Bustling coal mines, towering smelters and giant gas plants, wherever you look heavy industry is woven into the fabric of this part of regional Australia.
It has provided a steady income for generations of hard-working locals in the central Queensland city of Gladstone.
But the traditionally fossil-fuel dependent region is changing, stirring fear and uncertainty for some who rely on it to put food on the table.
Industry experts are moving to reassure worried workers that their skills are desperately needed as so-called green jobs roll out across the industrial heartland.
Embracing the future
Working long days in the aluminium industry helped Amber Filewood's family make ends meet while she was growing up.
It felt natural that at 20 she too would follow her mum, dad and brother into the heavy industry workforce.
Over the next 18 years she worked her way up to become an industrial supervisor.
But as her hometown started undergoing a seismic shift — with renewable energy projects such as wind, solar and green hydrogen (hydrogen created using renewable energy) popping up — Ms Filewood began wondering if she too should look for a greener career.
"It's only going to grow, I think. It's not going to go backwards," she said.
Ms Filewood made the jump this year to work at the world's largest green hydrogen electrolyser manufacturing facility, where she is the manufacturing team leader — a role similar to her last job.
The project at Aldoga, about 20 minutes north-west of Gladstone, will manufacture the machines used to split water intro hydrogen and oxygen.
"I was looking for something different for career progression … I saw these jobs advertised for FFI [Fortescue Future Industries]," Ms Filewood said.
"It was something really good, something cleaner and greener that I wanted to be a part of.
"It looked like something great for the future, great for my kids and my kids' kids' future."
What will new jobs look like?
Across central Queensland coal mining is the biggest employer.
The 2021 Census found that 6.7 per cent of residents were employed by the industry.
Technicians and trade workers, labourers and machine operators were also in the top eight job types for the region, while in Gladstone it also included energy-intensive jobs in aluminium smelting and alumina production.
For those who had spent their entire careers in coal mines or smelters, it might be difficult to imagine what jobs in renewables would look like.
FFI East Coast director Felicity Underhill said the roles available were surprisingly similar, and the skills required for heavy industry jobs were highly transferable.
"We're going to have people who need to work the operations line," she said.
"That could be any sort of trade — people who have more computing backgrounds as well, because we will be using all sorts of advanced technology.
"Anyone with any kind of electrical background — we'll need plumbing and process background; we'll need people from all sorts of trades to help us build this industry."
Fossil fuels veteran makes the switch
Central Queensland University Hydrogen and Renewable Energy chairperson Professor Murray Shearer was a veteran of the oil and gas industry, having worked for companies like BP in Iraq, but said he made the jump to the renewables space because it was a "new frontier".
He said on top of building, maintenance and operations roles at renewable facilities, the flow-on effects of the emerging green hydrogen industry could also allow new chemical manufacturing facilities to open, leading to more jobs.
Professor Shearer said the skills required for the jobs were similar to those currently utilised in heavy industry, energy and mining.
"It'll be a very similar mix of trade, technical, engineering and support type roles," he said.
"We'll see technology also becoming more and more important."
But Professor Shearer said it was important to provide pathways for current workers to transition to the new industry.
CQ University has recently opened a School of Manufacturing to help train and transition workers, while the Queensland government last month unveiled $45 million for a training centre in Gladstone.
It will help prepare people to work on massive power grid upgrades, as part of its recent Energy and Jobs Plan.
"[The transition is] about making sure we look after those people and create the opportunities and training pathways so that they can very quickly and seamlessly transfer across with the minimum possible stress," Professor Shearer said.
"So if you're out there and you're a diesel fitter, and you're thinking, 'What's next?', I can assure you [that] you are a very skilled individual and there will be plenty of organisations falling over themselves to hire you and re-skill you."
Schools preparing next generation
Toolooa State High School year 9 student Sophie Slack is already learning the specific skills she will need to work in the new industries.
She and fellow students are programming robots, learning to make drones, and preparing for the first Australian Hydrogen Grand Prix — a race with miniature remote-controlled cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Sophie wants to become a mechatronic engineer and potentially build a career in her home city.
"I really want Gladstone to become as energy efficient as possible, as a stepping stone to the future," she said.
"I want us to be a way to look forward and try to save the environment and make the world a nicer place for future generations."
Fellow student Benny Jacob is looking towards the point when automation and AI may take over a lot of manual jobs.
He wants to work with automated technology like drones.
"[Industry is starting to use] drones to do lots of different things where previously they would be using people," Benny said.
"I think the future will be very tech-based. There won't be as many people but there will be a lot more automation."
Transition 'purpose driven'
Ms Underhill said the "purpose driven" nature of the Fortescue project was something they had "on their side" to attract workers, given the national worker shortage.
"We are all in this because we want to try and end climate change and halt the world's addiction to fossil fuels," she said.
"That really resonates, particularly with our younger workers."
While some may still have concerns about the future, Professor Shearer says the emergence of new industries is just a continuation of what energy-rich regions like Gladstone do best.
"Gladstone's story has always been about the big port and big value energy," he said.
"Starting with coal, and then gas and now renewables.
"This is just a continuation of that story."
This story is part of a series published by ABC regional Queensland teams exploring the impacts and opportunities of climate change in their communities.
