ATS members and friends get together to celebrate the auspicious anniversary in style

On Thursday 13 October, over 400 ATS members and friends of the Society got together at events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to officially celebrate the Society’s 50th Anniversary. These events were livestreamed across the country to enable a whole society celebration, before the members of each group enjoyed separate dinners together.

Keith Bannerman, Vice Chair of the Sydney ATS Chapter, began the livestreamed event with an Acknowledgement of Country, then introduced ATS President, Harry Asche. In his Presidential Address (which you can read in full here), Harry detailed the beginnings of tunnelling in Australia – when the Indigenous population dug tunnels to gain access to spring water; the beginnings of European tunnelling; through to the establishment of the Australian Tunnelling Society in 1972.

He urged members to read the 50th Anniversary ATS Journal (which will arrive in members’ letterboxes soon), and acknowledged ATS leaders, sponsors and volunteers past and present, as well as extending particular thanks to the ATS50 Subcommittee who have coordinated all the activities in this special year.

Harry finished by talking about the challenges of the future and the role the ATS has to play. This topic was then covered in depth and from a global perspective by the recently elected President of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) Arnold Dix, the next speaker on the program.

Arnold, an Australian with a love of tunnels that goes back to exploring the Snowy Hydroelectric Scheme as a boy, used the platform to detail his ambitious agenda for the ITA – using tunnelling to address the climate emergency and social inequality – with his characteristic and highly effective humour.

There were also addresses by Brodie Aitchison, ATS Young Members Chair, who gave an ATSym update; Sabrina Kost and Natascha Rezai, who explained the aims, objectives and initiatives of the Diversity in Tunnelling Subgroup; and Matt Mules, the President of the New Zealand Tunnelling Society (NZTS), who explained the close relationship between the two societies and offered his congratulations to the ATS on behalf of the NZTS.

As the Chair of the ATS50 Subcommittee, Charles MacDonald took the stage to detail just how hard the team has worked this year. He also took the opportunity to market the special ATS50 t-shirts (which are still available for sale – get your ATS50 t-shirt here)

The special in-person occasion was also used to give out several awards. Tony Peach, former ATS President (who wasn’t able to make the award ceremony at the 2020+1 Australasian Tunnelling Conference), was there in Melbourne to receive the 2020 Allen Neyland Award. Ivan Haryono was awarded the David Sugden Award 2022, and long-time ATS member Alan Robertson, was awarded a special 50th anniversary edition of the Allen Neyland Award. All three were gracious in their acceptance speeches, detailing how much the recognition meant to them and, in the case of Ivan, how it inspired him to get more involved in the industry.

Once the final award was given, the livestream event came to a close, and the groups went to enjoy dinner, drinks and to catch up with colleagues old and new at the Marriot in Brisbane, Dockside in Sydney, The Savoy Hotel in Melbourne and a group also met for a celebration at Coode Street Jetty in Perth.

You can view the photos from the different events here: