Snowy Scheme Museum facts for kids
Established | 2011 |
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Location | Adaminaby, New South Wales |
The Snowy Scheme Museum is a special place in Adaminaby, New South Wales, a town in the Snowy Mountains of Australia. This museum shows amazing exhibits about the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme. It helps visitors understand this huge project.
Discover the Snowy Scheme Museum
This museum shares the exciting story of how the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme was built. It also shows what life was like for the people who worked on it. You can see many important machines and tools used to build the Scheme.
The museum also has films, large photo displays, and art. These help bring the past to life. A big part of the museum focuses on the workers. It tells their stories and how they helped shape Australia. Many workers came from other countries. This project greatly impacted Australia's modern migration program.
People who loved the Snowy Scheme collected items for ten years. This collection became the museum. A very important person, Governor General Quentin Bryce, officially opened the museum. This happened on October 17, 2011. She said the museum helps people learn about this powerful part of Australia's history. It helps pass these stories down to future generations.
What Was the Snowy Scheme?
The Snowy Mountains Scheme was a massive construction project. It started in 1949 and finished in 1974. It was an amazing engineering achievement for its time. It became a symbol of how Australia rebuilt itself after World War II.
About 100,000 workers from all over the world helped build it. They changed the direction of rivers. They built 16 dams, 7 power stations, and 145 kilometers of tunnels. Building the Scheme meant flooding the Eucumbene River Valley. This area was near the old town of Adaminaby.
Because of the rising waters of Lake Eucumbene, the whole town had to move. A new town was built on the Snowy Mountains Highway. This new location was safe from the water.