A new edition of 'Snowy - The Making of Modern Australia' was released in July 2002 with new chapters covering the Scheme's corporatisation, its changing role in a deregulated electricity market, and its increasingly important environmental role as a means of achieving water reform in south-eastern Australia.
On its first release in 1990, 'SNOWY - The Making of Modern Australia' gained enthusiastic reviews:
"This is a work of inestimable value …should be required reading for every Australian." … Melbourne Age.
"A fascinating story…. Collis succeeds admirably in bringing together all facets of the Scheme and its role in the shaping of modern Australia." Canberra Times
"A most rounded account of Australia's greatest engineering achievement." Financial Review.
"This is where multi-cultural Australia got its kick-along." Sydney Morning Herald
Since 1999 the book has been published by specialist 'High Country' publisher, Tabletop Press, owned and operated by noted historian, photographer and author, Klaus Hueneke.
The upcoming third edition looks at the Scheme's position in relation to contemporary environmental issues -- river and land degradation, climate change, the need for renewable, non-polluting sources of energy, and also the Scheme's own environmental impact.
Many of Australia's southern rivers, particularly the Snowy River, have become starved of water, requiring a dramatic change in water management and an acknowledgement that the environment has just as legitimate a demand for water as do electricity consumers and the irrigation industry. However, the answer to the problem has become far more complex than simply opening a valve in a dam wall. The Snowy authority, in its new identity, Snowy Hydro, has had to find a way over the same political hurdles as the first commissioner, William Hudson faced in 1950.
The new edition will be available through general bookshops, from Snowy Hydro's information centre in Cooma, or direct from Tabletop Press. Recommended retail price,$29.95.
Address:
Tabletop Press
2 Lambell Close
Palmerston
ACT 2913
Australia
