Social work in the bush was a shock
Mother-of-two Zelda Edwardes is no wallflower.
Towering at five-foot-ten, it was with steely determination the 50-year-old set off for greener pastures in Laverton in the baking summer of 2014.
She had a degree in social work under her belt, and a burning desire to do good-something instilled throughout a professional working life consumed with helping others.
A job with the Goldfields Department of Child Protection and Family Support was not her first foray into social work.
During her degree, completed at Curtin University in 2010, she undertook work placement twice.
The experience was alarming, she conceded, but the wakeup call that was needed.
"I lived in Ballajura at the time in the northern suburbs, and to find out that so much poverty was just down the road was a shock for me," Ms Edwardes told the Kalgoorlie Miner.
"But it also made me realise that's what social work is. It's at the grass roots. You can change these kids' lives."
Job applications were a flurry of paperwork and those brave enough to put up their hand went into a "pool", never sure exactly where they were to land.
But the news for Ms Edwardes was promising-she had dreamed of red earth and a chance to help vulnerable children.
Kiwirrkurra, 850km west of Alice Springs in the Gibson Desert, was Ms Edwardes ideal destination.
The chance of another northern Goldfields post seemed a happy compromise.
After working up to the job for a decade, selling her house and buying a four-wheel-drive, she set off on the Great Eastern Highway for a permanent shift to the bush-a "forever" move.
She was excited about the next phase of her life, but it was not long after she arrived in town that her enthusiasm began to wane.
Despite having the very best hopes, she found herself feeling isolated and alone.
"I believed 'this is my new life', and when I arrived I thought the Government would give me specific training," she said.
"But I was left up there alone in the office most of the time with no mobile phone. Your boss is on a satellite phone somewhere … if you can get a connection."
It was not long before her idealistic interpretation of grass-roots social work hung in the balance, saying a supervisor told her regarding her casework "any signs of safety will do".
She said she was told not to engage with clients or agencies due to a lack of time, and that there would never be a chance to "know" cases properly due to chronic understaffing.
"I said...after the first week 'normally I'd say f… this I'm out of here, this is ridiculous', but no. I thought we could work on this together and we can make this right," she said.
"It was about the kids and I was determined to live there."
But a near "disastrous" trip to Tjuntjuntjara and further difficulties in Warburton heightened her concerns even more.
Ms Edwardes was sacked by the department, while still on probation, with the initial explanation being she "was not a good fit".
"I wanted to crawl under the table and hide, but I'm not that sort of person," she said.
"I had to ring beyondblue.
"The experience shattered my self-esteem.
"There's no reason for it. All they have to do is give you training and preparation."
