15/10/2026
🏆 More great news about the M12 Motorway!
The M12 Motorway has been named a winner in the 2026 AILA NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Landscape Architecture Awards in the Infrastructure category, recognised for innovative landscape architecture and design.
Congratulations to Transport for NSW, Balarinji's project & design teams, HASSELL, GHD Group, Conybeare Morrison International, Context, Studio Colin Polwarth, and to the Aboriginal artist and community knowledge holder cohort!!
The jury recognised of the project’s deep cultural collaboration. Guided by Balarinji’s Designing with Country methodology and public art co-creation process, our team worked in co-design with local Aboriginal knowledge holders and artists to embed Dharug storytelling into the M12 corridor through integrated public art, wayfinding, and interpretive content.
Key highlights of the cultural integration along the corridor include:
• 'Great Emu in the Sky’ — a 30-metre landmark sculpture depicting the Dharug Mariong Creation story
• Large-scale, integrated overbridge artworks depicting a seasonal Dharug story of the emu
• Eucalypt Leaf Canopies — Welcome to Country installations reflecting the Dharug Six Seasons
Thank you everyone who collaborated with us to embed local Dharug narratives into the M12 corridor, creating an enduring ‘Welcome to Country’ experience for all travellers.
Aboriginal artist and community knowledge holder cohort: Danny Eastwood Aboriginal Art, Jamie Eastwood, Barry Gunther, Danielle Mate, Jasmine Seymour, Leanne Watson Redpath, Frances Bodkin, Julie Jones and Corina Norman with Balarinji studio, including ‘Great Emu in the Sky’ lead conceptual artist on the work’s genesis, Tim Moriarty.
Balarinji’s Designing with Country methodology is a cultural design framework that guides our co-design practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders, storytellers, and creative practitioners to translate Place-based knowledge, spirituality, protocols, history, culture, and contemporary stories for design interpretation.