Chapter 6
I Construction During The Settlement Years
II The Use Of Timber As A Structural Material
III Structural Steel
IV Concrete Technology
V Housing
VI Industrialised Pre-cast Concrete Housing
VII Ports And Harbours
VIII Roads
IX Heavy Foundations
X Bridges
XI Sewerage
XII Water Engineering
XIII Railways
XIV Major Buildings
XV Airports
XVI Thermal Power Stations
XVII Materials Handling
XVIII Oil Industry
XIX The Snowy Mountains Scheme
XX The Sydney Opera House
XXI The Sydney Harbour Bridge
XXII Hamersley Iron
XXIII North West Shelf
Sources and References
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
The second major project of the Snowy Mountains Scheme is water for irrigation. The Scheme has diverted inland the waters of the Snowy River and has also provided additional control of the inland-flowing streams rising in the Snowy Mountains. The overall benefit to the Murrumbidgee has been assessed as equivalent to 1,380,000 megalitres per annum and to the Murray 980,000 megalitres per annum. The additional water available in the Murrumbidgee is used by New South Wales; in the Murray it is shared by New South Wales and Victoria and, during dry periods, South Australia.
The Scheme was constructed between 1949 and 1973 and is undoubtedly one of Australia's greatest development achievements. A great boost was given to the engineering and construction industry with the assembly of a great array of imported overseas talents to supplement those already available in Australia. Engineering expertise for investigation, design and supervision work was obtained in large measure by a training arrangement with the United States Government, both in the United States and in Australia. Construction of the Scheme saw the gradual development of the capability of the Australian construction industry to handle the massive proportions of the Scheme. By the time the Scheme finished, some 40 major contracting organisations, as well as numerous smaller companies, had been involved in contracts worth well over $400 million and the Australian construction industry itself had 'come of age'.
Under the Commonwealth States Agreement of 1958 the Snowy Mountains Council was constituted as a body with responsibility for the direction and control of the operation and maintenance of the permanent works of the Scheme. Representation from the Commonwealth Government and the States of New South Wales and Victoria comprise this Council.
The Snowy Mountains Authority, with its headquarters at Cooma, carries out the required electrical, mechanical and civil maintenance of the completed diversion works and power stations of the Scheme on behalf of the Council. The operating personnel in the power stations and switching stations are provided by the Electricity Commissions of New South Wales and Victoria.
The Snowy Scheme brought about a requirement to import engineering technology from the United States of America and other overseas centres of engineering excellence. These imported skills were consolidated and improved over the years, such that, on completion of the Scheme, a new organisation, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) was set up in 1970 to use these improved skills elsewhere in Australia and overseas. SMEC has acted as the major flag carrier of Australia's engineering services into 45 overseas countries. The engineering technology imported in the early days of the Snowy Scheme has therefore been fully utilised, improved, and then exported to assist the countries of the developing world.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Electricity Commission of New South Wales; Snowy Mountains Council; Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (S.M.E.C.); Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority (S.M.H.A.); State Electricity Commission of Victoria (S.E.C.)
People in Bright Sparcs - Price, Douglas G.
 |
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition pages 421 - 423, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/423.html