Once seasonal, now supervisor – Vicki’s nursery career

Nothing gives Glencoe Nursery’s Vicki Thiele more satisfaction than seeing the full plantation timber cycle in action – the tiny seedlings she once tended decades ago become fully grown trees, then transforming into timber for the houses of today.

Once what was ‘just a casual job’ has evolved into an accidental career for Vicki.

Just 16 years old when she showed up for her first day’s seasonal work at the Glencoe Nursery, four decades later, Vicki has risen up the ranks to become the facility’s Production Supervisor.

“This job has been my whole working life,” she said, walking across a field of new seedlings.

“What I love about this job is I’ve got the pleasure of being in and out. I’m nearly 57, but I don’t think I’d ever do an inside job. I do a little bit of office work but when I choose, I can go outside.”

Experience in virtually every job and activity possible at the nursery, from cutting and setting to long days mowing and spraying on the tractor, has paid dividends when it comes to her supervisory role.

“For me, I’m the sort of person who has to have an understanding of that job,” Vicki said.

“I think it’s really important because when all the crew come in and I supervise them, that I’ve done that job, and I know how hard it is. So, I like the fact that I’ve got that behind me to guide everyone.”

Above all, Vicki said she feels that experience is valued by the nursery crew and wider OneFortyOne team.

“Because at the end of the day, I haven’t got a certificate – I’m not a forester, but I have got the experience. And you earn that, I think, as the years go on. No university degree is going to give you that.”

Throughout Vicki’s time, the two biggest workplace changes have been in safety and technology, with the nursery undergoing a major $8m upgrade over the last few years.

The brand new undercover automated handling line, installed in 2024, has revolutionised the role of workers, streamlining processes, placing their work at bench height and also, giving them shelter from the cold winters and hot dry summers.

When Vicki first started, in the years before Personal Protective Equipment was required, she recalled the nursery crew were at the mercy of the Limestone Coast’s infamous weather conditions.

“Wet weather gear is never foolproof,” Vicki said with a laugh.

“So you’d be in all your overalls, your jacket, your gloves and your hat. But sometimes you’d come back in for smoko and your bras and your knickers were drenched!”

Although Vicki said a day in the fields was once preferrable to a day working undercover, crew universally agree the major advances in safety and technology at the site are a positive change.

“It’s one hundred percent for the better when it comes to safety,” she said.

Despite periods of time away from the nursery, to have children and look at other jobs, Vicki said the relaxed nursery environment kept calling her back.

“There were plenty of jobs out there, but I kept coming back here, so I must’ve enjoyed it,” Vicki said, tipping a wink.

Constant advances in technology mean output has increased dramatically, from 3,000-6,000 cuttings annually in the 1980s, up to a current total of 1.2million for OneFortyOne, plus an additional 800,000 for contractors. 

Statistics aside, Vicki said a sense of pride is always behind the nursery team’s work.

“It’s the pleasure of seeing a little seed, when you first sow them and you’re waiting every day checking to see if they’ve actually come out of the ground.

“As soon as they pop their heads up, then you get to watch them grow.

“It’s a good feeling that nine months later you are seeing them leave the nursery as a tree that’s going to get planted out into the bush.”

Come September, when the season finishes and the work slows, the 40-plus crew dwindles down to just a handful.

A good day at the nursery, Vicki said, is when the team have worked together to send the best possible product out the gate.

“For me, it’s getting my jobs done, to a good level and walking out feeling I’ve accomplished what I needed to do,” she said.

“Feeling like I’ve put in a good day’s work.”