Siobhán McHugh - The Snowy: A history

THE SNOWY

S IOBHN M C H UGH is an award-winning writer, oral historian, academic and audio producer. The first edition of this book won the NSW Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction (1990) and was the basis of an ABC radio series and a Film Australia documentary. Siobhns fictional account, My Australian Story: Snowy (2003, 2017), was on the NSW Premiers Reading List for primary school children. Among her other acclaimed books are Minefields and Mini-skirts, about Australian womens involvement in the Vietnam War and Cottoning On, a social history of the Australian cotton industry. Siobhn is also an internationally recognised podcast producer, researcher and critic, whose audio work has won gold and bronze awards at the New York Radio Festival. She co-produced, with The Age newspaper, the investigative podcasts Phoebes Fall and Wrong Skin. Her latest podcast, Heart of Artness, examines cross-cultural relationships behind the production of Australian Aboriginal art. Siobhn is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Wollongong.

Great things are done when men and mountains meet.

This is not done by jostling in the street.

William Blake, Gnomic Verses

A NewSouth book

Published by

NewSouth Publishing

University of New South Wales Press Ltd

University of New South Wales

Sydney NSW 2052

AUSTRALIA

newsouthpublishing.com

Siobhn McHugh 2019

First edition published by William Heinemann Australia in 1989

Second edition published by Angus & Robertson, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Australia, in 1995

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

ISBN9781742236223 (paperback)

9781742244549 (ebook)

9781742249018 (ePDF)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia

Design Josephine Pajor-Markus

Cover design Lisa White

Front cover image Technicians work on a new transmission line to carry power from Australias Snowy Mountains Scheme to the electricity grid systems of New South Wales and Victoria. National Archives of Australia, 9535648

Back cover image Tumut I, 1958. Snowy Mountains Authority

Printer Griffin Press

All reasonable efforts were taken to obtain permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book, but in some cases copyright could not be traced. The author welcomes information in this regard.

This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or sustainably managed forests.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is based on diverse interactions I had with some 400 people who were in some way connected with the Scheme. Publications of the Snowy Mountains Authority, coronial records of New South Wales, ABC radio archives and contemporary newspaper accounts provide most of the other sources. The major contributors, with most of whom I recorded oral history interviews, are: Gunnar Aas, Johnny Abbottsmith, Bob Ampt, Ken Andrews, Dr Jonathan Baksa, Tom Barry, Bruce Bashford, Fred and Pat Baxter, Derek and Peter Berents, Otto Blank, Rod Bridges, Jack Bridle, Bill and Pat Cameron, Bob Cameron, Harold (Curly) Christman, Arthur Costello, Joe Dickinson, Ed Doherty, Tom Doherty, Joyce Dudas, Constantin Dumitrascu, Clarrie, Shirley and Cheryl Dunn, Charles and Barbara Eglitis, Bill Elder, Hans Fischer, lvars Freimanis, Pino Frezza, Molly Gately, Greg and Flo Golby, Newton Goldman, Sean and Clare Gordon, Paul and Nona Grech, Ian, Billie and Chris Griffiths, Eva Grunnsund, Lindsay Hain, Jean Hegewald, Bill Holmes, Aubrey and Thelma Hosking, Paddy and John Houlihan, Lady Eileen Hudson, Lenny Jarvis, Heinz Jeromin, Jim Jones, Pearlie Kennedy, Paddy and Jan Kerrigan, Alice Kidman, Jan and Diana Klima, Ivan Kobal, Nelson and Ada Lemmon, Tom Little, Kon Martynow, Sammy McDonald, Blanche McGufficke, Georgina McQuade, Duke Milford, Franco Molinari, Joe and Dolores Morgan, Sergio and Marcia Moro, Clive Morse, Boyd Mould, Ian and Robin Mould, Pat Mulhall, Ksenia Nasielski, Luciano Notte, Greg Oakes, Ulick OBoyle, Johnny OBrien, Pat ODea, Charlie Oliver, Bronte Paech, Karl and Trudi Pahl, Max and Maisie Paterick, Angelina and Mario Pighin, Ivor Pinkerton, Faye Popowski, Doug Price, Les Price, Col and June Purcill, Jack and Val Robertson, Roy and Kay Robinson, Frank Rodwell, Jack Rooney, Charlie Salvestro, Wassil and Stephanie Stajkoff, Herbert and Larissa Schmidtke, Tony Sponar, Ella Stewart, Leo, Leigh, and Nita Stewart, Hans (Fred) Swang, Jrgen Tampke, Doug and Beth Thatcher, Sir Leslie Thiess, Eddie and Joyce Vaz, Imans Viesis (Willie-the-Whip), Fred and Jackie Vines, Bev and Wendy Wales, Wally and Betty Wassermann, Gunnar and Joan Wennberg, Ken White, Jock and Patti Wilson, and Geoff Yen.

Extracts from the Cooma Coroners Reports in subject to Crown copyright is reproduced with the permission of the Crown, through the New South Wales Attorney-General. Extracts from broadcasts by William Hudson reproduced by kind permission of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Images provided by the State Library of New South Wales (IR238927) reproduced with permission. Images provided by the National Archives of Australia (1326320) reproduced with permission. This work was assisted by a writers fellowship from the Australia Council. Special thanks to the following: Jenny Palmer, for the idea; Teresa Pitt, for supporting it in its first book form; Denise Ashcroft, Robin Binder, Frank Rodwell, Russell Stores and all at the Snowy Mountains Authority who helped; Jan Ferris, who kindly lent the wonderful photographs of her late husband, Ray; Patricia Lucas, for entrusting me with the unpublished memoir of her father, Justice Stanley Taylor; Curly Christman, Clive Morse, Doug Thatcher, Angelina Pighin and Jan Klima, for lending special mementos; Bill Cameron, Clarrie Dunn, Jim Lawrie, Robyn Salmon and all who provided me with personal photographs; the Snowy Mountains Authority, for generously supplying over 100 superb shots and maps and information for Appendix 2; Ivan Kobal and Boyd Mould, for permission to use their poems, and Ulick OBoyle for permission to use The Cooma Cavaliers; the Royal Hotel, Cooma, for charging such reasonable accommodation rates; Arthur Costello, for his enthusiasm and generosity; Bryony Cosgrove, Pam Brewster and Geoff Currey for, respectively, editing, designing and overseeing production of the first edition; and Victor Smith, for sharing the journey. For support in bringing out the 1995 paperback edition thanks to my agent, Barbara Mobbs, publisher Angelo Loukakis and editor Jude McGee. For bringing this 70th anniversary edition to fruition, my heartfelt thanks to my agent, Jane Novak, publisher Phillipa McGuinness, project editor Emma Hutchinson, copy editor Fiona Sim, and journalist Claire Miller for her analysis of the environmental impact of the Scheme. Finally, I salute my closest reader, companion in life and endless source of inspiration and love, Christopher Gow.