In Karratha, there's an unspoken rule that only those who have lived in the Pilbara town for over 20 years can truly call themselves locals. Though Jacqui Jones arrived in 2017 and has some time to go before reaching that milestone, she's already deeply woven herself into the fabric of the community.
During her time in Karratha Jacqui met her husband, Cameron, adopted a classic Pilbara mixed breed dog and has become the President of the Karratha Netball Association. She has quickly immersed herself in community life and dedicated six years to the Community Services department at the City of Karratha.
In April, Jacqui took on a new role as Senior Community Advisor at BCI Minerals, where she continues to represent the company locally with the same dedication and commitment she has shown since her arrival in Karratha.
What is your role at BCI Minerals and what does it involve?
“As the Senior Community Advisor, I manage the Cultural Heritage and Community portfolios at BCI Minerals. This involves being the primary contact for our relationships with Traditional Owners and ensuring we fulfill commitments outlined in our Land Access Deeds and various supporting management plans. I also represent BCI Minerals within the City of Karratha, focusing on building our local presence and laying the foundation for our community investment initiatives.”
What do you enjoy about your job?
“I’m enjoying the opportunity to shape BCI Minerals’ local presence in Karratha, the place I’ve called home for seven years and will likely continue to call home for many more to come. I’m also enjoying the opportunity to build relationships with the Mardie Traditional Owners. Learning about their culture and history and finding ways for BCI Minerals to integrate and honour this in our work is a very rewarding part of my role. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a day at the Mardie Project with Traditional Owners, where I was fortunate enough to learn directly about their culture and the history of Mardie. They generously shared their knowledge and took the time to show and explain the use of artifacts they had collected from sites at Mardie, which are now preserved in special keeping places on site.”
What do weekends in the Pilbara look like for you?
“I usually like to have a slower, relaxing weekend after a week full of work and netball activities. I’ll visit my favourite coffee shop, reset the house for the week ahead, and take my dog out for a walk to the park or to the beach. On the odd occasion, when the weather suits, we’ll take the boat out for a day of island hopping in the Dampier Archipelago or an overnight stay at the Shack.”
You mentioned your dog, tell us how Cassie ended up in the family?
“We fostered a small litter of SAFE (Saving Animals From Euthanasia) puppies in 2019. They were about four weeks old at the time and had been found in someone’s backyard with no sign of their mum. We had all of them until about 12-13 weeks old. Naturally, we fell in love with all of them during that time and would have loved to keep them all, however we settled on keeping Cassie, the last one left after the others were adopted. We always get asked what type of dog she is, so this year we decided to finally get a DNA test done so we could officially find out. Safe to say she probably almost broke the test, coming back showing 16 different breeds!”
How did you get involved with the Karratha Netball Association?
“To be honest, I sort of stumbled into it. I’ve been on the committee for several years, but at our 2023 AGM, there were no nominations for a President or Vice President. Personally, I had planned to take on Secretary and found out at the AGM that until such time we found a President, the delegation was going to fall to me in the interim as Secretary. We called a meeting a week later after having no nominations come forward, and I agreed at that meeting to take on the role of President. It’s certainly been a challenge learning the role and all its requirements, but I’m enjoying the challenge and have a great committee supporting me which makes a huge difference. My big challenge for 2025 will be securing sponsors for the season.”
What have you learned from taking on the role?
“Presidency does keep me busy. As soon as the work hat comes off at the end of the day, the netball hat goes on and doesn’t really come off, but in the best way. It has helped me meet a lot of new people and developed my own skills in management, planning, and governance. My husband’s been a great support through it, understanding the late nights, busy weekends, endless messages and the increasing pile of netball related stuff around the house. He’s often delivering me dinner down the courts because its game night and he knows it’ll be late by the time I get home. I haven’t broken the news to him yet that I’ll likely be doing it again next year.”
Why is volunteering and being part of the local community something that is important to you?
“My parents were exceptional role models for me growing up. Mum was President of the Esperance Junior Netball Association for as long as I can remember, and Dad was on basketball, hockey, fire brigade and P&C committees. Even now they both still volunteer in Esperance through the Emergency Support Unit, manning the Incident Control Vehicle when needed at bush fires. They both volunteered so much of their time when I was growing up, I’m glad it’s a trait they passed onto me, and hopefully is making them proud to see it.”
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“Salt of the Earth” is a fortnightly series where we get to know our dedicated team members.
To see the current opportunities at BCI Minerals, please visit our careers page: https://www.bciminerals.com.au/careers.html