Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains
Range
Mount Twynam is the third highest peak in Australia, after Mount Townsend
Country	Australia
State	NSW
Part of	Australian Alps
Highest point	Mount Kosciuszko
- elevation	2,228 m (7,310 ft)
- coordinates	36°27′S 148°16′E / 36.45°S 148.267°E / -36.45; 148.267
Worldwind image of Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest coolest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD.

The range contains the five highest peaks on the Australian mainland, all above 2100 metres. They are located in southern New South Wales and are part of the larger Australian Alps and the Great Dividing Range. This is mainland Australia's only true Alpine region with large natural snowfalls every winter. Snow normally falls the most during June, July and Early August. Most of the snow has melted by Late Spring. The Tasmanian highlands are the other Alpine region in Australia.

It is host to the Mountain Plum-pine, a low-lying type of conifer suspected of being the world's oldest living organism.^{[citation needed]} It is one of the centres of the Australian ski industry during the winter months.

The Alpine Way and the Snowy Mountains Highway are the major roads through the Snowy Mountains.

History

The mountain range is thought to have had Aboriginal occupation for twenty thousand years. Large scale inter-tribal gatherings were held in the High Country during summer for collective feasting on the Bogong moth. This practice continued until around 1865[1].

The area was first explored by Europeans in 1835, and in 1840, Edmund Strzelecki ascended Mount Kosciuszko and named it after a Polish patriot.

The discovery of gold at Kiandra (elevation 1400m), in 1859, briefly enticed a population of thousands above the snowline and saw the introduction of recreational skiing to the Snowy Mountains around 1861[2]. Skiing continues in the area to this day at nearby Selwyn Snowfields, however, in the twentieth century, the focus of recreational skiing shifted south towards the Kosciuszko region. A chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in the 1930s, and the construction of the Snowy Scheme from 1949 helped open up skifields at Guthega, Thredbo and Perisher for development[3]. The Snowy Scheme also necessitated the construction of Cabramurra, which is today Australia's highest town.

In 1987 the Swiss-designed Skitube Alpine Train opened at Bullocks Head on the Alpine Way, to deliver skiers to Perisher and the newly constructed Blue Cow ski resort.

Glacial lakes

Part of the mountains known as Main Range contains mainland Australia's five glacial lakes.^[1] The largest of these lakes is Blue Lake, one of the headwaters of the Snowy River. The other four glacial lakes are Lake Albina, Lake Cootapatamba, Club Lake and Headley Tarn.

Water supply

The Snowy Mountains also feed the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers from the Tooma River, Whites River and Yarrangobilly River. The range is perhaps best known for the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a project to dam the Snowy River, providing both water for irrigation and hydroelectricity.

The project began in 1949 employing a hundred thousand men, two-thirds of whom came from thirty other countries during the post-World War II years. Socially this project symbolises a period during which Australia became an ethnic "melting pot" of the twentieth century but which also changed Australia's character and increased its appreciation for a wide range of cultural diversity.

Ramshead Range is one of a number of mountain ranges that are part of the Snowy Mountains

By 1974, 145 kilometres (90 mi) of underground tunnels and 80 kilometres (50 mi) of aqueducts connected the 16 dams, seven power stations (two underground), and one pumping station.^[2] The American Society of Civil Engineers has rated the Snowy Scheme as "a world-class civil engineering project".

See also

New South Wales portal

• Skiing in Australia
• Kosciuszko National Park

References

External links

• The Snowy: The People behind the Power - An historic account about the multinational workforce that built the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric scheme by Siobhan McHugh.

Coordinates: 36°30′S 148°20′E / 36.5°S 148.333°E / -36.5; 148.333