Photo: SKAO Director-General Prof. Jessica Dempsey, with Emily Walker (right) and Maja Cole (left) from Hot Chippies
While visiting the new “Cosmic Echoes: a Shared Sky Indigenous Art Exhibition“ exhibition at the Geraldton museum the other week (it’s amazing – go check it out!), I struck up a conversation with two other visitors. Their clothing told me they were from “Hot Chippies“, a female-owned carpentry company based in Perth.
As we got chatting, I quickly learned that they were up here working on the Square Kilometre Array Observatory’s SKA-Low telescope, under construction on Wajarri Yamaji Country, about five hours inland from Geraldton. They’ve just finished up their work on Ngurra-Maga, which means “home of the head” in Wajarri language – a fitting name as they told me this facility that will soon house the ‘brain’ of the telescope.
Cosmic Echoes is a celebration of the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands of the two SKA telescope sites. It features Indigenous artists from the Karoo region in South Africa and the Wajarri Yamaji in Australia. It struck me how fitting that our conversation happened in an exhibition celebrating the intersection of modern science, innovation, and ancient wisdom. Here were two women helping to build one of the world’s most ambitious scientific projects, while also helping to build something equally important – a more inclusive construction industry.
The team at Hot Chippies put it perfectly, “Our business was born from a simple belief that women deserve the same opportunities as men in construction. We’d spent enough time being underestimated to know that capability was never the issue – opportunity was”.
That simple but powerful idea resonates far beyond construction. Whether we’re talking about trades, science, leadership or community life, creating opportunity means breaking down barriers that have kept people from using their strengths and pursuing their passions.
It also aligns perfectly with the aspirations of Community, Respect & Equality, where we work alongside our members and partners to create workplaces and communities where everyone is treated with respect, has equal opportunities, and can contribute their skills and talents.
When we create opportunity, everyone benefits. “Providing minority groups with opportunities in construction is essential to the future of our industry. Diverse teams bring different perspectives, stronger collaboration, and ensure our industry benefits from the widest possible pool of talent”, says the Hot Chippies team.
It was a chance meeting in a museum, but it reminded me that whether we’re constructing world-leading scientific infrastructure, training apprentices, supporting community organisations or challenging stereotypes, the foundations are remarkably similar. Progress happens when we believe that capability is everywhere, and our job is to make sure opportunity is too.