If you are planning a quiet walk in the evening from the Melbourne Cricket Ground towards Federation Square and haven’t heard from (yes…you read that right!) the William Barak Bridge, then prepared to ge spooked – at least for the first few minutes.

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The William Barak Bridge is a 525-meter long installation going over the Batman Avenue, which then descends towards the Yarra River and Birrarung Marr Park. But unlike other bridges, it talks to you. Well…to be more accurate, it sings to you – in 53 different voices and languages!

The bridge is a sound design project. It was commissioned by the Victorian Government to celebrate the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. The corridor of human voices was conceptualized by Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, and is a tribute to the people from 53 Commonwealth nations that now live in Australia.

A calligraphic motif traverses the length of the bridge, which is painted by Simeon Nelson, the well-known Australian sculptor.

Four sensors control the 56 loudspeakers that are placed on both sides of the bridge.

As for the man after whom the bridge has been named, William Barak, who died in 1903 aged 79, was an Aboriginal leader of the clan that lived in Melbourne in the 19th century. He was an artiste himself, but is better known as a suave mediator, orator and an advocate for the rights of his Aboriginal people.

And because he was so successful in bridging the gap between the settlers and the Aboriginals, it is apt that the bridge was named after him.

Among the various song recording that you can hear on the bridge are The hand loom weaver and the factory maid by Danny Spooner (England), Song collected from travelling tinkers by John McAuslan (Scotland), Karnatic singing by Narmatha Ravichandhira (India), Song to the new generation by Tahir Hashmi (Pakistan) and Celebrating the joy of coming together by Valanga Khoza (South Africa).

As you walk down the bridge, the experience can be a bit surreal at first, a potpourri of familiar and strange voices. But you just need to stop for a minute and the entire experience becomes almost transcendental. The occasional sound of the trains going under your feet can be an irritation though.