Mary Lee, Catherine Helen Spence and Elizabeth Webb Nicholls were three prominent voices leading the campaign that saw South Australia become the first place in the world to allow women to both vote and stand for election.
Now the groundbreaking (pardon the pun) work of these three remarkable women will be recognised through the naming of the three giant tunnel boring machines that will deliver a non-stop South Road
The first of the three machines was offically blessed and named Mary today (25 May), with confirmation that the second TBM - Catherine - and third - Elizabeth - will all be in action by the end of this year.
Mary will be the first machine to start the immense task of carving out a 4.5km tunnel north from its Clovelly Park launch box towards Anzac Highway.
Names for the TBMs were selected following an overwhelming community response to a request for submissions. More than 2000 were received, many of which nominated women whose advocacy helped cement South Australia’s place as a global leader in women’s rights.
Fittingly, more than a century after Mary Lee and Catherine Helen Spence worked side-by-side to help break new ground in South Australia’s growing suffrage movement, the TBMs named in their honour will now work side-by-side to construct the southern tunnels.
Just like the custom of giving ships female names, TBMs are also named after women as a sign of good luck.
The tradition dates to the 1500s, when workers prayed to St Barbara, the patron saint of miners and tunnellers, for protection underground.
Continuing a longstanding custom observed on tunnelling projects around the world, Mary’s blessing was performed by a Catholic Archbishop, in this case the Archbishop of Adelaide Patrick O’Regan.
Tunnelling for the entire project will take up to 24 months. All three TBMs will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, progressing approximately 8-10m per day.
