28 May 2024

TAFE NSW Moss Vale is empowering a career musician and Abba tribute band bass player to call the tune on the next chapter in his career: as a farmer.

Simon Tonks, 64, has enjoyed a long and illustrious music career, including stints as house engineer/producer at recording giant Sony Music, making records, mixing live shows, and writing television music.

He has also run his own studio and has performed in a host of popular bands over the decades – most recently the award-winning Australian Abba tribute show, Abbalanche.

But it was a desire to “go bush” and run his own self-sustaining property that saw Mr Tonks enrol in a Certificate II in Agriculture at TAFE NSW Moss Vale and edge closer to an unlikely career change.

Mr Tonks is part of a growing wave of city dwellers making the decision to move to regional areas, with the latest ABS data revealing population growth in regional Australia was matching the growth of capital cities.

“During COVID, I decided I wanted a lifestyle change to a regional area but wasn’t sure what I would do when I got there,” Mr Tonks said. “I’ve literally lived in a music studio for the past 30 years and I am keen to reconnect with the bush and start a new chapter.

“I think that doing a TAFE NSW agriculture course will allow me to get some work and supplement my income as a farmhand and also help set me up to run my own self-sustaining property.”

Mr Tonks is in the midst of studying a Certificate II in Agriculture at TAFE NSW Moss Vale and said it was arming him with the hands-on practical skills to realise his dream.

“My teacher has such deep farming knowledge and so many pearls of wisdom that you can’t find in text books,” Mr Tonks said. “The course is so hands-on. For example, when we had the big floods recently, the teacher used it as a learning opportunity and we pumped out the flooded carpark at TAFE NSW.”

TAFE NSW Moss Vale agriculture teacher Jamie Kay said the Certificate II and III in Agriculture would help graduates gain the practical skills to work as a farmhand or station hand.

“Agriculture is one of those industries that is powering ahead and there are so many opportunities out there for TAFE NSW graduates,” Mr Kay said.

Mr Tonks is one of a growing number of “townies” – people from a non-rural background – turning to TAFE NSW to help them retrain to a career in ag.

NSW Farmers workplace relations chair Chris Stillard said new data showing more students from non-farming backgrounds were studying agriculture at TAFE NSW was a positive for the industry.

“Modern agriculture is a really diverse industry and we don’t just have tractor drivers and stockhands any more, we’ve got mechanics and drone pilots and network engineers as well,” Mr Stillard said.

“TAFE NSW will play an important role in helping the industry have a skilled pipeline of workers into the future."

Media contact: Dan Johns, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, Daniel.johns9@tafensw.edu.au, 0477 722 428