Occupation: Pilot
Years Employed: 6
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Douglas was a skilled pilot, having flown aircraft in the Second World War and multiple research expeditions to Antarctica before he commenced work on the Snowy Hydro project. Whilst working for the Snowy Hydro, he received the prestigious Oswald Watt Medal. This medal recognizes “the most noticeable contribution to aviation in Australia by an Australian in a calendar year.”

He resigned from work in 1960 and decided to move to Victoria to help his mother manage the family farm.

Occupation: Axeman
Years Employed: 2
Country of Origin: Australia

Paul found himself in quite a bit of trouble after a workplace incident in Cooma. As a result of this, he was fined $30 from the court and fired from his job as an axeman. Hoping to get her son’s job back, Paul’s mother wrote a letter to his boss stating:

“Paul is more than sorry for his mistakes... He is by no means a bad lad, this trouble he got into was done in haste, without reason or thought of what the consequences could be.”

Unfortunately for Paul, he was not !

Occupation: Works Foreman
Years Employed: 26
Country of Origin: Germany

Prior to working on the Snowy Hydro project, Heinz served the German army during the Second World War. During this time, he was a prisoner of war for 5 years.

He began his 26 year career with the Snowy Hydro Authority as a carpenter but over his career he continued to gain promotions. Before his promotion to works foreman, the following comments were made about Mr Jeromin:

“His officer in charge has reported favourably on his ability to organise work and handle men and considers him to be suitable for the position of works foreman.”

Occupation: Civil Engineer
Years Employed: 12
Country of Origin: Hungary

Ildiko Botka fled Hungary as a and immigrated to Australia. Her skillsets as a civil engineer were needed and after receiving a job, she was placed in the branch. Some of her tasks in this section included flood studies, snowmelt forecasting procedures and work on computers to model flooding.

She applied for 9 months of unpaid leave in order to have a baby but this application was rejected and as a result, she was forced to resign. Despite the Snowy Hydro Authority wishing to keep her position, they strongly advised her to reapply after 9 months. After giving birth, she reapplied for her position in the hydrology department and was successful.

Occupation: Carpenter (initially)
Years Employed: 10
Country of Origin: Lithuania

Kazys was employed and reclassified multiple times over his career with the Snowy Hydro Authority. He began his work as a carpenter, but this work was not suited to his body. As a result of his bad health his doctor wrote the following letter to his boss:

“This man is suffering from heart disease...While it is desirable for him to continue activity within his limits this work should be of the lightest sedentary grade...Thus a nine to five desk job is most essential.”

His boss terminated his employment as a result of his permanently bad health.

Occupation: Chainman
Years Employed: 10
Country of Origin: Yugoslavia

Anton Glavica moved to Australia from a country called .

A ‘Chainman’ is another name for someone who performs surveying work. Surveyors take detailed measurements of areas of land to make sure that infrastructure projects – such as the construction of dams and hydroelectric power stations – is suitable.

As a Chainman, Anton Glavica had a number of roles to perform. Some of these roles included maintaining survey equipment, chopping down trees and bushland to clear lines of sight and clearing walking tracks.

Occupation: Timekeeper
Years Employed: 5
Country of Origin: Czechoslovakia

Josef studied commerce at university in Prague. He used these skills working as a timekeeper. Much of his work involved distributing large sums of money towards employees, materials and project work – jobs that would require lots of maths! After further studies, he was made a member of the Australian Society of Accountants in 1958. In a letter that the Society wrote, addressed to the Snowy Hydro Authority:

"As a result of years of study and work, Mr Peska has gained the privilege of membership and through you I desire to congratulate him."

Occupation: Lorry Driver
Years Employed: 38
Country of Origin: Australia

Richard Lodge spent most of his working life (38 years of it) working for the Snowy Hydro Authority. Driving lorries for the Snowy Hydro Project would have involved moving large quantities or earth to and from worksites to make way for new infrastructure. For someone like Richard, there were always jobs to be found.

In addition to working for the Snowy Hydro project in Australia, Richard was selected to go on a driver assignment to Thailand to assist in building the Tak to Mae Sot road project. This project was one of the first overseas aid projects by the Snowy Mountains Authority.

Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Years Employed: 14
Country of Origin: Netherlands

At the time of the Second World War Gerard was held as a prisoner for three years by the Japanese. During this time, he was forced to work on the .

His university education was broken up over two countries. The first half of which involved engineering study in the Netherlands. He then moved to Perth and completed an electrical engineering program there.

In his role as an electrical engineer, Gerard was responsible for the installation of electrical equipment, cabling and device protection at hydro-electric power stations.

Occupation: Typist
Years Employed: 5
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Typists were responsible for producing letters, certificates, articles and other documentation. For a typist, making little to no errors was crucial. If too many errors on a document were made, the entire document had to be retyped. To be appointed as a typist by the Snowy Hydro Authority, applicants had to pass a 40 words per minute typing test.

In her application typing test, Angeleia typed at a rate of 47.8 words per minute. Later in her career, she was tested typing at a rate of 66.3 words per minute which made her eligible for a higher salary. Towards the end of her career, she was tested at 57.6 words per minute, a slight drop from her personal best!

Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Years Employed: 4
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Harold Gibbs saw an ad in the local newspaper for a job in Australia as an Electrical Engineer and quickly jumped on the opportunity to move overseas with his family and chase a new life. His wife and two children joined him on the trip to Australia for work on the Snowy Hydro.

He spent 4 years working for the Snowy Hydro and afterwards left to work on electrical grid networks in NSW, and later on, the Royal Air Force. He was described by his boss at the Snowy Hydro as being a "widely experienced, capable and energetic engineer."

Occupation: Scientific Services Division (Engineer)
Years Employed: 5
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Whilst in his final year of Civil Engineering studies in Glasgow, Scotland, Robert saw a job advertisement for work on the Snowy Hydro Scheme in Australia. As someone with a keen interest in infrastructure foundations and soils, he applied for the job and was successful!

Most of his work on the Snowy Hydro Scheme involved soil testing, rock bolt development and technical report writing. Most of his work was situated around the dam region of the project.

Occupation: Artist/Tracer
Years Employed: 17
Country of Origin: Australia

Before applying for her job as a on the Snowy Hydro scheme, Constance had experience working for an Engineering company in London and as an artist. She moved to Cooma in 1957 and her work as a tracer involved sketching detailed drawings of gates, valves, power plants and graphs.

Her skills at drawing were observed by her managers, calling her an "intelligent, co-operative and cheerful person". Constance was also deaf but was skilled in lip reading and could speak fairly well. She commented later in her life that "disability is no handicap in work as a tracer."

Occupation: Scientific Officer
Years Employed: 3
Country of Origin: Great Britain (born in New Zealand)

Rudolf was born in New Zealand and studied at university in Auckland. He applied for a position as an but was instead offered the role of 'Scientific Officer', something he was not pleased about! At the same time, he was offered a promotion at his work in New Zealand, but decided to accept the offer from the Snowy Hydro scheme, since he believed that over time, the sort of work available in Australia would be more interesting.

He moved his family from New Zealand to Australia to begin work with the Snowy Hydro scheme in 1956.

Occupation: Apprentice Electrical Fitter / Mechanic / Drafter
Years Employed: 5
Country of Origin: Australia

While still a high school student in Tumut, Peter applied for a position as an apprentice electrician.

"...I feel that I would like to become a qualified electrician if possible, and become a part of your great scheme."

In a reference letter from his principal at Tumut High School, he was described as having a "pleasant personality and disposition" as well as being a "reliable, industrious and trustworthy young man", possessing a "bay of potential". He received a job offer as an apprentice electrical fitter mechanic - straight out of high school!

As a second year apprentice in 1968, Peter was paid 57 cents per hour, or $23 per week! As an apprentice, some of the tasks he would have performed included working on motor coils, electrical circuit board work and electrical maintenance inside homes. He took a liking to work in the drawing office, sketching electrical circuit boards and other devices. His skills were best suited here.

Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Years Employed: 5
Country of Origin: Australia

Thomas worked as an electrical engineer for the Snowy Hydro scheme. He was a highly skilled employee and during his time here, was granted 2 years of leave to undertake work experience in Sweden. The Snowy Hydro scheme believed that in gaining experience abroad Mr Crawford would return with new knowledge to benefit the project in Australia.

After enjoying work and life in Europe, he petitioned to remain abroad for longer than the 2 years previously agreed upon. The Snowy Hydro were disappointed with this proposal and after failed negotiations, Thomas resigned from his position in Australia and continued to live and work in Europe. The Authority decided to never again re-employ Thomas, due to his breaking of their bond.

Occupation: Technical Records Officer
Years Employed: 22
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Joseph had an interesting career before working on the Snowy Hydro Scheme. We worked as a radio intelligence operator during the Second World War for the British Army and later moved to Australia as part of the British Assisted Passage Scheme and found work in Canberra in the Department of Immigration.

He was very skilled at languages, being fluent in German and with a reading knowledge of Dutch and French. In his application letter, Joseph stated "I realise that language qualifications are not essential...but in view of the large number of European migrants employed by the authority, I feel that they could be an asset."

In his role as a technical records officer, Mr Gotts was responsible for correspondence and filing, liaison with other workshops within the SMHEA and liaison on costing and workshops procedure, maintenance of the filing system, overseeing staff member movements (leave, overtime, resignations) and general office duties.

Later in his career, he was reclassified as a technical officer and his type of work changed to tasks such as installation and maintenance of communications systems, fire protection systems, thermoelectric generators and air conditioning systems.

After 22 years working for the Snowy Hydro scheme, he was retrenched due to insufficient work.

Occupation: Model Maker
Years Employed: 17
Country of Origin: Great Britain

Prior to working on the Snowy Hydro scheme, Francis Gibbs served for three years in the Royal Engineers in Great Britain as Sergeant Model-Maker and was responsible for constructing topographical models of military objectives and other models required for tactical exercises. The Snowy Hydro authority believed that Mr Gibbs' skill sets could be used in the construction of topographical scale models for publicity purposes and in the construction of models for the hydraulics laboratory.

In his first year of work with the Snowy Hydro authority he prepared scale models of the Snowy Mountains area which were used for display purposes in Melbourne and Sydney. His skills were highly sought after by the scheme and he spent some time on transfer with the Public Relations team in Sydney, producing display models of the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

He was skilled with his hands and his work as a model maker also led to work in restoring furniture for the Snowy Hydro scheme.