Surveyor General of Western Australia
Dione Bilick entered Cyril Jackson Senior High School as a Year 10 student in mid-1987 and graduated in 1989. Arriving part way through the year was a challenge, as she had come to CJ from Kelmscott SHS, moving from the then largest to the smallest secondary school in the metropolitan area. The move was beneficial when she re-connected with her Years 2 and 3 friends from Ashfield PS.
Dione’s family was mobile and over her schooling years, she attended two kindergartens, five primary schools and two high schools. This allowed her to develop her skills in building and maintaining relationships, and she enjoyed having school friends from a variety of backgrounds.
The highlights of her time at CJ included serving on the Student Council, leading the Year 12 school ball arrangements and organising school rugby jumpers. These were mostly black with a white collar and a band of green, black and white stripes, providing an improved optional uniform.
Dione studied Maths II, Maths III, Physics and Chemistry, and was the only female of the five students doing this STEM subject combination. After completing her TEE (ATAR equivalent), Dione secured a place in Civil Engineering at Curtin in 1990. Many of her Engineering peers came from wealthy families and did not have to, like her, work part-time to meet basic living costs. As a full-time course, Engineering had over 35 contact hours a week and Dione also dealt with 20 hours of public transport travel each week to attend the Bentley campus.
After completing three-quarters of her engineering qualification, with a Distinction average, Dione decided she had “way too much personality” to be an Engineer and switched to Surveying.
In 1998, Dione graduated top of her class with a first-class honours degree in Surveying. After some months working with a local GPS company, she pursued a mining career, becoming an Authorised Mine Surveyor (Grade 2) and working as a surface and underground mine surveyor in the goldfields.
Dione then opted for a Perth based role, and began working at then Department of Land Administration (DOLA) in Midland in 2001. In an almost 25-year career with DOLA and now Landgate, Dione has worked in a variety of leadership roles with a focus on surveying, land development, land titling and spatial information.
Dione’s successful career has been influenced by the CJ motto of “Integrity”, which is essential in all aspects of her statutory and leadership responsibilities.