The dams that changed australia

THE DAMS THAT CHANGED AUSTRALIA

SECTION ONE

Inl nd Austr li h s h d problem with drought from the time of white settlement in 1788 until tod y, nd this is why the Snowy Mount ins Scheme w s conceived nd founded. Before the Snowy Scheme l rge proportion of the snowfields on Austr li 's highest mount ins (the Snowy Mount ins) melted into the Snowy River every ye r. Hence, Snowy River w ter ,owed, ultim tely, into the se , not tow rd the dry interior of the country, where people needed it so desper tely. This w s first recognised by the Polish geologist nd explorer Strezlecki in 1840, who commented th t there could be no development of the inl nd without dequ te w ter supply. The rivers would h ve to be diverted if irrig tion were to succeed.
Before Feder tion in 1901, Austr li consisted of group of colonies, ll nxious to protect their own interests. After Feder tion the st tes ret ined rights to the w ter, nd thus to wh t might h ppen to the rivers. Arguments between New South W les, Victori nd South Austr li led to de dlocked Premiers' Conference in 1947. Despite this serious dispute, the Feder l P rli ment p ssed the Snowy Mount ins Hydro−electric Power Act just two ye rs l ter, on July
7. The project w s offici lly commenced on October 17 th t ye r, b rely three months fter the
ct h d been p ssed.

The scheme set out to h rness w ter for electricity nd to divert it b ck to the dry inl nd re s for irrig tion. To do this, thous nds of kilometres of tunnels h d to be drilled through the mount ins, nd sixteen m jor d ms nd seven hydro−electric power st tions built over period of nineteen ye rs. The first of these w s Gutheg Power St tion, which w s commissioned in 1954. nd the l st one to be finished w s Tumut III.

SECTION TWO

The Snowy Mount ins Scheme w s to lter the f ce of Austr li forever. One import nt ch nge w s the recruitment of people from outside Austr li to work on the scheme. In 1949, while the world w s still recovering from the effects of World W r II (1939 to 1945), the Austr li n government needed immense numbers of people to work on the Snowy. It sought l bour from overse s, nd 60,000 of the 100,000 people who worked on the scheme c me from outside

the country.

They c me from thirty different countries: from It ly, Yugosl vi , nd Germ ny, from sophistic ted cities like Bud pest, P ris nd Vienn , nd from tiny h mlets. These Europe n workers left countries which h d fought g inst e ch other during the w r, nd which h d v stly different cultures, nd they found themselves in country which w s still defining itself. They were dventurous young men, some highly skilled, some not, nd they c me to pl ce which offered both enormous ch llenges nd primitive conditions. M ny were housed in tents in the e rly d ys of the scheme, lthough some fortun te men were pl ced in b rr cks. The food w s b sic, fem le comp ny extremely sc rce nd entert inment l cking.