“It’s good to be recognised for the things that I’ve done,” Courtney said.

“June 30 is my sign-off date; I’ll sign my trade licence and, yeah, I’m a mechanic.”

Courtney trained at Inverell’s Dieselequip and thought while becoming a tradeswoman was an exciting time she was slightly nervous as well. But Courtney was confident in her ability and thought she was now capable of training apprentices.

“I’ve been taught well, so I should be able to pass that training and knowledge on the way I was taught,” she said.

The best part of her job at Dieselequip was “all of it” and she advised other women to pursue their dreams if they wanted a trade career.

“I really do love it down here,” Courtney said.

She said if anyone wanted to do something they should not settle for something else.

“You can achieve whatever you want, and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. If you want to work hard enough and are focussed enough, you can overcome all the obstacles to achieve what you want,” Courtney said.

Courtney ran second as the school-based apprentice of the year in 2013, and also won the award for being a woman in a non-traditional trade. She went on to Sydney in the same year where she won the state woman in traditional and non-traditional trade award.

So, what is in the future for Courtney?

“I will be learning for the rest of my life. Everything’s changing, and you never stop learning down here, and the amount of knowledge I’m gaining is just ridiculous, stuff I thought I would never have had to think about. It’s good.”