Today, 60 years after the first blast, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is recognised as one of the most incredible achievements in Australia – not only an engineering and construction marvel but a project that brought thousands of migrants to our shores.
On completion in 1974, seven power stations, 16 dams and 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts had been constructed.
Find out more about the Snowy's mighty history:
Since the late 19th century, expanding settlement had created a need to direct water inland for irrigation and to alleviate droughts. By 1946 hydro-electricity production was also part of the plan.
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act, passed on 7 July 1949, established the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority to manage the project. The authority began operations on 1 August 1949 with New Zealand-born engineer William Hudson as commissioner.
The Governor-General of Australia, Sir William McKell, pressed the button to fire the first blast, officially starting the scheme on 17 October 1949.
Commissioner Hudson realised quick results were needed to silence the Snowy’s many doubters. The first power from the Snowy flowed from Guthega power station in February 1955.
Throughout the project, construction contracts were awarded to overseas and Australian companies. The American firm Kaiser-Walsh-Perini-Raymond (Kaiser) revolutionised engineering practice in Australia. It consistently broke tunnelling records and completed projects ahead of schedule.
In 1958 Thiess Brothers became the first Australian company to win a major contract on the Snowy. By the time construction was completed in 1974, Thiess had built a quarter of the entire scheme.
In 1949 Australia’s population was only eight million people. The nation needed engineers, technicians and tradesmen, as well as machinery and equipment.
An estimated 100,000 people worked on the Snowy between 1949 and 1974. Migrants, representing over 30 nationalities, made up approximately 65 per cent of the workforce. They had travelled across the world seeking work and a new life after the turmoil of World War II.
These migrants, known as New Australians, provided the skills and manpower to build the Snowy.
Gerard van Wezel met his future wife Marretje in Geelong, both having migrated from the Netherlands in 1952.
He responded to a newspaper advertisement for technical officers on the Snowy Scheme, and started work there in January 1958. Gerard and Marretje married in 1959, raised three children in Cooma and became strong community members.
Gerard retired after 14 years with the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority and 12 years with the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation.
Romolo Fubelli was just 19 when he arrived in Australia from Rome, Italy in August 1952, leaving behind his parents and 10 siblings.
Romolo worked on the Snowy Scheme as a tunnel pump attendant with Thiess Brothers, the first Australian company to win a major contract – which included driving a 14-kilometre tunnel between the Tooma River and the Tumut Pond reservoir. His workmates elected him as an Australian Workers’ Union representative.
Romolo’s records in the National Archives end at this point. His story, however, is typical of the many migrants who found work on the Snowy.
Most workers were men, many having left wives and children back home to come to work on the Snowy.
They found themselves in one of the most isolated and inhospitable places in Australia. Living conditions were primitive. Most ‘wages’ workers lived in barracks with only basic amenities. The work was physically demanding, dirty and often dangerous. Tunnel drilling in particular was relentless, hazardous, high-pressure work.
