First female Royal Australian Navy pilot and former Cuballing local speaks at Wickepin’s Women in Agriculture

The Navy’s first female pilot and a former Cuballing local dropped into Wickepin on Thursday to inspire women in regional areas to take career leaps and prove their significance in male-dominated industries. Originally from Cuballing, Natalee Johnston travelled from the south coast of New South Wales to deliver the keynote address at the annual Women in Agriculture event Seeds of Change. A 17-year-old Ms Johnston was the first woman to join the Royal Australian Navy as a pilot in 1994, a role which had previously only been open to men. It would be eight years before another woman joined, with Ms Johnston using a men’s flying suit and equipment her entire career. At the time, she was told by her colleagues that “girls cause bad luck” and asked whether she was there on merit or “because I was a woman”. “Agriculture is a significantly male-dominated environment, so the experiences I had are similar to women within the agriculture industry,” Ms Johnston said. “Society’s expectation on what a woman is capable of and the bias towards whether farmers will even talk to a woman; now that’s slowly getting broken down, I see the change in agriculture and aviation.” Ms Johnston said one of her “greatest accomplishments” was the day she brought her Navy helicopter to her children’s school and spoke to her daughter’s class about being a woman in her career. “I changed the thought process for hundreds of kids, they now think they can do something different,” she said. The mother of two said parenthood forced her to step back from her career and redefine herself as a mother while her colleagues continued to work, train and rank up. “When I became a pilot I didn’t see what I had done as significant,” she said. “I had only done everything just as my male colleagues, I just used a different toilet. “Now I see that I face challenges my male colleagues would never.” Ms Johnston’s parting advice to her audience was to embrace change and growth. “I thought I could only be a pilot but I’ve got a lot of transferable skills,” Ms Johnston said. “Recognise your other skills and open your eyes to other opportunities — give it a go.” The trailblazer was one of six women who spoke at the conference organised by Facey Group, which welcomed 70 attendees to the Wickepin Community Centre on July 25. Other speakers spoke about farming, finance, entrepreneurism, and mental health. Door prizes donated by 11 organisations were gifted to attendees through a lucky dip and morning tea, lunch, and dessert were served between speakers.