Snowy River Hydro

1. Snowy River Hydro

2. History • When the scheme began in 1949, the rugged Snowy Mountains had barely been charted with few roads to assist in the construction. The Scheme managed by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority, now called Snowy Hydro Limited, the body set up to construct the project, had to lay down all the roads before anything could be done. Two nearby townships were destroyed and residents relocated to make way for the huge dams. Several small towns were built for its construction workers of which some have become permanent.

3. First Proposal • Initial proposals in 1918 were instigated by the needs of farmers who wanted to make use of the waters of the Snowy River which flowed down the Great Dividing Ranges into the sea, by diverting the water inland for irrigation. In the same year, a plan for a dam was suggested to the NSW government for the construction of a power plant but made no provision for inland irrigation. However the plans were put on hold, revived once in 1937 and 1944 and it wasn’t until 1946 where the Federal, Victorian and NSW governments joined together to investigate the possibilities of a Snowy Scheme. In 1949 the Government accepted a proposal and the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Power Act was passed in Federal Parliament in July 1949.

4. Small Details • It took nearly 25 years to build from 1949 to 1974 and had a historical cost of $800 million is equivalent to approximately $6 billion dollars in today’s dollar currency. • The intention was that income from the sale of electricity generated by the scheme was to repay the Commonwealth Government over a period of 70 years. • The construction of the scheme employed about 100,000 workers from 30 countries which played an important role in Australia's post-war economic and social development • The scheme comprises of 16 large dams and many smaller ones, around 145 kilometres of mountain tunnels, seven power stations two underground, more than 80km of mountain aqueducts and hundreds of kilometres of power lines. • It covers an area of around 5,000 square kilometres in the rugged Snowy Mountains on the New South Wales-Victoria border. • The Scheme provides approximately 2,100 gigalitres of water a year to the Basin, providing additional water for an irrigated agriculture industry worth about $5 billion per annum, representing more than 40% of the gross value of the nation's agricultural production. • Snowy Hydro currently provides over 70% of all renewable energy that is available to the eastern mainland grid of Australia, as well as providing fast response power to light up the morning and evening rush hours of Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide.

5. Environmental and social costs • The contradictory view of the Snowy River as both a cherished landscape and a resource to be exploited, has characterised white Australian attitudes towards the river to the present day. Groups such as the Snowy River Alliance campaigned vigorously in the 1990s to restore more of the river's flow. They argued that with only one precent of its original water, the ecology of the river was collapsing. • Those who live down stream from the Jindabyne Dam were compelled to find alternative sources of water. These people had been told that the Scheme would stop spring flooding. After the damming of the Snowy, they struggled to get enough water for domestic and commercial use. • This ‘Save the Snowy’ poster was one of many produced by the Snowy River Alliance to publicise the issue of the river. Through meetings, petitions, and political lobbying they have managed to make their case a significant issue in the press and parliament.