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As you enjoy the immense natural beauty of the mountains on the Roof of Australia tour in the Australian Alps, it is impossible not to notice and be impressed by the engineering marvel of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, one of the most complex integrated water diversion and hydro-electric power schemes in the world.
December 2009
As a means of offsetting the disastrous effects of droughts, the concept of diverting water from some of Australia's best-known rivers - the Murray, Murrumbidgee, Snowy and Tumut Rivers - dates back as far as the 1880s. However, it was not until 1944 that a committee of Commonwealth and State representatives was formed to examine from a broad, national viewpoint the development of the water resources of the Snowy Mountains area.
After the Second World War, plans for post-war reconstruction led to a proposal by the State of New South Wales for diversion of the waters of the Snowy to the Murrumbidgee River for irrigation and agriculture – a scheme in which little emphasis was placed on the generation of power. The Victorian Government proposed a counter-scheme involving very much greater generation of power and involving diversion not to the Murrumbidgee but to the Murray.
The Commonwealth Government, however, seized with the national implications of these proposals, brought about a meeting in 1946 of Commonwealth and State representatives to discuss the general utilization of Snowy waters and subsequently a Committee was set up to examine the whole question on the broadest possible basis.
This Committee’s report in November 1948 suggested consideration of a far larger scheme than any previously put forward. It involved not only the question of utilisation of the waters of the Snowy but also a general consideration of the possible diversion of a number of rivers in the area – tributaries not only of the Snowy but also of the Murray and Murrumbidgee.
The recommendations of the Committee were generally agreed to by a conference of Ministers representing the Commonwealth and States of New South Wales and Victoria and it was also agreed that the Committee should continue its investigations.
A further report was submitted by the Committee in June 1949 and the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act. In the next month the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority (SMA) was constituted and thus was inaugurated the greatest engineering scheme in Australian history.
Construction started on the Scheme on 17 October 1949, when the Governor-General, Sir William McKell, Prime Minister Ben Chifley and inaugural Commissioner William Hudson fired the first blast at Adaminaby. Construction was completed in 1974, for a total historical cost (funded by Commonwealth Government advances) of $820 million.
Before construction work could begin, investigation teams of geologists, surveyors and hydrologists were sent up into the mountains to gather information about topography, rock types and water flows.
This photograph shows a diamond drilling team assembling core samples of granite in a mountain camp. Samples and data from the investigation teams were analysed in laboratories in Cooma. This information was then passed on to the contractors who were to build the dams, power stations and tunnels.
In the preliminary planning stages of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, Australian engineers went to America for short periods of time to study with the United States Bureau of Reclamation, where they were taught aspects of dam design and construction for land reclamation style projects such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Although the Scheme was a federal government venture, most of the construction was carried out by public works departments and private firms from Australia and overseas who were invited to tender for specific works.
This represented a major change in the construction management of large civil engineering works in Australia. Whereas works had been traditionally constructed by day labour, the contractual system led to the introduction into Australia of large overseas firms, which has been of great benefit to the development of the modern civil construction industry in Australia.
Eucumbene Dam, for example, was contracted to the Public Works Department of the NSW Government in late 1949. The private American contractors Kaiser, Walsh, Perini and Raymond took over the work in 1956 and it was completed in 1958.
The Americans introduced (at the insistence of Commissioner Hudson) work regimes that were different to those the Australian worker was accustomed to – e.g. long shifts, short tea and lunch breaks and 24-hour shift rosters (above and below ground).
A large percentage of the work force was unionised. The effective organisation of labour meant that relatively high rates of pay were awarded to compensate for the difficult conditions. Most work agreements were settled by negotiation rather than strike action
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This was especially true in the early days before the legal legitimacy of the Scheme’s foundation was enshrined in State legislation in Victoria and NSW in 1959, during which time workers and their representatives assiduously played for concessions with an Authority keen to avoid controversy.
Besides the gathering of technical data, the early problems of the Authority were the establishment of stores, workshops, laboratories, offices and accommodation. Communications needed to be developed over the area as well as road systems, camps and townships.
Some 1,600 km of roads were constructed and townships and main camps established at over 100 locations. Community services and amenities were also a need for the construction and associated workforces which numbered over 7,300 personnel at the peak of construction in 1959.
Working in the tunnels, driving heavy equipment and stringing high voltage lines were dangerous occupations. The SMA and contractor companies introduced comprehensive safety measures, such as the provision of protective clothing, safety signs and the compulsory wearing of seat belts. It was the first time many of these procedures were adopted in Australia.
On the other hand, rigorous schedules pushed many to exhaustion. Workers were encouraged to work long shifts in order to break records and win bonuses for themselves and their employers. Work often continued around the clock. This in itself made work more dangerous.
This photograph shows men employed by the Australian contract company Thiess Brothers drilling hard rock in the Tumut-Tooma Tunnel in 1959. They are wearing standard issue hard hats, rubberised coats and pants and hardened safety boots.
Industrial safety concerns were given special attention by management with the establishment of safety committees and guidelines. However, these innovations were often introduced as a result of accidents. A film on trains in tunnels, for example, was produced as a result of numerous accidents.
Other workplace issues such as hearing protection which are now addressed in safety guidelines and legislation were not fully considered in the early days of the Scheme. During blasting in tunnels, for example, workers blocked their ears with their fingers and opened their mouths to prevent burst eardrums. Breathing apparatus were not provided even though the air in the tunnels was thick with dust.
The SMA paid careful attention to the visual impact of the main Snowy constructions. An aesthetics committee was established in the 1950s. Guthega and Murray 1 Power Stations in particular reflected the modernist preference for bold expression in concrete, steel and glass. Power station interiors were also important as visitors were frequently guided through them. Turbine halls, like this one at Tumut 1 Power Station, typically featured a viewing gallery at one end so visitors could wonder at the display of high technology.
When the Scheme began in 1949, access to remote regions was gained on foot by geologists, hydrologists, and surveyors. Packhorses were used extensively to carry materials, equipment, and supplies over difficult terrain to the men and women who lived and worked in the isolation of the Australian Alps. The packhorse could be loaded with supplies of food, building materials for the construction of huts, trade tools and scientific instruments. Horses were also used for reconnaissance surveys that were undertaken by geologists, hydrologists and surveyors.
In time, access roads were established to facilitate the movement of large construction machines, materials and food supplies. Roads had to be established that would allow the transport of materials in a range of extreme weather conditions and they had to be built to specifications for carrying enormously heavy loads of construction and power generation equipment.
Over time the SMA established a fleet of heavy transport vehicles, aircraft, utility vehicles and sedans, snow ploughs and snow cats. The SMA maintained a large public relations program and during the construction phase buses and other vehicles were used to transport thousands of visitors around the Scheme. The Scheme was a major testing ground for the Landrover in Australia and more than 13,000 had been imported to the country by the mid-1950s.
The Scheme necessitated the use of huge stocks of modern heavy plant equipment that was unprecedented in Australia. Massive excavation and haulage works were undertaken by giant trucks and earthmovers.
“Tournapulls” designed by the US company Le Tourneau and built in Sydney by Le Tourneau-Westinghouse were sold as state-of-the-art high-speed earthmovers capable of travelling at up to 80 kilometres an hour. They emptied their loads while moving, speeding up the process of horizontal filling. Tournapulls were operated by a complex electrical system with dumping and steering activated by buttons.
They were also among the most dangerous heavy plant machines on the Scheme. This picture shows a smashed Tournapull at Eucumbene Dam site in the mid-1950s. These bottom-dumping earth transporters were nicknamed ‘widowmakers’ because of their fickle handling characteristics at speed.
On completion in 1974, the Scheme consisted of seven power stations, 16 major dams, 145 kilometres of inter-connected tunnels and 80 kilometres of aqueducts.
In 1997 a new company, Snowy Hydro Trading Pty Ltd (SHTPL), was established by the New South Wales Government and the State Electricity Commission of Victoria as a joint venture to trade electricity generated by the Snowy Mountains Scheme in the National Electricity Market. SHTPL acted as an agent for the Scheme's electricity entitlement holders and was the registered generator in respect of the Authority's generation capabilities. The Commonwealth formally joined SHTPL as a shareholder in February 2000.
The Snowy Mountains Scheme was corporatised on 28 June 2002, which transformed it from a government-owned enterprise into a corporation called Snowy Hydro Limited operating under the Corporations Act. The shareholders are the NSW Government (58%), the Government of Victoria (29%) and the Commonwealth Government (13%).
Snowy Hydro operates in the National Electricity market and is a producer, supplier and trader of clean, renewable energy. The renewable energy produced by the Scheme means that less power generation is required from coal-fired power stations, making a substantial contribution to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
As well as providing clean, renewable energy, Snowy Hydro is a provider of derivative products such as energy insurance hedges. These offer a type of insurance for the electricity industry, giving certainty to customers and helping them manage their exposure to the volatile electricity market.
Built in the national interest with the support of the New South Wales, Victorian, South Australian and Commonwealth Governments, the Scheme today provides electricity to the National Electricity Market and much needed drought security to Australia's dry inland.
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Sources:
Snowy Hydro Ltd – www.snowyhydro.com.au
www.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/snowy/
McHugh, Siobhan. (1989) The Snowy: People Behind the Power (William Heinemann, Port Melbourne, 1989), pp.200-201.
Collis, Brad, Snowy – The Making of Modern Australia (Melbourne, 1988; online 2009) –
www.bradcollis.net/snowy/
Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Special Article - The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme” (1301.0 – 1986)
Price, D.G., "The Snowy Mountains Scheme - the History and the Snowy Today", Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, Symposium: The Spirit of The Snowy - 50 Years On (November 1999)
Endersbee, L.A., "The Snowy Vision and the Young Team - The First Decade of Engineering for the Snowy Mountains Scheme", Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, Symposium: The Spirit of The Snowy - 50 Years On (November 1999)
Australian Department of Culture & Recreation Culture Portal –
www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/snowyscheme/
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