Help name the 2 machines that will build the North East Link by nominating a local legend.
2 massive tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will start building 6.5km twin tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen this year.
In keeping with tradition, we’re naming these big machines after women who dig deep in their communities, and we need your help to unearth them.
TBMs are traditionally given female names before they get to work underground, a custom dating back to the 1500s.
Learn more about the history below:
TBMs used for other Victoria’s Big Build projects were named after these ground-breaking Victorian women:
- Joan Kirner – First female Premier of Victoria (Metro Tunnel Project)
- Alice Appleford – Australian nurse who served in both World Wars (Metro Tunnel Project)
- Millie Peacock – First woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria (Metro Tunnel Project)
- Meg Lanning – Captain of the Australian women’s cricket team (Metro Tunnel Project)
- Vida Goldstein – Campaigner for women’s voting and electoral rights (West Gate Tunnel Project)
- Bella Guerin – First woman to graduate from a university in Australia (West Gate Tunnel Project)
Entries for naming the 2 tunnel boring machines are now closed.
We thank the community for their submissions, and we’ll announce the winners in the coming months before TBM tunnelling gets underway.
Entries will be assessed on the creativity of the submission and the unique characteristics of the local legend nominated.
The 2 winning submissions will see their local legend’s name up close and personal on the biggest TBMs in Victoria, with an exclusive opportunity to visit the machines before they’re launched this year.
More information on our TBMs:
90m long, have a 15.6m diameter and weigh 4000 tonnes – more than the combined weight of 250 trucks.