “We did all our own advertising, logos, marketing, everything I had learnt along the way as a student.”

She advises those entering her industry to say yes to every opportunity and be prepared to always step outside your comfort zone. “It’s about reframing your mindset to understand that when you are uncomfortable or when you are challenged, that’s a positive thing. It’s when growth can occur.”

Ask this incredibly determined hard worker what she enjoys doing outside of her career, she laughs and says, “Well, I’m one of those lucky people who loves their job so much it doesn’t feel like work. Mining is not just a job, it’s part of me.

I do love to be active so you will find me renovating, hiking or at the beach” She does have one giant non-work goal she wants to achieve over the next 12 months. “I want to marry my fiancé after two years of waiting, thanks to Covid,” she says. “Our wedding is in April and I can’t wait.”