Snowy by Brad Collis

SNOWY: The Making of Modern Australia celebrates one of the most dramatic and inspiring episodes of modern Australian history. It is a tribute, more than 60 years on, to the vision behind the Scheme, the expertise of its designers, its ongoing modernisation, and the tens of thousands of workers from more than 30 different countries who made it possible. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme began in 1949, was 25 years in construction, and remains one of the world’s great engineering and social achievements. Many of the workers, who poured into that rugged mountain frontier in a strange new land to build new lives for themselves and their families, had recently been enemies in the most devastating war the world had ever seen. They created, under extraordinary hardship and isolation, one of the wonders of modern engineering and sowed the seeds of an entirely new society. The Snowy Mountains became the birthplace of Australian multiculturalism.

This is a fascinating and wide-ranging account of both the human and the technological achievements. Based on extensive research, oral history and memorabilia, the book is illustrated with maps, technical drawings and contemporary photographs that highlight the drama of achievement which continues to be the stuff of legend.

About the Author: Brad Collis is a Melbourne-based journalist, writer and publisher. He has also written an acclaimed history of another Australian icon, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). This work Fields of Discovery was published in 2002.

01 Dec 2025
 

Snowy: The Making of Modern Australia by Brad Collis ISBN 9780646717036