Described as one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world, the Snowy Scheme consists of eight power stations, 16 major dams, 80 kilometres of aqueducts and 145 kilometres of interconnected tunnels.
More than 100,000 people worked on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from its launch in 1949 to its official opening in 1972. Migrants of more than 30 nationalities made up about 65 per cent of the workforce.
The scheme brought together thousands of people whose nations only years before had been fighting each other. These included British and Germans, Norwegians and Italians, Australians and Austrians, but as William Hudson said, ‘You aren’t any longer Czechs or Germans, you are men of the Snowy’.
The Snowy is still generating power today, producing 32 per cent of all renewable energy available to Australia’s east coast mainland grid.
It's a great ABC documentary to watch on a rainy day like today.
