Tumut Pondage, Arch dam in Snowy Mountains, Australia.

Tumut Pondage is an arch dam built across the Tumut River in the Snowy Mountains. The curved concrete structure holds back water that flows through an underground power station located downriver.

Completed in 1959, Tumut Pond Dam was built by the Kaiser-Walsh-Perini-Raymond consortium to plans by the United States Bureau of Reclamation for the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority. It is one of sixteen major dams of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, built between 1949 and 1974.

The reservoir the dam creates is called Tumut Pond Reservoir, or Tumut Pondage, and locals also know it as Tumut 1 Reservoir. Its water comes from snowmelt and runoff of the upper Tumut River, and after passing the spillway it feeds the underground Tumut 1 Power Station before reaching Talbingo Reservoir.

The best vantage point is from the dam crest, where you can see the engineering in context and look out across the landscape. The site is easy to access, but dress for changing mountain weather and bring sturdy footwear.

The dam crest doubles as a road connecting two mountain villages and closes during winter when snow becomes too heavy. This seasonal closure reveals how extreme the conditions can become at this elevation.