There’s a lot of change afoot in Sydney’s west. Over the next few years, we’ll say hello to a brand-new CBD (complete with NYC-style central park) and a new international airport in a previously relatively undeveloped corner of the city, 41 kilometres west of the CBD. Wondering how we’ll get there? As with the plans for the new city and the airport, it’s looking pretty futuristic: a 23-kilometre stretch of super-fast metro and a toll-free motorway lined with striking public artworks.
This week, the M12 Motorway project – one of the largest transport projects in NSW – passed a major construction milestone, with 14 kilometres of the road now complete. Once complete, the road will stretch for 16 kilometres, connecting the new Western Sydney International Airport to the wider Sydney motorway network, Elizabeth Drive and The Northern Road. And it’s not just a road – with the construction project also involving installing striking public artworks to welcome passengers from the new airport to Dharug country, and rest-stops designed to honour and celebrate the rich culture of the traditional custodians of the land.
Now that most of the key construction is complete (with just two kilometres of road left to be built), attention is turning to landscaping, signage and infrastructure, with one key feature standing out from the rest. Towering into the sky at the Western Sydney Airport interchange, a 30-metre tall, 372-tonne steel sculpture depicting ‘The Great Emu In The Sky’ is being installed – designed by Aboriginal-owned design agency Balarinji to honour the ancient Dharug Dreaming story of the Great Emu constellation.
Conceived by Balarinji lead artist Tim Moriarty, and co-created by a cohort of artists (Danny Eastwood, Jamie Eastwood, Danielle Mate, Jasmine Seymour, Leanne Watson and Balarinji studio) the structure, once complete, will comprise a towering dome and a network of 3.8 kilometres of stainless steel branches, weighing 372 tonnes altogether. So far, the work has taken the team of artists a collective 53,800 hours to build, a task that Murrawarri/Euahlayi artist Danielle Mate has described as "an incredibly special experience, certainly a pinnacle in my career”.
Balarinji Indigenous Creative Lead, Ngunnawal man Johnny Bridges, explained the significance of the artwork, which has been designed and installed using a new ‘Designing with Country’ framework and public art strategy, created by Balarinji in co-design with the Western Sydney Aboriginal community.
“This is a groundbreaking approach to interpreting and embedding local Aboriginal culture and storytelling into a major infrastructure project. Through Balarinji’s co-design process, the M12 artworks are deeply connected to Country and reflect the unique cultural landscape of Western Sydney. They speak to the cultural resilience of Dharug people and Country,” says Bridges.
Other Indigenous Australian-inspired features on the new road include six large-scale pieces of public art on the overbridge safety screens, emu foot prints blasted into the concrete of the shared path near each rest stop, and six rest stops with seasonal native landscaping and eucalypt leaf canopies. So not only will a journey along the new road will be toll-free, it will also give Sydneysiders and visitors the chance to connect with the culture of the traditional custodians who have cared for the land and waters for millennia.
According to the NSW Government, the construction of the $2.1-billion M12 Motorway is currently on time and on budget, on track to provide toll-free access to the new airport when it opens in 2026. NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Western Sydney Prue Car has described the new road as “a game-changer for Western Sydney residents – a vital, toll-free link that will ease congestion, improve travel times, and connect our local community without adding to household costs”.
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