Trans is an Alice Springs based microbusiness, started by Luke Debuell in December 1997. Trans also draws on the experience of colleagues from time-to-time so it’s not always a solo affair.

Luke’s professional history with Indigenous Australians began in 1988, as Manager (1988-1992) of Imanpa community-owned Mount Ebenezer Roadhouse, then the Port Pirie & Districts Aboriginal Community Centre, and as Recruitment Consultant with the (now defunct) Overseas Service Bureau, placing returning volunteers and candidates into jobs on remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Knowing that mainstream agency fees were beyond the reach of most remote communities, Trans Remote Assistance was born. In 1998, transremote.com.au and the TransMail mailing list materialised.

And like so many employers and recruiters at the time, Trans published hundreds of advertisements in national and local print media:

Trans Remote’s first vehicle was a bicycle! Naturally, field visits weren’t in order then, but the business slowly grew though word-of-mouth so maintaining contact with client employers became paramount. When a vehicle became part of Trans, this essentially changed everything. Mobile. Sat phone. Laptops. And no more blue website 🙂 ! Trans became a truly mobile business that could work from virtually anywhere.

On this basis overheads could be kept low, so the fees reflect this. And this is what we set out to do. Providing an affordable, accessible service to our clients – mission accomplished!

Photo Freaks

Luke Debuell
Leigh Dunlevy
Maggie Kavanagh
Mark Sheahan
Andrew “Fluffy” White