The days began with a morning tea and an introduction to the Wilman Wadandi Highway (the Bunbury Outer Ring Road project). Students received a health and safety induction, which provided them with an explanation of how hazards and risks are managed through project controls, and they practiced filling out a hazard report card.

Students packed up their things and travelled to the Collie River where the Aboriginal Participation team shared the history on the cultural background of the river including the significance of the waterway, how and why heritage monitoring is undertaken on site, and how urban design was incorporated into the project through the Noongar Six Seasons theme. Students also took part in a mock heritage artifact collection and recording activity.

Breaking a sweat in the hot sun, the group left the heritage site and were treated to a BBQ lunch and ‘networking’ event with project senior staff, including Senior Supervisors, Leading Hands, Site Engineers and the Construction Director.

After lunch, the students travelled to Paris Road and Clifton Road interchange for a discussion of how the bridge structures are built and heard from the team about their career pathways. Some of them even got to go up onto the bridge itself, becoming some of the very first civilians to do so.

Following this, there was an engaging discussion on civil engineering, which was a hit with students, who then donned gloves to complete a sand compaction test. The hands-on workplace experience continued with a machine operation activity, where they met one of the project’s posi-track operators and got to climb into the machinery.

Following a full day of activities, students returned to site to debrief on lessons learned and share their highlights.

To add to the recent school engagement, primary school students from Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School also visited the Wilman Wadandi Highway site in September to help plant native species next to the Paris and Clifton Road interchange. Accompanied by local Noongar elder and member of the project’s Aboriginal Heritage Advisory Group Annette Garlett, they learnt about the landscaping planned for the area and how it tied into the existing native flora.

The planting process involved holes being bored into the ground and then slow-release fertiliser and live microbial tablets being added before the plants were placed inside and soil backfilled. This process helps to bring the soil ‘to life’, especially following the construction work in the area. The microbes form symbiotic relationships with the newly planted seedlings and help them to thrive. Water carts will ensure the new plants and vegetation will receive sufficient water, even during the hotter and drier months of the year.

They also explored some of the large fauna underpasses that are near this interchange, to understand how the local fauna will navigate safely through the changed landscape.

A few quotes from the students about their time visiting the Wilman Wadandi Highway project site:

“It was great, it was fun and interesting and I was so into the details.”

“I would love to work in construction, I love all the hands on and building.”

“Today was really fun and I got to see the massive project that’s getting built.”