Bryan Butler

I was the very first ACT Apprentice of the Year back in 1966. I was studying electrical trades at Canberra Technical College, which later went on to become CIT.

The skills I developed in my apprenticeship all the way back then have carried me my whole career. From working at the radio station 2CA, to working at the institute for Aboriginal Studies, and then as a curator at the Australian War Memorial.

My career took my all sorts of places I could never have imagined, back in the days of my apprenticeship. I shook hands with US President Lyndon Johnson, and was on the front page of The Bulletin with the newly elected Prime Minister Sir John Gorton. Working with Aboriginal Studies, I went all around the country to places where most non-indigenous people weren't allowed to go.

I feel like I was given so much, and I love to give back to people. I had the opportunity to go back and teach at CIT, many years ago. It was great to be able to teach the theory of electronics, and then have the great facilities right there to back it up - so we could get our hands dirty right there and then.

I never could have predicted, all those years back then, quite where my apprenticeship was going to take me.