A new barge and celebration of Indigenous staff, history and culture were part of a busy month of July for the new Batemans Bay bridge project team.
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On July 12, South Coast residents stood by the Clyde River at sunrise to watch the 3000-tonne barge enter the harbour under the Batemans Bay Bridge.
That afternoon, John Holland staff, RMS, subcontractors, trainees, Elders and Aboriginal Land Councils paid respect to Indigenous staff and culture with NAIDOC Week celebrations at the project site.
Take a look at some drone photos of the barge:
Project Community Relations Coordinator Marieke Janssen, of the Netherlands, said she wanted to be part of the progress at the South Coast.
"As soon as we could, we tried to move to the coast," she said.
"When I heard this was going on, I really wanted to be apart of it. It's a really big thing for our town.
"Coming from Europe, I realised very well that we had to have progress in town.
"The bridge has really brought progress to town as well as other projects that are going on in this area."
She said working with people from all walks of life, including Indigenous people and others in construction, was the highlight of the job.
"It's amazing to see so many different people working for the same great goal of building this bridge," she said.
Indigenous Elder, mentor and Aboriginal Land Council representative Owen Carriage said River Bindoo (the Clyde River) had been a food source for centuries.
"To this day we hunt and gather, we fish, we hunt for shellfish," he said.
"The traditions have been carried on for all these years and will remain forever.
"We've got the burial sites, also a massacre site along the river."
He said the Indigenous community was surprised there was such a large number of Indigenous staff employed in the bridge project.
"I've certainly noticed the senior staff within both organisations - RMS and John Holland - are very respective of the cultural needs and also the cultural understanding of what's required, and made our task a lot easier than people that are not familiar with the culture.
"I'm quite proud to be working with both teams."
