Snowy Mountains Scheme, Hydroelectric complex in Cabramurra, Australia

The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a hydroelectric and irrigation complex in south-east Australia with sixteen major dams, nine power stations, two pumping stations and 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts. Two tunnel systems cross the Great Dividing Range, carrying Snowy River water inland; it falls 800 metres through the power stations. The photograph shows a pale grey-blue reservoir curving through a valley between densely wooded slopes.

Construction began in 1949 as a response to water shortage and energy demand after the Second World War and employed more than one hundred thousand workers from thirty countries. The entire system was completed in 1974 and marked at the time the largest engineering project in the southern hemisphere.

The name Snowy refers to the snow-capped peaks of the region, which carry snow for up to five months in winter and were once used mainly by shepherds. Today the reservoirs and stations serve as technical monuments where visitors can observe the scale of hydroelectric installations up close.

Some locations are accessible via mountain roads that are often closed in winter due to snow and ice. The facilities lie in remote areas with weak mobile coverage, so planning the route beforehand is recommended.

The scheme's tunnels set tunnelling records, and the whole complex was finished on time and on budget in 1974 at a cost of A$820 million. Around two thirds of the workforce were immigrants from over thirty countries; the official death toll among workers is 121.