Matthew Tyquin
2024 Apprentice of the Year
Matthew Tyquin’s journey through butchery began at age 15 when he was a clean-up kid at Ashburton Meats. After completing a Bachelor of Biomedicine at La Trobe University he gave it the chop, realising that his passion lay with butchery. He embarked on an apprenticeship and a Certificate III in Meat Processing Retail Butcher at William Angliss Institute.
Impressed by the craftmanship in butchery, he was keen to adopt the paddock to plate philosophy. In the workplace, he became a strong advocate for animal sustainability and promoted ethically sourced meat to customers. He spent extra-curricular hours researching and developing new products to ensure that no part of the animal was wasted.
In 2022, Matthew was awarded World Champion Butcher Apprentice at the World Butchers Challenge (USA). He’s a testament to the complementary relationship between quality training and dedication, and his manager is happy that Matthew’s unique products have become best sellers.
Pearl Dunn
2023 Koorie Student of the Year
Pearl had a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse and in April 2023, she proudly graduated with the Diploma of Nursing from SuniTAFE. Despite being hit with a raft of challenges when her studies began in 2020, her resilience saw her reap the rewards of achievement. Now she has a fulfilling position in aged care.
Pearl’s nursing training was a great complement during her time as a member of the Mallee District Aboriginal Services Board where she worked for better health outcomes for the Murray River community. On graduating, Pearl became a role model for her community, supporting others to embrace nursing career.
South West TAFE’s Mobile Skills Lab – Aged Care Collaboration
2024 Industry Collaboration Award
The Mobile Skills Lab is a purpose-built motorhome created to simulate an aged care workplace environment. It’s a first-of-its-kind in Victoria and an innovation sparked through the collective intelligence of aged care industry partners, Eventide, Edgarley Assisted Living, Calvary Community Care, and disability provider Mulleraterong, and South West TAFE. The lab provides the opportunity for remotely located learners to gain the experience they need. It was launched to solve the ongoing challenges of attracting and retaining qualified and experienced staff in regional and rural areas.
Fitted out with interactive learning resources, including state-of-the-art training manikins, the Mobile Skills Lab provides core skills and experience in the early stage of employment for a Certificate III in Individual Support. By 2024 the initiative had supported over 75 trainees (achieving 442% growth since implementation) and has increased industry trainee partners by 111%.
Prior to the Mobile Skills Lab understaffing prevented suitable inductions and training supervision.
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