Nepali building bridges in Tasmania

Ever since leaving his home village in Syangja, Purna Gurung has been crossing bridges when he comes to them. And here he is at age 55, supervising the pile-driving for a new bridge in Tasmania, 10,000km away from home.

Gurung has built bridges in Africa, worked on tunnels in Hong Kong, and moved up the ranks in teams building complex infrastructure projects across the world. All that experience is standing him in good stead in Australia, where he came 15 years ago.

Purna Gurung has brought other Nepali engineers to join him in the bridge project here. He got his former co-worker Mansuba Gurung to come from New Zealand, and other Nepali engineers from the Australian mainland. 

“We are a professional and energetic team, born in the high mountains of Nepal and now working on this historic bridge in Tasmania,” says Gurung, as he drives a recent visitor to the construction site, and points out the piers and girders from the window. “My role is to maintain professional integrity and motivate my team, especially the Nepalis here.”

The feeling appears to be mutual. Gurung is regarded as a sort of guru by the other Nepalis at the site, and he is respected for his expertise in bridge-building, his capacity for taking on difficult tasks and teamwork. 

At the site itself, one could easily imagine oneself on a construction site in Nepal: workers in hard hats are shouting instructions to each other in Nepali. Indeed, Nepali is said to be the most spoken language in Tasmania after English, and there are at least five Nepali restaurants in Hobart alone. 

Despite its bucolic setting with neat, clean and green environment, many Tasmanians migrate to the mainland or abroad to seek new opportunities. Which is why the Australian government provides higher wages and encourages immigrants from Nepal and elsewhere a fast-track to permanent residence if they move to the island.

Nearly half of Tasmania is protected wilderness which has many species found nowhere else in the world. Nature-based tourism is becoming the mainstay of Tasmania’s economy, Australia’s smallest state.

There is also a new infrastructure drive, and this includes the Tasmania’s longest bridge over the River Derwentin which Purna Gurung and his team are working on. The Derwent flows down from Lake St Clair in Tasmania's Central Plateau and 182km later discharges into Storm Bay. 

Compared to delayed bridge-building which is the norm in Nepal, construction here is progressing on schedule, and was preceded by an environmental assessment and measures to ensure that aboriginal and cultural sensitivities were addressed. 

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Despite criticism about high cost of the $786 million Bridgewater Bridge, it appears to be worth it because cyclists and pedestrians have been given high priority with a safe three-metre-wide shared path on the upstream side of the bridge. A temporary bridge has also been built to streamline work, and will be dismantled later.

Purna Gurung is popular with his team members, especially his colleagues from Nepal. After completion of the Tasmania bridge later this year, he has already got a commitment to work on a tunnel project in Adelaide.

He has not thought about retirement, and tells us: “I have spent over three decades of my life building bridges and tunnels, and all that experience is very useful as I take on more challenging work.”