WorldSkills Australia, formerly known as the Work Skill Australia Foundation, was established in 1981 as part of the labour movement to endorse, promote and provide recognition for skills and trades, a mission which the organisation still seeks to uphold.
The first WorldSkills Australia Regional Competition was held at the Bowral Memorial Hall in the Southern Highlands of NSW. This was followed by the medal presentations being held at the Moss Vale RSL.
The inaugural WorldSkills Australia National Competition was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Linz in 1983.
Held at the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Stadium in Brisbane, also known as the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre, in Nathan, QLD.
The 28th International Vocational Training Competition took place at Matsushita Educational and Training Centre, Higasi – Yodogawa Vocational Training College and Kansai Skill Development Centre in Osaka, Japan, from October 10th to 27th 1985.
Glenn Brasen from Northern Rivers in Queensland competed for Australia in the Bricklaying category and won Australia’s first Gold Medal.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Osaka in 1985 and were awarded a total of 12 medals.
Held at the Adelaide Showgrounds, Adelaide, South Australia, held from June 18th to 23rd 1987.
To accommodate the number of competitors, there was two consecutive three day competitions held.
In order to promote the upcoming “Skill Olympics” to be held in Sydney in 1988, WorldSkills held a promotional event in conjunction with the Rugby League Grand Final on 27th September 1987.
500 apprentices from TAFE Colleges and companies supportive of WorldSkills Australia were the stars of the pre-match entertainment at this year’s Rugby League Grand Final held at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
In the presence of the Prime minister, 40,000 people at the ground and the 5 million watching on television, they put together an exciting display of trades and industries.
The centre-piece of all this, was a massive model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which apprentices from HMAS NIRIMBA built in just 12 minutes. When it was completed, our 88’ Skill Olympics team made their entrance, marching onto the bridge to raise the Skill Olympics flag.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Sydney in 1988 and were awarded a total of 22 medals.
WorldSkills Australia National Competition, Perth, Western Australia held at the Burswood Superdome.
Due to the increasing number of competitors, this was to be the last one roof National Competition to be held until 1999.
Over the next decade the National Competitions were broken up into smaller groups running as stand alone or in conjunction with industry specific events.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Birmingham in 1989 and were awarded a total of 17 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Amsterdam in 1991 and were awarded a total of 24 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Taipei in 1993 and were awarded a total of 18 medals.
CLIP was further evidence of WorldSkills Australia commitment to developing the skills of our young Australians. CLIP is a Continuous Learning and Improvement Program that provides the competitor with a close support network of previous competitors, industry specialist and college teachers, to guide them onto WorldSkills success.
Through Clip, competitors were able to learn what was expected of them in competitions and how to gain maximum marks. In this way, every competitor enjoyed the benefits of past experience, and was able to give their best performance on the day.
CLIP was sponsored by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum.
In November 1994 WorldSkills Australia was awarded the Australian National Training Authority’s inaugural Australian training award to ‘an organisation which has made an outstanding contribution to vocational education in Australia’
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Lyon in 1995 and were awarded a total of 21 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills St.Gallen in 1997 and were awarded a total of 13 medals.
Skills Across the World was an International Skill Volunteers initiative from 1998 – 2004.
The first Skills Across the World (SAW) project took place in the Makwe community, near the town of Gwanda in Zimbabwe Australia’s first WorldSkills International gold medallist, Glenn Brasen, led a team of five trade workers from around the world to construct a new amenities block, a classroom and an entire primary school equipped with desks and chairs.
The main objective of the SAW project was to impart practical vocational skills to locals that could then be transferred onto other local communities and furthermore, future generations. SAW was a joint initiative with WorldSkills and Dusseldorp Skills Forum.
Exert from ‘Skills Brigade News’ WorldSkills Whispers August 1988
“The Makwe community warmly welcomed the first two team members to arrive in late March – Glenn Brasen and Grant Stewart, both former Skill Olympians from Australia, but it wasn’t until they decided to build a prototype of a bench and desk to show the village chief and the school principal that the purpose of their trip became clear to the community. This practical demonstration of carpentry skills (by a bricklayer and a plumber!) did more to galvanise community interest than any amount of talking on their part. The village chief asked if they would teach him carpentry skills, along with other men from the community, and happily this request coincided with the arrival of Aaron, a young carpenter and former Skill Olympian from New Zealand. Also, the team’s arrival has prompted a working group from the village to commence making the bricks needed to build the additional classrooms.”
Skills Australia 99’ – Bringing the National Competition back under one roof.
The competition was held from the 26th to 28th May 1999.
The first national Competition held under one roof in 10 years.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Montreal in 1999 and were awarded a total of 10 medals.
The program objective was to introduce students to a variety of trades and jobs in a practical and engaging way.
WorldSkills later adapted Croc Skills to what would be known as WorldSkills Try’aTrade. This program was later renamed to Try’aSkill to better reflect coverage across all skill areas.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Seoul in 2001 and were awarded a total of 17 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills St.Gallen in 2003 and were awarded a total of 22 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Helsinki in 2005 and were awarded a total of 18 medals.
“The Skillaroos branding came about because we wanted to embrace the principals of excellence in skills and to clearly identity ourselves as Australians. By putting the most powerful word – ‘skill’ with the most powerful icon of Australia – the Kangaroo, together we came up with the Skillaroos” – Bob Puffet, former Chair of WorldSkills Australia
The Skillaroos branding was born with input of the minds of many proud “WorldSkillers” in Australia.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Shizuoka in 2007 and were awarded a total of 24 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Calgary in 2009 and were awarded a total of 24 medals.
WorldSkills Australia holds largest ever Try’aTrade event to date at the 22nd Australian Scout Jamboree
Held at Cataract Scout Park in New South Wales from January 4th to 14th, 2010.
The 2010 Scout Jamboree hosted over 10,000 scouts from all across Australia. As part of the 10 day event, scouts participated in a variety of skill displays including the construction of a picnic and barbeque area for future use by the Australian Scouting Movement.
Held at TAFE NSW – Illawarra Institute, Wollongong Campus from July 5th to 8th, 2010.
WorldSkills Australia hosted over 100 international guests from 11 countries at the first Global Skills Challenge.
The Challenge was established to aid the preparation of the Australian Skillaroos and other international competitors selected to compete in the 2011 WorldSkills International Competition, in London.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills London in 2011 and were awarded a total of 25 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Leipzig in 2013 and were awarded a total of 20 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Sao Paulo in 2015 and were awarded a total of 16 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi in 2017 and were awarded a total of 15 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Kazan in 2019 and were awarded a total of 13 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Special Edition in 2022 and were awarded a total of 7 medals.
The Team Australia Skillaroos competed at the WorldSkills Lyon in 2024 and were awarded a total of 16 medals.
