Since our inception in 1985, Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Ltd (GAGAL) has facilitated skills development through the employment and training of apprentices and trainees to service the needs of our community. Today this community includes the Banana, Miriam Vale, Calliope and Duaringa Shires, as well as Gladstone City, where we employ over 450 apprentices and trainees.

A Group Training Organisation (GTO) like GAGAL offers a comprehensive service for both employers and potential employees. Through the coordination of apprenticeships and traineeships, job seekers are able to gain recognised skills and qualifications that will create the foundations for a life-long career in their chosen trade. For the business community, GAGAL is able to provide a strong support network for employing apprentices and trainees without having to commit to the full term of training. This leads to a more diverse and exciting training period for the employee while allowing greater flexibility and freedom for the host employer.

The Central Queensland area traditionally has a high demand for trades in the manufacturing and construction industries and GAGAL offers apprenticeship opportunities in twenty different trade classifications from boilermaking to carpentry. Our traineeship programs also cover a wide variety of categories including business, retail and horticulture. All of our field officers come from within these fields and their years of industry and business experience provides invaluable support for our apprentices and trainees. GAGAL works closely with business and industry interests in the area and has established close relationships with major employers such as Anglo Coal, Bechtel and BMA Blackwater mine.  GAGAL also offers School Based Apprenticeship and Traineeships that allow high school students to develop skills and acquire qualifications while continuing their secondary studies.

Achievements/History

• In 1997 GAGAL initiated the first School Based Apprenticeship Program with the commencement of elevenapprentices in Metal Fabrication. The success of this program and the interest it generated has seen school-based training grow exponentially across the nation. Today thousand of students undertake School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships in every state and territory.
• GAGAL has constructed hundreds of houses, duplexes and units across the area including important community projects like the Roseberry House Youth Shelter in Gladstone.
• GAGAL was integral in the formation of GAGAL Biloela, set up in 1997 to service the growing number of apprentices in the Callide and Dawson Valleys district.
• GAGAL established GAGAL Blackwater in 2005 to further improve services to our major host, BMA Blackwater Mine.