The Snowy Mountains Scheme: Bringing More Water to Australia from On High

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  • čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
  • The Aussies in the comments have spoken.
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Komentáře • 946

  • @thedamnedatheist
    @thedamnedatheist Před 3 lety +348

    A strange side effect of the Snowy scheme was that Starbucks failed in Australia. So many Greek & Italian immigrants came to work on the Scheme and stayed that the country developed an excellent coffee culture.

    • @lauragranger9813
      @lauragranger9813 Před 2 lety +37

      This is the best flow on effect I can think of

    • @paterson022
      @paterson022 Před 2 lety +16

      I see that as a bonus, great coffee resulted from the European immigration

    • @yohjijames1413
      @yohjijames1413 Před 2 lety +25

      First time I went to Starbucks I thought they’ve combined my coffee and my milkshake

    • @hughboyd2904
      @hughboyd2904 Před 2 lety +3

      Amen to this!

    • @randomstuff9322
      @randomstuff9322 Před 2 lety

      The coffee in Australia is overrated

  • @paigeprice7642
    @paigeprice7642 Před 3 lety +486

    As an Australian, this is a much appreciated surprise.

    • @BearsTrains
      @BearsTrains Před 3 lety +2

      Yep, good video though Eucumbene Dam has certainly shrunk in capacity.

    • @nicosmind3
      @nicosmind3 Před 3 lety +14

      As a non-Australian, i appreciate learning a little about your great country :)

    • @tomharper2709
      @tomharper2709 Před 3 lety +6

      @@nicosmind3 and a great country it is! Absolutely love Australians, by far the best people

    • @tomharper2709
      @tomharper2709 Před 3 lety +3

      From a fellow non Australian

    • @jezrix7257
      @jezrix7257 Před 3 lety +4

      Makes me homesick! I come from a land down under….we make hard things seem possible.

  • @BrenBarnes
    @BrenBarnes Před 3 lety +318

    Simon: *Mispronounces towns, rivers, and reservoirs*
    Me: Strewth mate.
    Simon: *Counts reservoir capacity in equivalent Sydney harbours*
    Me: Fair dimkum, carry on then.

    • @gavindownes2213
      @gavindownes2213 Před 3 lety +10

      never met an aussie who really says strewth :)

    • @mini696
      @mini696 Před 3 lety +14

      @@gavindownes2213 You should meet Alf.

    • @jarradblair1793
      @jarradblair1793 Před 3 lety +20

      @@marvindebot3264 WTF Sydharbs? Nah mate. This is known as retarded "trying too hard slang" used by immigrants, backpackers, hipsters and children who cant swear yet

    • @StephenJohnson-jb7xe
      @StephenJohnson-jb7xe Před 3 lety +1

      @@jarradblair1793Harry Butler described the flow of rivers in terms of Sydharbs per hour and you don't get much more Aussie then Harry Butler.

    • @ian9toes
      @ian9toes Před 2 lety +2

      Stephen Johnson
      I’m afraid it didn’t catch on though

  • @davidb1630
    @davidb1630 Před 2 lety +31

    My father, John R. Bower, was one of the engineers who designed the turbines used in the hydro scheme. They were massive and quite new technology for their day. I still have a clipping from the Sydney Morning herald of my dad shaking hands with the Prime minister and the minister in charge of the project. My father was a brilliant man, but he never saw himself in that light, he was a very humble man.

  • @RCTanksTrucks247
    @RCTanksTrucks247 Před 3 lety +196

    Great video. My grandfather from Croatia worked on this.

    • @Noughtilus
      @Noughtilus Před 3 lety +6

      Ayyy my grandparents came from Italy to work on it.

    • @adrianfleming3437
      @adrianfleming3437 Před 3 lety +2

      Had family work on it we where already here but its amazing how big the project was and how it changed our country.

    • @Your.Uncle.AngMoh
      @Your.Uncle.AngMoh Před 3 lety +6

      It wouldn't have happened without chocko migrant labour. I think there's a small statue somewhere commemorating the men who migrated out here and worked their guts out to build the Snowy Scheme. It requires a decent museum, at least. Prfound thanks from me and so many of us here for their efforts.

    • @Natsirt666
      @Natsirt666 Před 3 lety +5

      My grandfather worked on it too, as an Engineer! Aussie but.

    • @dramoth64
      @dramoth64 Před 2 lety +5

      My dad came out to Australia with my grandparents, got his plumbers ticket down in Melbourne and married my mum there. They moved up to Sydney, and then got a job on the scheme. I was born in Cooma and we lived in Island Bend until we moved back to Melbourne.

  • @Taurencowpew
    @Taurencowpew Před 3 lety +111

    I'm going to add this to my favourites, and come back to it when I'm feeling crap. Those mispronunciations are giggle-worthy.

    • @pretenda
      @pretenda Před 3 lety +4

      Tumut. Guthega. Haha. Love it, almost as good as the Uluru one!

    • @Taurencowpew
      @Taurencowpew Před 3 lety +11

      @@pretenda I fell off my chair the first time he said Murrumbidgee!

    • @MrJules2U
      @MrJules2U Před 3 lety +1

      Its amazing hearing the mispronunciations haha. I completely understand that us Aussies are a unique bunch who hold our speech closely and dearly lol

    • @kylemorris1484
      @kylemorris1484 Před 3 lety +3

      A little painful to listen to aswell.

    • @degreaserman
      @degreaserman Před 3 lety +2

      @@Taurencowpew it took me a bit to work out what river he was talking about when he said murrumbidgee haha

  • @davegrimes3385
    @davegrimes3385 Před 3 lety +52

    I thought Nimbin is the highest town in Australia 🤔

    • @gavreynolds2689
      @gavreynolds2689 Před 2 lety +7

      😂😂😂👍👍 Use to be mate now I think it's mostly full of ice addicts.

    • @Intermernet
      @Intermernet Před 2 lety +7

      @@gavreynolds2689 It's got more ice than Thredbo and Perisher combined!

    • @dantemadden1533
      @dantemadden1533 Před 2 lety +1

      Nah Shepparton is, it’s nickname is literally the Ice capital of Australia

  • @anthonymassmann4537
    @anthonymassmann4537 Před 3 lety +630

    Non Australians pronouncing Australian town names is always hilarious to us. Just so you all know.

    • @rohanlg790
      @rohanlg790 Před 3 lety +12

      Muraaay😅

    • @virginiatressider5753
      @virginiatressider5753 Před 3 lety +93

      He got Talbingo and Kosciuszko right
      OK, not so good on Eucumbene, Guthega, Tumut, Murrumbidgee, Cabramurra, Khancoban or Tantangara.
      I was starting to wish Canowindra and Goondiwindi were part of the Snowy Scheme, just our of morbid curiosity.

    • @danesorensen1775
      @danesorensen1775 Před 3 lety +37

      @@virginiatressider5753 Technically he got Kosciuszko wrong, but we all do. Polish is unpronounceable to non-Poles.

    • @gavindownes2213
      @gavindownes2213 Před 3 lety +6

      @@danesorensen1775 TIL its a Polish name

    • @DerptyDerptyDUM
      @DerptyDerptyDUM Před 3 lety +4

      Crawk... oh.... dile. 🎓

  • @terben7339
    @terben7339 Před 2 lety +47

    Can we just get a video of Simon reading a list of Aussie place names.

    • @taylor....
      @taylor.... Před rokem +1

      This would be triggering but still not worse than Australians getting them wrong

  • @TerryNew62
    @TerryNew62 Před 2 lety +27

    Simon,
    You’re very brave to even have a crack at all the Aussie names. Maybe 15% correct. Good on ya!

  • @andymanaus1077
    @andymanaus1077 Před 3 lety +27

    The Snowy Mountains is significant in my family history. My dad was a chaplain on the Snowy Mountains Scheme in the early 1960s. I have visited several of the reservoirs, dams, power stations and ski resorts in the area. Our family used to have a holiday house a few minutes walk from Lake Eucumbene. I have many happy memories of the Snowy.

  • @captainredbeard5231
    @captainredbeard5231 Před 3 lety +74

    I had a great time listening to Simon butcher the names of our rivers 😂
    Seriously though, thanks for this one mate!

    • @kcharles8857
      @kcharles8857 Před 3 lety

      Yeah I don't think he got one right ! :)

    • @deanpd3402
      @deanpd3402 Před rokem

      Ridgee didgee it's the Murrumbidgee.

  • @jaystewart9765
    @jaystewart9765 Před 2 lety +20

    For those playing at home :
    Tumut = CHEW - Mutt
    Eucumbene = YOU- Come- BEAN

  • @fikanera838
    @fikanera838 Před 3 lety +24

    My Czech father-in-law was one of the huge number of migrants who worked on this megaproject. 🇨🇿🇦🇺

  • @55vma
    @55vma Před 3 lety +161

    Always funny listening to poms mispronouncing our words like Murrumbidgee.🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺

    • @StormTalara
      @StormTalara Před 3 lety +25

      Legit. Only one he got right was Talbingo. 🤣 i love that he changes the way he says names each time like “one of the ways i say it might be right”. Lol.

    • @Empdizz
      @Empdizz Před 3 lety +12

      Everyone outside of Australia has issues pronouncing Australian names.

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +5

      murRAY river. :D

    • @Kneedragon1962
      @Kneedragon1962 Před 3 lety +2

      There were lots of them. Let's start with a major. When you combine two or more words, you get a river and a dam called Eucombene. It sounds like You-Combine.

    • @revert6417
      @revert6417 Před 3 lety +8

      Tamoot for Tumut 🤣

  • @youareawesome5236
    @youareawesome5236 Před 3 lety +40

    I did a report on this in year 5. I had to write a letter n send it a Minister in Canberra. By post, a week later I got a big yellow envelope back with Info about it.
    Remember when writing letters was a thing. Good times.

    • @tncorgi92
      @tncorgi92 Před 3 lety +4

      I had to write to a state governor as part of a school project. Everything I got back was pre-printed and probably signed by an aide. Still as a kid I thought that was cool.

    • @youareawesome5236
      @youareawesome5236 Před 3 lety +2

      @@tncorgi92 same, a letter n a bunch of pamphlets. Felt awesome as a kid

    • @brucehewson5773
      @brucehewson5773 Před 2 lety +1

      Yes, I did the same, and got a really good supply of material in return.

  • @davidpe76
    @davidpe76 Před 3 lety +28

    I visited the Tumut power generation on holidays as a young kid, had awesome viewing platform above the turbines. Big as a football field and with a clock bigger than Big Ben hanging on the far wall. All the rock that was excavated was used to help build local roads amongst other uses

    • @kineticdeath
      @kineticdeath Před 3 lety +4

      my family did the snowy mountains thing like 20 years ago. We visited one of the Tumut powerplants, it was deep underground. I still remember it well as the tunnel entrance was in a deep valley and the air force were doing training that day so not only a cool powerplant experience but also full camo'd F-111's flying low through the valleys

    • @mattyt1961
      @mattyt1961 Před 3 lety +4

      yes I am going to be 'that person' Big Ben is the bell, not the clock.
      now I will dislike my own comment

  • @jbrisby
    @jbrisby Před 3 lety +43

    2118: Australia creates the first "Dyson Sink", a basin designed to capture ALL of the water that falls on the continent.

    • @VK2FVAX
      @VK2FVAX Před 3 lety +20

      like a Liberal voted Dyson Sphere .. except because the buggers privatised and under-funded it like the NBN .. you only get a bowl shape ..and it gets glorified as a "sink" ;)

    • @Mcwhi0
      @Mcwhi0 Před 3 lety +7

      Right after building and funding it, we give it to dear leader Rupert Murdoch's head in a jar like futurama

    • @mini696
      @mini696 Před 3 lety +9

      @@Mcwhi0 Nah we'd lease it to China.

    • @flamingfrancis
      @flamingfrancis Před 2 lety +1

      You are a few millennia behind the times...read up on the Great Australian Artesian Basin.

  • @annwilliams2075
    @annwilliams2075 Před 3 lety +11

    My Uncle Jimmy was one of those recruited from the Welsh valleys mining villages to work on the dams. Unfortunately he, and many others, suffered from altitude sickness and had to leave the job. Instead he went to work in mines in Tasmania, met my aunt and settled, eventually, near Melbourne.

    • @youareawesome5236
      @youareawesome5236 Před 3 lety

      What a cool story.

    • @StormTalara
      @StormTalara Před 3 lety

      The fact he suffered altitude sickness here (highest point at top of Kosciusko is only 2200m) highlights why i did so well in the mountains of Peru (at almost 4000m). Amazing.

    • @annwilliams2075
      @annwilliams2075 Před 3 lety +1

      I think it is easier to understand when you realise that although the mountains are high the mines are in the valleys. The mountain behind my house is 1000 ft - 305 mts - high but the now closed mine is at the bottom of it with the shafts going down several 100 ft before spreading out underground. Some of them go up to 8 miles. Also the highest point in South Wales is Pen y Fan which is only 2900ft - about 888mtrs. None of our mountains are high enough to have year round snow - not even Snowdon our highest one at 1085 mts - 3560 ft.

  • @andrewhallett-patterson9778

    My families transport company was primary transport and earthmoving contractor for the project. This was expanded to include fabrication,mechanical and diesel engineering services and workshops. At the projects peak, a combined total of 200 employees were engaged, with 120 different vehicles onsite, many purpose designed and built for the Snowy Scheme. Unfortunately, little physical property remains, and what there is are now restored museum pieces, or the many thousands of photos in my families archives. Excellent overview.👍👍🇭🇲

  • @PeterKelley
    @PeterKelley Před 2 lety +9

    There is a little museum in Adaminaby (add 'em in a B) which was one of the towns moved to make way for Lake Eucumbene. They show a short film on the making of the scheme. In it there is a scene where a bunch of dignitaries are assembled underground for the last blast completing a tunnel. The blast is so big that it blows all their hats of. Hilarious every time I think of it.

  • @albino267
    @albino267 Před 3 lety +9

    Sitting here as an Aussie with a real feeling of pride watching this one today

    • @SkyJUSTIN6
      @SkyJUSTIN6 Před 2 lety

      Go watch friendlyjordies documentary and you will understand our water situation better

  • @bengibson3955
    @bengibson3955 Před 2 lety +1

    Fun fact - Snowy Hydro also works as a huge battery. During off-peak times when power is cheap, Snowy Hydro scheme pumps water from lower reservoirs into higher ones, analogous to charging a battery using cheap electricity. This water is then released back down through the turbines during peak times when power demand is up. Snowy Hydro sells power back to the grid at a significantly higher rate. While I don’t know the quantities, a significant proportion of water diverted by this scheme will do multiple passes through the same turbines.

  • @thegruffalo5383
    @thegruffalo5383 Před 3 lety +46

    Simon. Can you do a side projects video on the “Great Emu War”. I am sure us Aussie’s would appreciate this ridiculousness on your channels
    Also the relatively unknown story of the Parkes satellite dish in rural NSW is definitely worth a look considering it’s major importance to the 1969 moon landings

    • @-Yogo
      @-Yogo Před 3 lety +2

      there's a movie about it! The Dish (2000)

    • @ravencanis8998
      @ravencanis8998 Před 3 lety +2

      Seconding this one, I visited the dish when I was younger and most people don’t realise just how important it is

    • @emjay0507
      @emjay0507 Před 2 lety +1

      Oh please do this one, and for research watch the epic movie “The Dish”. RIP Tom Long.

    • @AbbyMaskell
      @AbbyMaskell Před 2 lety +1

      @@-Yogo I need to rewatch it, it's so good

    • @skullandcrossbones65
      @skullandcrossbones65 Před 2 lety +1

      @@AbbyMaskell
      Halt, Who goes there??? Bahhhhhh

  • @andrewpeterson5003
    @andrewpeterson5003 Před 3 lety +47

    "There's too many people" Simon knows

  • @MrLurchsThings
    @MrLurchsThings Před 3 lety +27

    Sadly we'll never see another public project the size of this one again (remembering Snowy 2.0 is tiny in comparison).
    We privatised 9/10ths of the NBN scheme and it became a wreck.
    Projects like these today are sold as "too much like socialism" and thus never get up.

    • @mecklas
      @mecklas Před 3 lety +18

      NBN was an enormous lesson in what happens when a great idea is used as a political pawn

    • @RandomStuff-he7lu
      @RandomStuff-he7lu Před 3 lety +17

      @@mecklas The NBN is an enormous lesson in what happens when you put the LNP in charge of literally anything.

    • @owenshebbeare2999
      @owenshebbeare2999 Před 3 lety +2

      @@RandomStuff-he7lu It was a Labor brain-fart, designed on a paper napkin, given over to Telstra and corrupt installers, all aimed at giving us the best 2007 stantard internet in 2025 and the very highest of prices for users.

    • @damiendeecee
      @damiendeecee Před 3 lety +1

      Privatisation doesn't ruin anything. The NBN was terribly designed and horrifically implemented by governments.

    • @MrLurchsThings
      @MrLurchsThings Před 3 lety +5

      @@damiendeecee *a* government. One that specifically decided to cheap-out and not do it properly.

  • @jofisk
    @jofisk Před 3 lety +5

    As an Aussie, I learnt something new about the Snowy Scheme.
    It would be interesting to see you do a video on CY O'Connor as he engineered the Goldfilds pipeline, taking water from Perth to Kalgoorlie in early 1900s . This is a pipeline that is over 500km.

  • @aussietaipan8700
    @aussietaipan8700 Před 3 lety +13

    My Wife's parents came here from Europe for the Snowy Mountain scheme. A big win for Australia and a big win for me. Thanks for presenting this matey,

    • @glenchapman3899
      @glenchapman3899 Před 2 lety +1

      People dont realize that with out that immigration, Parliament House in Canberra would never have been built either. So that makes it a hat trick!!!

  • @magpie2541
    @magpie2541 Před 3 lety +53

    I suggested this awhile glad I wasn’t the only one

    • @toddavis8151
      @toddavis8151 Před 3 lety

      I suggested it too

    • @MsJubjubbird
      @MsJubjubbird Před 3 lety +1

      Did you suggest another youtube channel as well? I don't think I can watch a video of his without another youtube channel being announced

    • @peterwilliams6289
      @peterwilliams6289 Před 3 lety

      Me too - definitely belongs on this channel.

    • @alanscottholmes8913
      @alanscottholmes8913 Před 3 lety

      I too mentioned this as a topic, so glad the Boy with the blaze took it up 🇦🇺🇦🇺

    • @Scholesy92
      @Scholesy92 Před 3 lety

      Bloody Oath!

  • @tototakto4611
    @tototakto4611 Před 3 lety +48

    Megaprojects idea: The floating airport of Kansai

  • @lasentinal
    @lasentinal Před 3 lety +1

    Snowy Hydro 2.0 is a project designed as a form of energy storage. Electricity from wind and solar will be used to pump water from lower reservoirs to upper reservoirs to be used when the sun isn't shining, to produce electricity, similar to the way a home system works, with solar collectors and storage batteries in a house. Snowy Hydro does this now to a certain extent, producing electricty during peak usage times and then pumping water back to upper reservoirs using off peak power from coal fired power stations at a cheaper rate.
    Apart from the mispronunciation of some of the places, rivers and dams, this has been a very good presentation.

  • @jon-paulguseli5817
    @jon-paulguseli5817 Před 2 lety +1

    Thanks mate, appreciate this one. My family came here from Italy for this project, and my uncle was one of the miners that died in the elevator shaft accident.

  • @Reklaimart
    @Reklaimart Před 3 lety +9

    From an Aussie Thankyou!🙏

  • @pablonh
    @pablonh Před 3 lety +27

    6:30 4.8 million liters. LOL - that's less than two Olympic-size swimming pools. The actual amount is 4.8 TRILLION liters.
    You are only off by a factor of a million...

    • @stusmith1074
      @stusmith1074 Před 3 lety +1

      Yes I picked up on one the dams having 6.7 million litres of concrete, yet one of the largest reservoirs only 4.8 million litres 😂 M Y Eclipse has a 1 million litre fuel tank ffs. 👍🏼

    • @joshuastoate1125
      @joshuastoate1125 Před 2 lety +1

      @@marvindebot3264 ***500,000,000,000*** litres buddy.

    • @gregessex1851
      @gregessex1851 Před 2 lety +1

      Not the only mistake. The video was riddled with incorrect claims.

    • @pablonh
      @pablonh Před 2 lety

      @@gregessex1851 That's often the case here. Quantity over quality.

  • @sjdtmv
    @sjdtmv Před 3 lety +8

    There was a Megaproject in Australia that many Aussie have never heard of, That is the bridge over the Nullarbor Plains, they had to pull it down due to too many Aussies fishing off it....

    • @sprintershepherd4359
      @sprintershepherd4359 Před 2 lety +1

      that and it was only a one way bridge .you had to wait and give way for a week until the other side had cleared of traffic

  • @mackbolan1733
    @mackbolan1733 Před 2 lety

    Thanks for the effort you put into this presentation, much appreciated and excellent as always!

  • @sixstringedthing
    @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +31

    Hard not to do the proud Aussie thing.
    But that would be ignoring the fact that unless we as a nation decide to fully embrace and commit to alternative nuclear/hydro/wind/solar/pumped-storage/battery farms in a sensible multi-technology approach to our future energy needs, our "land of droughts and flooding rains" is pretty much f**ked.

    • @CapoRip
      @CapoRip Před 3 lety +2

      "nuclear/hydro/wind/solar/pumped-storage/battery"
      Amen.

    • @peterwilliams6289
      @peterwilliams6289 Před 3 lety +2

      Snowy 2.0 is a pumped-hydro project - basically a big battery, anyway!

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +1

      @@peterwilliams6289 a good start. :)

    • @NoName-ds5uq
      @NoName-ds5uq Před 3 lety +2

      Totally agree! I find it refreshing that you included nuclear power in that mix!

    • @OllieVK
      @OllieVK Před 3 lety

      unless you live in Tassie ;)

  • @harryobriensmith40
    @harryobriensmith40 Před 3 lety +80

    Wooo, he finally acknowledged the aussies

    • @KriLL325783
      @KriLL325783 Před 3 lety +3

      Who scammed Simon into thinking South Austria is real this time?

    • @The1ArcticWolf
      @The1ArcticWolf Před 3 lety +4

      Pretty sure you cuzzies got an entire geographics vid on a monolith too bro,
      Love NZ x

    • @Albert-Arthur-Wison225
      @Albert-Arthur-Wison225 Před 3 lety +3

      He did a superb video on Uluru.

    • @The1ArcticWolf
      @The1ArcticWolf Před 3 lety +1

      @@Albert-Arthur-Wison225 that's what it's called! I went through an alarming amount of Simons whistle's in my history to try find it, truly a beautiful place.

    • @somethinglikethat2176
      @somethinglikethat2176 Před 3 lety

      @@Chrisp_az I never knew that the US played such an important role in it's construction in regards to engineering and technical expertise.

  • @jetsons101
    @jetsons101 Před 3 lety

    As always a great watch, thanks to Simon and his team for great work............

  • @mdevil9133
    @mdevil9133 Před 2 lety +1

    What I find most interesting about the 2.0 project is how it is funded…
    The majority of costs is covered by Snowy Hydro themselves who make an absolute killing from energetic storage with the existing infrastructure mentioned in the video.
    The 2.0 program is not designed to increase water capture, but to increase energy storage capability.

  • @captainnapalm4173
    @captainnapalm4173 Před 2 lety +5

    The most disturbing accidents I remember from a documentary about this are the following. One man fell into some of the quick drying cement used to make the dams up to his waist and died after they tried to amputate his legs without anesthesia in an attempt to free him. Another man slipped while walking besides a small train carrying out debris from the construction of a tunnel and his arm was cut off as he instinctively threw it out to catch himself as he fell. Then apparently in shock he made the bad decision to try and recover his severed arm between the tracks of the moving train and lost the other arm also. The man survived but committed suicide latter.

    • @AdvanceAU
      @AdvanceAU Před 2 lety

      I can't help but wonder how one goes about offing themselves without the use of their arms.

    • @captainnapalm4173
      @captainnapalm4173 Před 2 lety

      @@AdvanceAU If I remember correctly they drowned themself.

  • @TheExpatpom
    @TheExpatpom Před 3 lety +3

    Glad to see you covered this one. I was just thinking of suggesting it again when I saw you’d put a vid out. I’m that case can I suggest The Great Ocean Road next time you want to do an Australian video. Might be more Side Projects or Geographics, but it might be mega enough. There’s bound to be a channel somewhere on WhistlerTube for it.

  • @originalsusser
    @originalsusser Před 2 lety

    There's something about u that makes any subject u report upon thoroughly enjoyable. Your absence the previous channel that we all know u from is obvious but thank God u r still rolling along here & at your other new channels. Of course it goes without saying another accurate, concise & informative presentation. Really great job, thanks Simon

  • @sonjanordahl3158
    @sonjanordahl3158 Před 7 měsíci

    Thanks for this video. My grandfather worked on one of the early tunnel constructions. The tunnel nearly killed him. A bolder fell through the chain link safety netting. It glanced off the back of his hard hat and hit him between the shoulders. They didn't expect him to live through the trip down mountain to the nearest hospital. But he was a tough old bird even before he was old. He lived. He spent months in a body cast but, he was able to walk out of the hospital. He has since passed away but my aunt still has that hard hat.

  • @jesmondsaunders7746
    @jesmondsaunders7746 Před 3 lety +13

    “Cries in Australian” It’s MurrUMbidgEE!
    Edit* There’s a vintage scheme gathering more support that could equal or exceed the Snowy Mountain scheme to solve our water issues. Our north of the country is saturated yearly by a tropical monsoon season. Our south is in constant drought. Capturing this excess water and diverting it through an artificial river system to the south is known as the Bradfield scheme. It’s a mind boggling expensive way to do it, but we are more than a bit desperate at this point.

    • @DamImperial
      @DamImperial Před 2 lety +2

      Yeah you would think solving most of the water issues by doing this would be worth it but crackheads in Canberra can't seem to see the logic

    • @peterhoz
      @peterhoz Před 2 lety +2

      The Bradfield Scheme, first proposed by Bradfield, the same bloke who designed the Harbour Bridge

  • @longboardfella5306
    @longboardfella5306 Před 3 lety +6

    Thanks Simon. I requested this and you did a great job. One tweak though. We are a huge country actually with loads of water. But it’s not always where we need it or when we need it. And thanks for mentioning the cultural diversity as a result of which we have great coffee and spices and many cultural delights to offer visitors when travel resumes

  • @OzMacro
    @OzMacro Před 3 lety

    Thank you so much for finally getting around to this. I have requested this that many times I lost count. :)

  • @justv7536
    @justv7536 Před 2 lety +1

    This was great, I remember suggesting this a while back and I'm glad you got around to it, this thing is a marvel! Australian pride.

  • @ptrsrrll
    @ptrsrrll Před 3 lety +62

    Spectacular Project -
    Spectacular Mispronunciations But thank you for the Video..

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +10

      Overseas commentators MUST mispronounce Australian place names, it's a longstanding tradition. :D

    • @holidaymail
      @holidaymail Před 3 lety +5

      Hahaha Aussie coming here looking for this comment 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

  • @Maadhawk
    @Maadhawk Před 3 lety +3

    When you started telling us how big the project is, the Tennessee River Valley Project was the first thing I thought of that would be on a comparable scale. Makes this a truly vast project and a true Megaproject indeed.

  • @matthewkendall5235
    @matthewkendall5235 Před 2 lety

    Nice coming across this - Snowy Hydro touched so many people. I live in a small street of 14 houses - two of the original Dutch residents were engineers who came over to work on Snowy Hydro (both named Bob). Last week I visited the Snowy Hydro display centre just outside their head office - and bought a bevy of their Snow, Water, Energy Repeat Tee shirts. My mum told me my uncle was the headmaster of the local school (I guess in the 40s or 50s) and we had a lot of family around Tumut. Just four years ago I led a team of 30 specialist to do Snowy Hydro Business and IT Strategy - and it was a real blast (no pun intended) and a privilege to work on this iconic client (just before Snowy 2.0 came along to make everything really interesting). I got to tour all through the power stations and trading floors and meet all the execs and their key team - and they were a group of really interesting and devoted professionals. Many thanks for sharing this video!

  • @richier5746
    @richier5746 Před 2 lety

    Nicely done! Nice to see a video essay done about where I grew up!

  • @briangarrow448
    @briangarrow448 Před 3 lety +13

    Could you do a segment on the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project in Washington state and associated structures, which includes the Grand Coulee Dam.

  • @mustafaemad3614
    @mustafaemad3614 Před 3 lety +4

    Mega Project suggestions: Benban Solar Park, Aswan High Dam, Bar Lev Line and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

  • @bunyip42
    @bunyip42 Před 2 lety

    Very nice video! I'm an Aussie, learned about this in school (in the 70s). One little thing that could have been clearer in the "background" section is that the majority of the precipitation used to run down a couple of steep rivers going straight east. The Snowy Scheme sends the water westwards.

  • @greg1348
    @greg1348 Před 2 lety +1

    Great video mate, my dad worked in the snowy for about 20 years and we lived in Jindabyne and than moved to Cabramurra.

  • @kobra666au
    @kobra666au Před 3 lety +10

    C.Y O’Connor would be a good bloke to do a biographic episode on and perhaps the Perth to Kalgoorlie Water Pipeline for Megaprojects

    • @Mc-beardy
      @Mc-beardy Před 2 lety +1

      I was thinking the same thing

  • @TheScrubExpress
    @TheScrubExpress Před 3 lety +19

    NGL this is the first time I found out that there's...*snow* in Australia. I don't know why I didn't realize before. I mean NZ is practically next door and they get snow.

    • @Sergiblacklist
      @Sergiblacklist Před 3 lety +1

      Was a shock to me when I was in the blue mountains in September and got snowed on 🤣

    • @youareawesome5236
      @youareawesome5236 Před 3 lety +1

      Our South is cold n our North is hot. Opposite of America. Our Sun moves overhead North as well. The Phoenicians discovered this by circumnavigating Africa for the Egyptians.

    • @aaronleverton4221
      @aaronleverton4221 Před 3 lety +1

      All of New Zealand sits at a latitude equal with Australia's southern half, well south of the tropics, and its southern half sits at a latitude to the south of Australia's mainland. It is closer to Antarctica and its mountains are young and tall. Of course it has snow.
      Australia's mountains are old and small, how much longer will they have snow? Also, we're celebrated for the big, red rock in the middle of the big, red desert.

    • @rodneyvandenbosch1884
      @rodneyvandenbosch1884 Před 3 lety +1

      The "age" of a mountain range has nothing to do with how much snow it gets - altitude and latitude determine. I think your evolutionary and uniformitarian indoctination is showing :)

    • @ComaDave
      @ComaDave Před 3 lety

      During a good winter, we can have more snow coverage than Europe.
      Obviously not as spectacular as the Alps, but quantity over quality I guess.

  • @liamroskell8055
    @liamroskell8055 Před 3 lety

    Been asking for this one for awhile now.
    Thankyou Simon and the rest of the team.

  • @craigbatten81
    @craigbatten81 Před 3 lety

    Thanks Simon - I’ve seen most of your videos but it’s a pleasant surprise to see one on my home region 🤘

  • @damienmacpherson395
    @damienmacpherson395 Před 3 lety +5

    Gotta love how Simon says Murrumbidgee haha

  • @danielsundberg1977
    @danielsundberg1977 Před 3 lety +5

    Simon the Murray flows into the Southern Ocean at Goolwa in South Australia.

    • @adriaandeleeuw8339
      @adriaandeleeuw8339 Před 3 lety +2

      The Snowy River however flows through Victoria into Bass Straight which is the Pacific, it was the vast quantities of what was considered wasted water by the engineers and politicians down the Snowy River annually from the snowfields of the Australian Alps that was the instigation of the scheme, which by the way came in on budget and on time. By the way it was a Labor party initiative that was whole heartedly upheld as a worthwhile scheme by the Liberal Party who fortunately did not try to water the scheme down. pun intended!

    • @artistjoh
      @artistjoh Před 2 lety

      More correctly the water from the West and Southern flanks of the Alps flows west then south via the Murray and ends up in the Southern Ocean, but runoff from the eastern flanks flows east and south via the Snowy and enters the Pacific Ocean at Marlo in eastern Victoria. Marlo is not far from the eastern most extent of Bass Strait. Simon was thus partially right as far as a portion of the Snowy Mountains, at least if he was talking about the Snowy River at that point.

  • @anthonysimoes7307
    @anthonysimoes7307 Před 3 lety +1

    I love that you look through the comments and take suggestions for new megaprojects here... Even from us little Australians👍

  • @paulinejackson5861
    @paulinejackson5861 Před 3 lety +1

    I was an external consultant for Snowy Hydro with their projects - their staff were always friendly and were a great bunch to work with.

  • @djph30n1x
    @djph30n1x Před 3 lety +6

    Another project to look at with regards to water in Australia is the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfields_Water_Supply_Scheme

  • @ignitionfrn2223
    @ignitionfrn2223 Před 3 lety +6

    1:20 - Chapter 1 - Australian water scarcity
    2:45 - Chapter 2 - Background
    4:20 - Chapter 3 - Construction begins
    5:55 - Chapter 4 - Dams
    7:30 - Chapter 5 - Power stations
    8:50 - Chapter 6 - Impact
    10:10 - Chapter 7 - Snowy hydro 2.0
    11:00 - Chapter 8 - The schema that built australia

  • @shinkicker404
    @shinkicker404 Před 3 lety

    Used to stay at Cabramurra, one of the towns constructed for the workers, if I remember right its somewhere above Tumut 1 Power Station. Used to go skiing at the ski lodge there in winter. Had some private tours down into the power station as well, it was incredible going through the road tunnels and the stations under the mountains.

  • @rodneyvandenbosch1884
    @rodneyvandenbosch1884 Před 3 lety +2

    Oz recieves little water not because of ANY of the reasons Simon mentioned, but because it has only 1 mountain range, which is not very high and very close to the east coast. There is nothing inland to make the rain precipitate out and no (significant) permanent or semi-permanent snow capped mountains to produce year long melt water.

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +1

      Whilst it's true that the Great Dividing Range is extremely prominent and Koscuiszko National Park is the home of Australia's only year-round snow capped mountains, to suggest that a continent this old and vast has only one mountain range is simply false. A thirty second google search can prove this.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_ranges_of_Australia
      Huge tracts of this country have been shaped by water erosion, past and present, and what causes water erosion...?

  • @Natsirt666
    @Natsirt666 Před 3 lety +3

    My grandfather was one of the main engineers on this project. He was a legend.

  • @Train_Tok_Man
    @Train_Tok_Man Před 3 lety +32

    Virginian Railway and Erie Railway Triplexes: The most unusual steam locomotives ever built.

  • @ipwnism
    @ipwnism Před 2 lety +2

    I was up at thredbo for snow season recently and stopped at the Snowy Hydro info centre. Ive been to Jindy heaps of times but never actually went!
    If you find yourself in this neck of the woods i 100% recommend visiting the info centre. You learn sooooo much cool shit.
    One of my biggest takeaways is the cultural impact the snowy had on our society.
    I wouldn't have many of my european mateyz if their parents/grandparents didn't have a means to earn some coin when they came down here :)

  • @Mcwhi0
    @Mcwhi0 Před 3 lety

    Thanks, I love when classic examples of Aussie history/achievement are shared with the world

  • @spamletspamley672
    @spamletspamley672 Před 3 lety +4

    I remember having to write a school geography essay on this over half a century ago! I got told off for copying big words from the only book the school library had on it. Blowed if I could put it any better than the book did: says I! :)

  • @jenniferconners6921
    @jenniferconners6921 Před 3 lety +5

    Can you do a video on the Lock & Dam system in the Mississippi river. How the land was bought from locals so it could be flooded (they couldn't use it for crops or animals anymore) and how it got people back to work after the Great Depression. Thank you.

  • @jamesflaherty4713
    @jamesflaherty4713 Před 3 lety

    Awesome video. thank you very much for bringing this to the masses. And i also had my father work on this scheme as one of many engineers which is where he met my mother. Keep up the great work and hope to see more.

  • @johnpetrich9981
    @johnpetrich9981 Před 3 lety

    Wow thank you Simon - great to see this Aussie megaproject

  • @feartheamish9183
    @feartheamish9183 Před 3 lety +41

    Moscow metro would be interesting

    • @ivan7453
      @ivan7453 Před 3 lety +1

      I'll second that, Simon

    • @gavindownes2213
      @gavindownes2213 Před 3 lety

      already 3 games about it.. pretty good ones too

  • @uwotm8765
    @uwotm8765 Před 3 lety +21

    The biggest reservoir is only 4800m3? I think that might be a slight error

    • @4k8t
      @4k8t Před 3 lety +2

      According to the wiki on the dam, its total capacity is about 4,798 Gigaliters (billions of liters) or about 1,267 billion gallons.

    • @JxH
      @JxH Před 3 lety +3

      "4.8 MILLION L" compared to 4800 gigaliters is an error of a million-to-one. Crikey. And hardly anyone noticed. Well done to those that did. The rest of you are innumerate, which is fine; just be self-aware that you are and take precautions.

    • @StormTalara
      @StormTalara Před 3 lety

      @@JxH actually it’s about a billion to one. (1,000 million).

    • @benja_mint
      @benja_mint Před 3 lety

      every simon video has one big glaring mistake. i think he just makes so many videos that they cant all be completely fact checked.

    • @seagullskunk
      @seagullskunk Před 3 lety

      @@StormTalara uhm... JH was actually right: 4800 gigaliters = 4800 * 10^9 liters = 4800 * 1 000 000 000 liters = 4 800 000 * 1 000 000 liters = 4.8 million times one million liters

  • @elenidemos
    @elenidemos Před 3 lety +1

    My mothers other half (now passed away), worked there. He fled Germany in 42, eventually ending up in Australia in 59. Due to his qualifications he ended up as a senior electrician within the power stations.

  • @steven251134
    @steven251134 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for making the video, I was one of the people asking for this back when the channel only had about 6 uploads, keep up the great content megaprojects team!

  • @travisbunce7334
    @travisbunce7334 Před 3 lety +32

    It was worth all the constant harassment, thanks Simon and team. Now, let me find a new Aussie project.... Maybe the Square Kilometer Array?

    • @abeeson86
      @abeeson86 Před 3 lety +5

      The SKA is amazing, and he should definitely cover it. The data transmission requirements alone are staggering, AARNet (the education network operator here) set up a bunch of the transmission equipment and talking to them its absolutely nuts how much data comes out of it.

    • @chrismcdonnell1695
      @chrismcdonnell1695 Před 3 lety +3

      How about the trans Australian railway

    • @peterides9568
      @peterides9568 Před 3 lety +1

      I went to TAFE(technical college) with a SKA technician. He was telling me they cryogenically cool their amplifiers to elimate Johnson (thermal) noise.
      Just nuts. But very cool.

    • @VanillaMacaron551
      @VanillaMacaron551 Před 3 lety

      Half of it is in South Africa I think

  • @totterdell91
    @totterdell91 Před 3 lety +18

    congratulations on getting through to Jounama pondage without pronouncing a single place name correctly. A stunning achievement

    • @punked424242
      @punked424242 Před 3 lety +4

      Give the man a break, great content much appreciated.

  • @punditgi
    @punditgi Před 3 lety +1

    Another excellent suggestion from a follower of your channel. Well done!

  • @rastan49
    @rastan49 Před 2 lety

    And that town you mention, Cabramurra.
    Half the town burnt down in those fires you also mentioned, along with a small Ski resort Selwyn Snowfields just up the road.

  • @anguspotter-irwin7126
    @anguspotter-irwin7126 Před 3 lety +3

    Can you do an episode on the wing suit?

  • @bryzabone
    @bryzabone Před 3 lety +3

    Well done on pronunciation there Simon 😝🍻

  • @CaseyForrest3
    @CaseyForrest3 Před 3 lety +2

    Thank you so much for doing an Australian mega build. I love watching and listening to your videos and this brought back all the awe and pride from learning about it at school. And yeah, you mispronounced a few places but that comes with the territory of a lot of Australian places. 👍🏻

  • @bodyjar78
    @bodyjar78 Před 2 lety +1

    As a boy I used to spend holidays in Talbingo. I must have taken the tour of Tumut 3 Power Station dozens of times, and swam and fished in the Talbingo Dam. Those rocks were tough on the feet...lol

  • @UkAndyTaylor
    @UkAndyTaylor Před 3 lety +3

    Vulcan jet pleaseeeee I’ve watched all videos and most of your channels.

  • @Green_House
    @Green_House Před 3 lety +4

    C O R R E C T I O N :
    At 6:17 the picture is of the Mount Bold reservoir dam on the Onkaparinga River in South Australia.
    No where near the Snowy Mountains and quite a small dam and reservoir!

    • @carlyharvy7448
      @carlyharvy7448 Před 2 lety

      Glad someone else picked it up!

    • @Myne1001
      @Myne1001 Před 2 lety +1

      Not surprising. I just saw his National Highway 1 video before this and he shows road with right-hand driving :/

    • @Green_House
      @Green_House Před 2 lety

      @@Myne1001 Wow! That would have been so obvious. And then there was the video about nuclear fission, but he was showing pictures of a Tokamak (nuclear fusion).

  • @garyradley5694
    @garyradley5694 Před 2 lety +2

    A simpler explanations would be to say that the tunnels take the water flowing from the East and West sides of the Great Dividing Range and send it under the Great Dividing Range into dams on the West and North sides of the range where it is then stored for electric power generation before being released into rivers and irrigation canals flowing into the interior.

  • @gregjones3183
    @gregjones3183 Před 3 lety

    Great video Simon, not the Snowy mountain scheme but here in Tasmania I am fortunate enough to have a great old Italian friend that worked on similar hydro constructions in the 50's and 60's . Tough old bugger with some amazing stories to tell :)

  • @drmattconrad77
    @drmattconrad77 Před 3 lety +5

    I don’t know if it would get views but the UN would be interesting from you guys .

  • @macuss87
    @macuss87 Před 3 lety +4

    A Megaproject idea.
    Confederation Bridge in eastern canada. It's massive and a "real" mega project?
    what do you all think?

    • @trevornewton2646
      @trevornewton2646 Před 3 lety +1

      I mentioned this before, longest bridge over Ice covered water.

  • @cavramau
    @cavramau Před 3 lety +2

    The key feature of Snowey 2.0 in my opinion is that it acts as a pumped hydro electricity store or battery.

  • @gazgadgets
    @gazgadgets Před 3 lety

    Nice Vid. As an Aussie it was nice to see a Brit talk about one of our great infrastructure projects. We are proud of it. I learned more in these few minutes about the Snowy Scheme than I have over a life time. Thanks for all the work you put in.

  • @artistjoh
    @artistjoh Před 2 lety +11

    How cute. Simon thinks that Australians wanted to see the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Really they just wanted to roll around on the floor, sides splitting with laughter as Simon mispronounces Australian place names. While Simon is being ever so serious, Aussies are seeing this as comedy gold. It is a bit like Brits laughing at the way Americans mispronounce British place names, or make valiant (or lame) attempts at sounding out Welsh place names.

  • @scottkessler186
    @scottkessler186 Před 3 lety +5

    MA-RUM-BID-GEE! Gotta say it quicker mate.

  • @clarencewatson8366
    @clarencewatson8366 Před 3 lety

    Nice work Simon.

  • @maxrockatanksyOG
    @maxrockatanksyOG Před 2 lety

    My Pop was one of the Draughtsman on the project, lived in Cooma for 15 years whilst working there & raising dad, uncle & aunty