Cooma Monuments and Public Art 8 - The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme 1 - Scale models of the scheme
Starting again from the central hub of Centennial Park in central Cooma, here's the first in the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme sub-series. There is plenty of information about the scheme available from many sources, but here's a quick rundown:
The Snowy Mountains Scheme was designed to divert water from the eastward-flowing Snowy River, which drains much of the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains, into two of the chief westward-flowing rivers of NSW - the Murray and Murrumbidgee. This allowed irrigation of the horticultural, grain and fruit-growing areas of the Riverina. Work commenced in 1949 with Cooma as the central office co-ordinating the building of the ambitious scheme. Hydro electricity was a byproduct of the scheme, using the power of gravity and the large differences in elevation within the area to turn the turbines. At the time of building this was a top of the range, cutting edge project and it has continued to operate for both irrigation and electricity ever since.
The project had a profound (and well-documented) effect on the town of Cooma and the area, and many monuments and objects remain to remind us of the significance of the scheme. The first I will address is in the centre of the Sharp Street frontage of Centennial Park in Cooma, and is a scale model of the mountains showing the location of rivers, dams and the location of underground pipelines through which water is pumped to operate the scheme.
Scale models of the scheme remain a very popular illustrative and educational device: I know of two others, one located in the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre in Cooma North - well worth a visit with films, displays and well-informed staff; there's also a good cafe in the same building. This model has a fun interactive element (remembering my liking of this kind of thing as a child):
and the other located in the Snowy Region Visitors Centre in Kosciuszko Rd, Jindabyne, also very informative to visit - information about the mountains, region and Kosciuszko National Park, gallery, souvenir shop and cafe.
Although these scale models are not, strictly speaking, either monuments or art, they are so close to both and so linked with the source of other monuments recording the Snowy Scheme that it is impossible to leave them out of this series.
https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/visit/
https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/visitor-centres/snowy-region-visitor-centre
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