This souvenir depicts and lists the engineering features of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, which diverts east-flowing water westwards and captures energy from the water as it falls through huge turbines. The souvenir was designed to promote the Scheme and to educate tourists who visited the region during its construction, which began in 1949 and was completed in 1974. Building the Scheme was a massive engineering project, and the Snowy Mountains Authority ran a major public relations exercise to boost public and political support and so ensure that the vision for the Scheme would be fully realised.

The model shows cross-sections of the two arms of the Scheme: one to divert water from the Snowy River and its tributaries into the Murrumbidgee River via the Tooma and Tumut Rivers; and the other to divert water into the Murray River. Information below the cross-sections quantifies the Scheme's twin outputs: water for irrigating farmland; and 'peak load power' from hydro-electric generators, which can easily be switched on and off to complement 'base load power' from thermal power stations at times of peak demand.

The topography depicted by the cross-section is the source of the Scheme's success, as it ensures that the Snowy Mountains region receives the most reliable precipitation in mainland Australia. The topography was also the source of many challenges to the engineers and workers who constructed the Scheme. Each tunnel, dam and power station was to become an achievement, a source of wealth and national pride, but at the cost of workers' lives and environmental damage. The model is complemented by object 99/73/1, a topographic model that shows a bird's eye view of the Scheme.

The model is of historical interest as it depicts some structures that were never built; plans for the Kosciusko and Windy Creek power stations and Kosciusko reservoir were scrapped, due to cost and environmental concerns rather than loss of political support. The model uses the older simplified spelling of Kosciuszko, the name of the Polish hero after whom Polish-born explorer Paul Strzelecki named the mountain in 1840, when he climbed to its summit and noted that it is Australia's highest point.

Debbie Rudder, Curator, 2009

The model was made for the Snowy Mountains Authority between 1960 and 1965.

The Snowy Mountains Authority sold many copies of this cross-section model and accompanying topographic model (99/73/1) for promotional and educational purposes. During a family visit to the Scheme in 1971, the donor, Brenda Longworth, and her husband Tom bought the models as educational tools for their three boys to use in school projects.

Model, cross-section, Snowy Mountains Scheme, plastic, Snowy Mountains Authority, Australia, 1960-1965.

The cross-section model consists of a thin moulded plastic sheet, background in pale blue, with slightly raised section views of the two arms of the Scheme: the Snowy-Tumut Development and the Snowy-Murray Development. A vertical exaggeration of close to 20 makes the mountains appear much steeper than they really are.

The mountains that are not in line with the major cross-sections are cross-hatched in black on white. The mountains in the major cross-sections are coloured black, reservoirs are blue, tunnels and pipes are red, and power stations and pumping station are yellow. Arrows show the direction of water flow in tunnels and pipes. A legend indicates the total length of aqueducts and tunnels, the number of dams and power stations, peak load power (4 million kilowatts), and the amount of water supplied annually for irrigation (2 million acre-feet). A scale showing height above sea level in feet is provided for each arm of the Scheme.

Note that an acre-foot is an imperial measure of volume equivalent to about 1.23 megalitres. Applied only to the measurement of water, it is the volume required to cover an area of one acre (c 0.4 hectare) to a depth of one foot (c 300 mm).

Maker: Snowy Mountains Authority; Cooma, New South Wales; 1960 - 1965

Title at top of model, printed text, blue with white border: "SNOWY MOUNTAINS SCHEME". Printed in black in bottom right corner is "Copyright: Snowy Mountains Authority"

99/73/2

1960 - 1965

10 mm

460 mm