The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme is a major Australian project that has had a wide range of impacts, including: providing water for irrigation, along with concomitant salinity problems; providing electricity from a renewable resource and improving the flexibility and reliability of the electricity system in the south-east of Australia; stimulating immigration, innovation and industry over the 25 years of its construction; modifying the landscape of the Snowy Mountains region and disrupting the lives of its inhabitants; and greatly reducing the amount of water in the Snowy River.

The topography of the region depicted on the plaque was the source both of the scheme's success and of many challenges to the engineers and workers who constructed it. 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 plaque was one of several presented to dignitaries at the inauguration of the scheme on 17 October 1949 at Adaminaby, a town that was to be moved to make way for the major water storage, Lake Eucumbene. The plaque represents the landscape, the engineering that would be needed to alter it, the political achievement of inauguration after many years of proposals, investigations and negotiations, and the plans, hopes and concerns of all those involved. As this complex project was to be developed over many years, it could have been curtailed at any stage, making a mockery of the plaque. The details of the scheme were indeed to be changed, but in scale it fulfilled the vision proclaimed by the plaque.

The politicians present were all members of the Australian Labor Party; also present was Governor-General William McKell, who had represented that party, and championed the Snowy Scheme, in the NSW parliament. The Commonwealth Minister for Works and Housing, Nelson Lemmon, had championed the scheme in Canberra. Newly elected Liberal Party Prime Minister Robert Menzies was invited but claimed to have forgotten the occasion; despite his absence, he did back the scheme, and the bulk of the construction was completed while his party was in power. As the NSW Premier, the plaque's recipient James McGirr represented both the party that realised the scheme's inauguration and the state with the largest stake in the scheme.

Debbie Rudder, Curator, 2005

It is not known how many plaques were made or by whom. However, there is evidence that at least 14 were presented: the souvenir program for the inauguration lists seven dignitaries including McGirr as having made speeches; it also lists seven parliamentary representatives on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Policy Committee (in addition to Nelson Lemmon, one of the speakers), and a similar plaque now held by Snowy Hydro was presented to a member of this committee, Wilfrid Kent Hughes, then a Minister in the Victorian government.

The plaque was presented to James McGirr on 17 October 1949 at the inauguration ceremony for the Scheme, which was held at Adaminaby. It was retained by him and, after his death in 1957, by his family. The donor is his younger son.

Presentation plaque, Snowy Mountains Scheme, metal / timber / plastic / paper, presented to New South Wales Premier James McGirr at the Scheme's inauguration, Adaminaby, New South Wales, Australia, maker and place unknown, 1949

The plaque takes the form of a relief map of the Snowy Mountains area, in bronze, with glass inserts indicating the reservoirs, power houses and tunnels. These features light up when the attached power cord is plugged into a power point. The electrical components are hidden by a metal plate on the underside of the map. The wooden frame around the map bears an engraved metal plate commemorating the presentation, and a drawer in one side of the frame holds a paper relief map of the scheme.

Maker: Unknown; Australia; 1949

Owner: McGirr, James; Australia; 1949 - 1957

On a metal strip directly in front of the map, a broad arrow points to it. Below the arrow is a legend, with a red light followed by the words 'power houses' and a series of vertical lines followed by the word 'tunnels'. Centred on the same metal strip are the words 'Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Development'.

Another metal strip in front of the first, but on the sloping wooden frame, is inscribed:
'Presented to the Honourable J McGirr, MLA. Premier of New South Wales. To commemorate the inauguration of the works of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority. 17th October 1949.

2005/276/1

1949

190 mm

365 mm

380 mm