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Smoking ceremony – John McRae Photography & Studio

“Sod-Turning” & smoking ceremony at Prestons in NSW

You may well ask….what is a “sod-turning”. I did. Well it is when a construction company starts work on a new project and the occasion is marked by a mound of dirt being turned ceremoniously with a shiny new shovel. This marks the beginning of the construction work on the site.

Aunty Gail

It is common to also include a smoking ceremony as a mark of respect to the traditional owners of the land with an Acknowledgement of Country. The smoking ceremony, according to the traditional owners, is a way of cleansing the area by smouldering native plants to create smoke which wards off any “bad” spirits and at the same time purifying the area both physically and spiritually. This is performed by an elder of the indigenous community. Today it was Aunty Gail. She was joined by Brandon and Jetsyn who were also part of the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Hansen Yuncken (construction), One Five One (developer) and Chemcorp (client) celebrated the start of their new warehouse project at Prestons in NSW in mid-July. Their brand new warehouse will be completed by February 2023 and Chemcorp will have a state-of-the-art facility. The project involves construction of two new warehouses, with over 22,000m², designed to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating.

Smoking ceremony for the new construction at Meadowbank TAFE

Meadowbank TAFE is expanding. Hansen Yuncken are responsible for the construction of the new facilities and at the start of the building project a smoking ceremony was performed in accordance with Aboriginal customs, respecting the traditional owners of the land, the Walumedigal people of the Eora Nation.

Part of the welcome to country ceremony
Some of the ashes are thrown on the building site and remain there. The rest are kept for future ceremonies at subsequent sites.

Hansen Yuncken executives participated in the ceremony together with representatives of TAFE, the architects, local politicians and others. I managed to capture of few shots of various employees at the site office.

The building site of the future addition to Meadowbank TAFE