Brooke Plunkett
Evolution and impact: a career built on community
Brooke Plunkett began her career as a journalist, her sights set on reporting from war zones around the globe. But a shift into the mining industry brought her life and her heart to the small rural community of Parkes, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve been so lucky to experience living and working in different countries, but I’m always happy to come home,” Brooke says.
Raised near Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley, Brooke reported for Fairfax - including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a student - then spent eight months with Global News TV in Canada. Relishing the excitement of the 24/7 news cycle, her return home to local reporting left her craving something more fulfilling.
“My father and brother were both working in the mining industry, and I’d also had some exposure to it through journalism. It seemed like an interesting career, so I applied for a role in community engagement communications with Northparkes Operations.”
Since she joined Northparkes, now Evolution Mining, in 2011, Brooke has built a diverse and thriving career. After almost five years in the community space, her manager nudged her towards recruitment. She spent the next seven years, excepting a six-month communications project role with the mine’s parent company in Phoenix, Arizona as a talent and organisational development specialist.
It was during this time that she began her Master of Dispute Resolution and Human Resource Development at Charles Sturt University, completed online over six years while growing her career and family.
“The skills I gained, particularly in negotiation and mediation, have helped me so much - in the communications space, too. It’s all about how you have conversations with people, navigating how to help them while also realising the best outcomes for the business.”
Returning to communications in 2023, Brooke now leads Northparkes’ internal and external communications portfolio. Among her many achievements as Communications and Engagement Superintendent, she has delivered a major community festival uniting over 8,000 locals, is revitalising the company’s award-winning staff volunteering program, and manages a high-impact community investment program.
“Our approach to community investment is more than handing out money; we really immerse ourselves in the community to invest where it’s needed most,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to build relationships with our neighbours, our Indigenous communities, and community groups to work with them to make the community better for everyone.”
She also played a key role in enabling The Heart of Parkes , a strategic partnership between Evolution Mining and Charles Sturt’s School of Rural Medicine. Launched on 1 July 2025, the fully equipped training facility for medical students is a critical step in addressing the shortage of regional GPs.
In the traditionally male-dominated mining industry, Brooke feels fortunate to be part of what she says is an inclusive and respectful culture at Northparkes - though she realises her experience may not be echoed sector-wide. As a Women in Mining (WIMnet) mentor, she is determined to build on the work of her predecessors.
“It was harder for women in mining 20 years ago, it’s getting better for us now, and it will be easier still in 20 years. It’s our responsibility to keep the momentum going and continue to advocate for change.”
This drive for positive systemic change flows beyond her professional life. After volunteering as an English teacher in a remote village in Uganda in 2015, Brooke co-founded Kusoma’s Promise, a volunteer initiative that provided sponsorships for over 400 Ugandan students.
“I couldn’t just go home and not do something to help, so we organised sponsors to pay for students’ school fees and materials, and a cup of milk each day so they had fuel to learn,” Brooke says. “We went back annually to ensure the money was having the intended impact, but couldn’t keep that going after COVID-19 hit. We continued to directly sponsor a little girl, though, and she’s now at university studying to be a teacher. Many other sponsors have also continued to support kids directly.”
Though travel still calls her, Brooke adores the life she has built in Parkes with her husband, an electrician at Northparkes, and their two young boys on their 25-acre property ten minutes from town.
“I love the lifestyle we have here. I love that our kids can grow up making campfires and riding their bikes, and I can ride and jump my horses. I have my family, great friends, community. And I have this career I’m so grateful for, where I can keep growing and making a difference.”
