Marie Gales

In her own words

I was raised in a council estate in the UK and was the first in my family to go beyond compulsory schooling. Deciding to study engineering was due to a pure ‘sliding doors’ moment. While my school career advisors were telling me to study maths simply because I was good at it, my economics teacher introduced me to the idea of a career in engineering. She was amazing and brought into school magazines on the profession and arranged for me to do work experience with her husband who was a structural engineer. When I was Queensland President of Engineers Australia in 2022 we held an International Women’s Day event and asked our female engineering Fellows and the aspiring early career women in the audience to raise their hands if they became an engineer because of a family member or friend. I was stunned when 70% of the hands shot up. The importance of connections, role models and seeing examples of pathways you can take is so critical.

I thoroughly enjoyed studying engineering and I particularly loved transport because of the psychology behind the choices people make in terms of transport modes and their interactions with pedestrians. It all fascinates me.

At the time I graduated in 1991 all the transport models developed were very logical, but flawed because people aren’t always logical - decisions are often based on emotion. I got my first job as an Assistant Engineer at the Gwynedd County Council in North Wales, learnt to speak Welsh and worked for 16 years in in four UK councils successively, all in transport, highways and public realm upgrades (pedestrianisation projects).

I moved to Australia with my husband and daughter 17 years ago, working with the Queensland Department of Main Roads and Aurecon before joining the Brisbane City Council (BCC). The BCC’s size and resources gives it the ability to contribute to major city shaping projects and some career highlights in my roles there included early involvement in the just opened Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge, the Council’s Metro project as well as closing Brisbane’s Victoria Bridge to general traffic to completely change the pedestrian experience.

One of my all time favourite projects is the CityLink CycleWay which involved the reallocation of existing road space to create an on-road but segregated bikeway for cyclists through the heart of the CBD. It was cost efficient because no rebuild was needed. I love projects where you have limited funds and can solve a problem. Because I live and work in Brisbane, I see the positive impact of this bikeway every day! I am a social advocate for the under-represented in our communities, which I think stems from my work in councils, and I particularly enjoy projects that improve pedestrian and cycle facilities.

Build your own adventure

A career in transport lets you pick your own adventure, from focusing on modelling and IT, to congestion management or detailed design. Because of the raft of potential specialisation areas, it is easier to flex as you learn more and grow. I have a very broad-based CV, having worked at every stage of a project life cycle, including planning, designing and operating assets. The view of the operator is often missing in a design process, and that is what I always bring to the project, and experience of how users and the community respond to projects. Standards don’t always reflect the psychology about what is intuitive to a driver, or pedestrian or cyclists.

I built my career in transport because it is such meaningful work. You are actively solving problems, bringing people together and allowing them to have a fulfilling life; that is the beauty of transport!

What is exciting right now is the changed focus to designing spaces for people, especially in terms of accessibility and safety for all and creating experiences. It is no longer just about crossing a bridge anymore - it’s about having a viewing platform, somewhere to pause and have a drink, making it wider and cleaner for people to enjoy.

Recognise your value

When I joined Gwynedd County Council in my first job, I was the first woman engineer they had hired and I was trying really hard to fit in. My manager was very open and gave me the best advice that actually kept me in the industry. He sat me down and said: “I already have a bunch of engineers; what I need more of is you - people who connect things that others don’t connect and see things that others don’t see.” It was wonderful because it gave me permission to be fully myself right at the start of my career. I went from being the junior in the office to become the deputy project manager on our single biggest project because I could identify and connect the implications one change on a single aspect would have on a range of others including drainage, earthworks and structures.

The advice I give to others is to reflect and find a place where you can be yourself, because when that happens you will excel, and it will never feel like work.

Also, I tell people that while councils may seem unsexy, they have a special ability to support and progress women, often more than the private sector. Consultants generally don’t have the same level of interaction with the public and in council you learn so much from these direct conversations that informs your thinking about how to improve designs and solve problems, as well as developing your empathy.

Sometimes when I facilitate a workshop I do an icebreaker exercise where I ask people if they were a piece of infrastructure what would they be? For me, I would be a bridge because I want to connect communities.