Swiss and German immigrants at work on the Snowy, Electrical supply was limited in pre-war Australia and the expansion of wartime industry led to serious power shortages throughout the late s and early s. This changed in with the development of a hydro-electric plant at Waddamana in central Tasmania and with the construction of a kilometre high-voltage transmission line to Hobart, which showed that the power could be moved to where it was needed.
However, the outbreak of the Second World War meant the proposal was not acted on. This led to the formation of the Commonwealth and States Snowy River Committee, which begin negotiations over water usage between the states.
Light box showing a map of the scheme and the areas it would irrigate. National Museum of Australia. Each of these states had their own views on how the waters should be used.
The limitations of the power system exposed during the war shifted public opinion towards using the water for electricity generation. However, New South Wales still argued that the primary purpose of any scheme should be irrigation while the federal government and Victoria wanted to prioritise power-generation with irrigation as a by-product. All parties saw the additional water supply as a way to diversify the rural economy away from pastoralism and wool and towards more extensive fruit and dairy production.
The disagreements continued until the federal government declared the project a national security issue — Australia needed a reliable source of electricity away from coastal areas, which were vulnerable to attack. The federal government introduced legislation under its defence powers and passed the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Power Act The final proposal, presented in November , consisted of two physically separate projects — one in the north and one in the south of the Snowys.
The northern development would divert water from the Eucumbene, upper Murrumbidgee and upper Tooma rivers into the Tumut River. During their swift fall to the plains these waters would turn electricity-generating turbines in the Tumut Valley. The water would then flow via the Tumut River into the Murrumbidgee for irrigation. The main storage for this system would be a reservoir formed by damming the Eucumbene River near Adaminaby.
A reservoir created by damming the Snowy River at the bottom end of the Jindabyne Valley would create the water storage for this section. National Archives of Australia Ultimately, two-thirds of all Snowy staff were from overseas. During the 25 years of the project, more than , men and women from 32 countries worked for the SMHEA with a peak labour force of in The scheme brought together thousands of people whose nations only years before had been fighting each other. The project was officially opened by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck in although work continued until However, in the 25 years it took to build, men were killed in industrial accidents.
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was one of the most complex engineering projects in the world. Between and the workforce built seven power stations, 16 dams, 80 kilometres of aqueducts and kilometres of tunnels as well as kilometres of roads and train tracks. More than temporary camps and seven townships were built to house the workers.
The Scheme reached its designed output capacity of megawatts in , and provides an annual average of 2. The Snowy is not without controversy. The environmental issues around rerouting entire river systems and denying the Snowy River its natural flow rate are still a concern.
It required the development of new tunnelling, electricity-generation and -transmission technologies. Snowcom, the first transistorised computer in Australia and one of the first dozen or so computers in the world, was designed and built by the University of Sydney in and used by the SMHEA in Cooma for the complex design calculations on the project.
The early construction contracts were won by multinational companies but the training they provided to local engineers meant that by the late s Australian companies were skilled enough to compete for and win contracts. The Snowy was the catalyst for preparing a new generation of Australian engineers.
In the American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Snowy as one of the civil engineering wonders of the world. Ben Chifley, Australian Dictionary of Biography.
The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to country, community and culture. Defining Moments Snowy Mountains Hydro. The amount of power generated is conditional on the 'head' of water distance the water falls and the volume of water regulated through the turbine. Transformers boost generated voltage which is then transmitted over high voltage transmission lines to load centres. Source: Snowy Hydro. Hydro-power generation utilises a plentiful supply of water, it emits no pollutants and is versatile in that it can be brought 'on stream' quickly for peak-load situations.
In fact the scheme is a 'peak-load' system, which supports the 'base-load' generation of the coal-fired, steam-operated systems in south-eastern Australia.
It requires minimal operational staff. At Murray 1 and 2 power stations the water falls about m and generates 1 megawatts of power in the two stations. Discover the Kosciuszko National Park.
Thanks for using Discover Murray River. Source: Wikipedia The Scheme took 25 years to build and was completed in Source: Snowy Hydro Hydro-power generation utilises a plentiful supply of water, it emits no pollutants and is versatile in that it can be brought 'on stream' quickly for peak-load situations.
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