THE SNOWY HYDRO SCHEME

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• What is it?
• Why build it?
• Who built it?

WHAT IS IT?

• Nine major dams, one pumping station and 225km of pipes and aqueducts.
• The largest engineering project in Australia.

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WHAT DOES IT DO?

• Provides power to NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
• Provides water for one of the most important areas of farm land in the country.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

• How do hydroelectric power plants work?

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WHY BUILD IT?

• In 1949 the world was a different place, and so was Australia.
• There were only 8 million people in Australia (there are 8 million people in NSW and the ACT).

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• The world was recovering from World War II, there were millions of people in Europe who were displaced by war.

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• People across the world needed food, and Australia was (and still is) a huge producer of food.
• We wanted more water to grow food for a world devastated by war.

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• We also wanted to encourage more people to come to live here, as we were worried that we could not defend ourselves from our neighbours.

WHO BUILT IT?

• There were not enough engineers and skilled miners in Australia so we had to find people from other countries.

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• People came from 30 countries around the world, they were offered a new life and a well paying job.
• Ironically, some of these countries were recently our enemies.

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• More than 100 000 people came to Australia, this was the biggest influx of non- Anglo Celtic people in our history.

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• These 100 000 people were well paid, and nearly all became citizens.
• This was the beginning of the move to a multicultural Australia.