Rotary Club of Lindisfarne Talks - Sam Webster

Glenorchy local, Sam, completed a degree in Environmental Science at UTAS.

Like most young people in the late 90’s/early 2000’s a move to the mainland was required to gain graduate work experience. After a few years working between Hobart (great for hiking), Melbourne (great for nightlife), and Sydney (great for career), he returned to Tasmania full time working in native revegetation.

Looking for a break from forestry and wanting to develop management skills Sam started working as a Racecourse Manager at Elwick. After 10+ years managing tracks and facilities at Elwick and Brighton a well timed redundancy allowed for time off to consider a career change into a more socially responsible industry.

Sam’s first job in the community services/not-for-profit (NFP) sector was working for a Queensland-headquartered youth-focused NFP. This programme gave long-term unemployed youth paid work experience in horticulture and property management, developing programme participants’ general horticulture skills along with job search skills and career counseling once participants found paid employment.

Sam has been with the RVNC for four months and will give an overview of how neighbourhood houses operate across Tasmania, the programmes the Risdon Vale Centre runs, and what assistance the community can offer to neighbourhood houses.