EXCELLENCE AWARDS The impact of the Award on your career Winning the Women in Engineering award was a great honour, especially considering the many other female engineers in the community who are just as deserving. The recognition motivated me to grow further in my chosen career, giving me the confidence to put myself out there and try new things with the attitude to always strive for excellence. Any advice for upcoming young female engineers in the industry? Take every opportunity to learn from your peers whether engineers or not, especially those colleagues with several years of experience. They are the ones that know their area better than anyone else. Those learnings will be invaluable.
hat and boots working on a construction site is not accurate. Public works engineering opens up a world of opportunity. It provides the opportunity to make a difference and improve the quality of life for a community through the provision of essential infrastructure and services, that many cannot live without. Public works engineers have the opportunity to make history! Imagine in years to come driving past something you were involved in making happen. Whether it be a building you project managed, a road you designed, a reservoir you supervised construction of … the list is endless. It is an exciting and rewarding career that will never be boring.
As a female engineer, embrace the courage to challenge the stereotype of engineers being a career for males. There is no doubt that males and females have different experiences throughout life. Look at this as your strength using your learnings to complement your analytical and technical abilities. Most importantly recognise that good communication is the key to achieving success in any career path! Reasons why organisations should nominate a female engineer for this Award It is always nice to feel that your efforts are recognised in your workplace. A nomination for an award demonstrates this to the staff member. It shows that their contribution is valued by the organisation. This leads to a positive workplace culture where staff will strive for excellence with the knowledge that their efforts are recognised and appreciated. How would you pitch public works engineering as a career to young girls and women? Times are changing. The stereotype of an engineer being a male in overalls, a hard
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Kym Murphy | 2019 In 1993, I commenced work as a graduate Civil Engineer in Roma at the Department of Transport and Main Roads (Queensland Transport back then), as the first most western female engineer. When starting out in Roma, I worked in both the Transport Planning team and as an Area Engineer in the Infrastructure Delivery team, working closely with several local governments; Taroom Shire, Murilla Shire, and Warroo Shire councils. I had much ground to cover but I loved getting out and meeting the crews and supervisors in person. Back then “The Pink Book” had just been published by TMR and we were all learning the
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | SEPT 2021
specifications together. In those early days I learnt a great deal about bitumen sealing, getting the ‘windows’ just right for the aggregate spread, and being a traffic controller. In 1996, still with TMR, I joined RoadTek as a project manager where I had some amazing experiences living in construction camps including: learning about blacksoil as a subgrade; sourcing local pavement materials; stabilising pavement and insitu material; building along a new alignment across blade-ploughed country; learning the difference between compacted density and ‘ground’ density during a massive cut/fill operation with scrapers; driving piles that wouldn’t pull up and some that refused (all in the same pier); and much more. Working with the crews was one of my favourite aspects of the job. These crews were often sheep farmers or wheat harvesters by their rural background, some with minimal schooling, but all with gems of information and experience to soak up and learn from if you took the time to listen. I often say that I “grew up in RoadTek”. RoadTek witnessed me getting married to a local grazier; stepping over rills onsite seven-months pregnant with twins; developing as a manager and leader (the crews were very patient as I practiced and grew many of my people skills on them); and as a young woman working full time while managing a 300-head grazing business and raising my three sons. This was a terrific grounding with unconditional encouragement for both my career and my personal development. It took close to 15 years for me to move from the RoadTek branch and take up a new role in 2011 as Regional Director (South West). In 2014 I moved my family to Toowoomba where I was appointed as Regional Director (Downs South West) in early 2015I was thrilled that I would still be leading “my old South West team” in this role, and I still do
