

Over the past eighteen months our people have been traversing thousands of kilometres surveying the proposed routes for several planned new transmission lines that are needed to connect the NSW, South Australian and Victorian electricity transmission grids to deliver greater efficiency and to prepare for the integration of a raft of renewable energy projects in the pipeline.
Climate change is already impacting the world and is seen as the largest threat to the world’s cultural heritage alongside destruction through war and armed conflict. Transitioning to a more efficient and sustainable energy system is one step along the road to reducing that impact.
The work has included survey, investigation and assessment of Aboriginal heritage as well as NSW more recent settler heritage. Through these projects our teams have walked from the South Australian border across to the western edge of the Blue Mountains and south through the Snowy Mountains and from central NSW to the Victorian border.
There have been some interesting challenges as we variously navigated hot, arid Summer conditions out west and wet conditions and lambing as we moved east. Landscapes have changed dramatically also from steep, rugged forests to the long vistas and distant horizons of the Hay Plain. For one of our emerging professionals Bryce, it was all about the landscape of far western NSW:
The enormous, flat lands with red sand beneath saltbush captivated me. I hadn’t experienced this part of the country before, and I have to say that seeing the curve of the Earth on the horizon is really special.
It hasn’t all been about hard work and challenging conditions though, it has also been about people. Our teams have worked with property owners and Aboriginal communities across all these projects.
Working with all of the different Aboriginal communities was amazing and meeting so many great people. Working with Transgrid has been fantastic, particularly the Yura Ngura Indigenous Advisory Team who have become great friends.
– Nicola
These large jobs remind us that it’s not just about the skills and knowledge we bring to a project its also about how we learn and grow through the work.
It was a great privilege working with local Indigenous communities who are so open and sharing in their vast knowledge of country, I learnt so much.
– Darren