The
Snowy Mountains (known for short as the
Snowies) are the highest Australian mountain
range and contain the Australian mainland's
highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which
reaches 2228 metres above sea level. They
are located in southern New South Wales
and are part of the larger Australian
Alps and the Great Dividing Range. The
mountain range is thought to have had
Aboriginal occupation for twenty thousand
years. It was first explored by Europeans
in 1835. It is host to a low laying type
of pine tree suspected of being the world's
oldest living organism. It is one of the
centres of the Australian snow industry
during the winter months. The Snowy Mountains
feed the Snowy, Murrumbidgee and Murray
rivers and are perhaps best known for
the Snowy Mountains Scheme—a project
to dam the Snowy River, providing both
water for irrigation and hydroelectricity.
The
project began in 1949 employing a hundred
thousand men, two-thirds of whom came
from thirty other countries during the
post-World War II years. Socially this
project symbolises a period during which
Australia became a "melting pot"
of the twentieth century but which also
changed Australia's character and increased
its appreciation for a wide range of cultural
diversity. By 1974, 145 kilometres of
underground tunnels and 80 kilometres
of aqueducts connected the 16 dams, 7
power stations (2 underground), and one
pumping station. The American Society
of Civil Engineers rated the Snowy Scheme
as "a world-class civil engineering
project".
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