17 December 2021

The annual St Barbara’s Day dinner and celebration of World Tunnelling Day at the beginning of December was a fantastic way to reflect on the year of tunnelling.

Held in Brisbane, the Australian Tunnelling Society dinner was an eventful night, punctuated by the retirement of Alan Robertson who received due acknowledgement from ATS President Harry Asche for his long service to the ATS and the AUCTA.

Harry Buchanan was also presented with the David Sugden Award for his paper titled Back-analysis of rock mass modules and horizontal stress ratio at Roma Street Station, Brisbane, Australia.

The Queensland Chapter also completed the official hand over of chairs, with Morteza Ghamgosar taking over from Diane Mather following her significant contributions in the role.

Contractors, designers and suppliers came together for the event sponsored by BarChip and Mapei, who are both leading brands in the Australian underground industry.

The night also served as a fundraiser for Retina Australia, with $1500 donated to the charity which funds world-leading research into treatments and cures for blindness caused by inherited retinal disease.