Planning and initial site investigation

• Nelson Lemmon, Minister for Works, crucial in pushing scheme through and establishing it in such a way that its potential was not undermined by sectional interests
  • Made it a defence/security project, arguing important to have protected inland power source, so that Cwth would have constitutional authority to lead rather than states (which have responsibility for power and irrigation)
  • Sufficient benefit for Victoria that Menzies in opposition didn’t actively oppose, although he didn’t publicly support
  • Picked a leader (Bill Hudson) who was respected by unions, took job seriously (eg moving to Snowy vs others who wanted a “gentleman’s job” from Sydney), paid higher salary than the PM to create the aura of momentum and size: “We’ve got to create an atmosphere that this thing’s big, this thing’s going, it started off big.”
  • Bill Hudson promoted tours etc by general public to build support - tens of thousands of visitors per year - so that it would be politically difficult for future leaders to wind back support or funding
• Initial plan was that electricity generated would be equal to about one-third of coal production in Aus at the time
• Very difficult work surveying and taking rock core samples in hard, mountainous terrain
• Most design initially done by engineers from US Bureau of Reclamation, but gradually Aus engineers took over

Contribution of immigrants

• Postwar labour shortage in Aus — Chifley required that scheme did not worsen this, and so immigrants were accepted rather than “taking Australian jobs” — Aus about one-third of workers on the scheme
• Two-year commitment to manual labour
• Skills: Germans led the world in surveying techniques and equipment
• Hardiness: endurance from wartime, or escaping post-war Soviet states
• Program of recruiting in Europe: assessing trade skills, screening for dedicated Nazis or Communists
• Chifley took 100K immigrants early on the basis that early acceptance would mean getting the “cream of the crop”
• Immigrants who could ski were in high demand - few Australians could ski at the time

Productivity

• 22 unions involved, but not many major disputes or strikes

• High pay available for workers, though conditions were tough

• American contractors drove much harder than original Australian or European; Americans were from Kaiser, big in WWII construction

  Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II

• US had bonuses for rate of mining, and put rate of mining per shift on public blackboards to encourage competition

• US contract was for 21 metres per week, typical in Aus at time; by the end they were achieving 147m

• However this focus on speed probably led to poorer safety measures and some avoidable deaths

• Adiminaby (Eucumbene) Dam - originally to be built by Department of Public Works, starting 1949; but by 1955 was already two years behind schedule due to poor equipment and public bureaucracy. Also wastage and corrupt diversion of supplies. Most private companies refused to tender due to difficulty but Kaiser took over and completed in two years, when allowed four.

• US Kaiser manager coming onboard - shouted the bar to build goodwill - banned casual teatime but provided tea thermoses - abolished separate messes for managers vs workers - improved meal quality and equipment readiness

• Aus companies gradually emulated US methods and recruited US staff - Thiess Bros became first Aus company to win a Snowy contract in 1958, and built a quarter of the scheme

• Altogether, Aus companies did more work than overseas ones

• Aus hydro expertise was gathered into Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, which advised on projects in Asia and Pacific

Outputs

• First power delivered in Feb 1955, five years after inception and basically on schedule
• This was from Guthega, a relatively small and simple project to start with
• Final element was sixth unit of Tumut 3 station in 1974
• 145 km of tunnels
• Tumut 1 and 2 power stations are hundreds of metres underground; originally all stations were planned to be underground for defence reasons, but determined it wasn't necessary
• 121 people killed during construction; relatively low for a project of that scale at the time (0.6 deaths per mile of tunnel, vs 3.0 on St Bernard tunnel in Switzerland), but still many
• Relocation of towns
  • Adiminaby chose a site next to the new highway, but not much traffic stopped anyway; it became a "sterile, soulless place"; 42,000 acres of land acquired
  • Jindabyne chose a site on the shore of the new Lake Jindabyne; new town had better amenities in terms of water supply and roads; needed to relocate cemetery!
  • Talbingo was tiny, little more than a pub frequented by drovers