Kirsty Comley


Kirsty and her Year 12 classmates

In December 2004 Kirsty Comley, then 16 and a student at Tom Price Senior High School in the Pilbara, had her heart set on an electrical apprenticeship with Pilbara Iron. Then she was involved in a serious road accident which left her fighting for her life.

After months in hospital Kirsty emerged in a wheelchair and with the use of only one arm. She was tetraplegic.

And that’s when Kirsty began to fight.

Firstly, she was elected head girl in Year 12 at the high school. “It wasn’t a sympathy vote,” says Lesley Hardingham, the School Principal. “Kirsty was popular anyway but when she returned to school and everyone saw her resilience, her optimism, her total commitment and resolution to be the best student she could be and not succumb to her physical disabilities, we knew she was a perfect role model for all of us.”

Yet Kirsty’s dream of being an electrician was gone. Even so, she applied for a place on the Pilbara Pathways Partnership (PPP), a programme that enables students to compete more effectively for apprenticeships and further education. 

“Kirsty came through her application interviews and aptitude tests with flying colours,” says Ian Randell, Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Apprentice Training Superintendent.  “She got into the PPP programme because she earned it, not because we felt sympathetic. Kirsty was offered a traineeship entirely in her own right.”

So in February 2007, Kirsty will start her career as a Business Administration Trainee with Pilbara Iron.

Kirsty is pleased. “Anything is possible,” she says in a soft, determined voice, “even for someone like me. I’m really looking forward to starting as a trainee. I had a week’s work experience at Pilbara Iron and they are really great people. What I liked was that everyone saw me as a person and not as someone in a wheelchair.”

To accommodate Kirsty’s special needs Pilbara Iron has installed a purpose-made work station and is checking door widths to ensure ease of access. “We are an equal opportunity employer,” says Ian. “Kirsty is someone who came through PPP so she has the right to have the best conditions we can provide.”

Kirsty’s commitment and fortitude lights up the room like a beacon. “There are some things I may not be able to do,” she says, “but there is always a way around them. Already I’m starting to get some feeling back in my other arm. And one day,” she adds in her quiet, resolute tone, “I am determined to walk again.”

All of which makes you think that when someone so young displays that much courage and determination – any employer would have to be crazy not to employ her.