Susie Brewer

In more than twenty years working in Adelaide’s security industry, Susie Brewer has observed a thing or two about crowd behaviour.

“People are like sheep,” she laughs, “… you could have six gates open, if five people are lined up here, guaranteed everybody will come and line up there even though there are five other lines free.”

The security guard and co-owner of South Australian security company SRS has worked on the ground at many of the city’s festivals. She understands the unique atmosphere and crowd dynamics of different festivals. She knows from a distance the horror-struck expression of a child who has lost sight of their guardian. She can spot a low-lying barrier that might tempt a fence-hopper or a tantalising gap in a fence that sections off a backstage area. She has noticed that people have a strange preference to exit a venue the same way they entered. She quickly senses if a dispute is edging close to fist-throwing.

Since starting SRS security in 2017, Susie associates the line-up of festivals that hit Adelaide come March with an upsurge of work for her staff.

“You’ve got so many festivals at one time,” she says “… come Adelaide 500 time, you know, you’ve got Adelaide 500, you’ve got the Fringe, you’ve got the Festival.”

This torrent of big public events is a critical time of year for SRS, and rostering staff to several largescale events taking place all at once requires planning and, Susie explains, a detailed understanding of each of her staff member’s strengths and abilities.

“I’ve got 120 staff now,” she says, “You ask me anything about those staff and I can tell you how many kids they’ve got, what their roles are, what they do … Everything we do for security is different and to know your staff it makes it better because you know where to place them.”

Susie puts down the success of her business to treating her staff well and trying to be flexible to their needs. She knows from personal experience the importance of this. In the late 1990s, as a mother of three trying to return to the workforce, she chose the security industry because the role would give her the flexibility to work evening shifts and be with her children during the day. Today, she is highly respected in the industry, but she can still recall early barriers faced.

“It was hard for a female … You had to really show that you could make a stance, like, you could hold your own if you needed to.”

In a male-dominated industry at a time where status was in large part determined by size and strength, Susie used her natural ability to talk to anybody to her advantage. She found she was often able to diffuse tension and keep the peace by talking to people in a composed manner. It wasn’t long before she moved into more senior roles managing and rostering staff.

“I always try and tell staff to communicate with people,” she says, “Communication is a big tool. So anyone coming into an event: ‘Hey, how are you going? What are you up to?’ You know – just talk to them.”

Festival season has always been one of Susie’s favourite security gigs. She says family events are the more enjoyable to work, listing the opening night of the Fringe, the Christmas Pageant (she still recalls working with Father Christmas as one of the biggest thrills of her career), and WOMADELAIDE, where she says the crowds are some of the nicest she’s worked with.

“They’re there just to hang around, lie on the grass – yeah, it’s just a relaxed – it’s just a good place to work. I’ve always loved it.”

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This article is part of the Festival City Stories series, a collection of reflections about Adelaide made by the people who make this a festival place. The project was funded through the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Arts South Australia, Arts Recovery Fund, and delivered in partnership with the State Library of South Australia. 

Written by: Sarah Couper

Photography by: Chi Catalano