b'Leaving a legacyThe Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme from 1949 to 1974 was Australias great nation-building project. Designed to use the movement of water from the Great Dividing Rangeespecially snowmeltto provide electricity for the east coast, it also diverted water for farmland irrigation. The enormity and precision of the engineering and construction task, in what must be one of Australias most challenging and dangerous environments, is difficult to overstateparticularly when you consider that Australia was still relatively underdeveloped in the late 1940s when the project commenced. International tunnelling, dam-building and hydro experts were required to give the project even the slightest chance of success. Thiess was brought on as the first Australian contractor when it was awarded the Tooma Dam and Tooma-Tumut Tunnel projects in 1958. By the projects end, Thiess had been responsible for a whopping 25 per cent of this ambitious nation-building projecta true Thiess legacy for Australia.In total, the Snowy Scheme consisted of sixteen major dams, seven power stations and 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts through some of the countrys harshest terrain. It was completed on time and on budget, costing the Australian taxpayers $820 million. The Snowy Scheme is also celebrated as a kick-starter to Australian immigration; some 10,000 men and women came from thirty different countries towork on projects from 1958 to 1974. At its peak, Thiess Village had a population of almost 1000 people, including a post office and a school.Even today, there is limited public access to this rugged and isolated region of the Snowy Mountains that rises 3000 feet above the rivers. Back then, teams of surveyors, hydrographers, geologists and others penetrated the region by foot and on horsebackto gather data for the design of dams and tunnels. Giant trees had to be felled, and steep, winding access roads hacked out, requiring extreme vigilance by the most experienced Snowy transport men to negotiate even in good weather. The technical problems associated with the tunnelling through these great mountains, especially during the Geehi projects (1962 to 1966), dwarfed Thiess prior experience and would stretch the capacity of all involved.46'