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.

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 Khancoban 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 reinstated!

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 suitable for the position of works foreman.”

Ildiko Botka fled Hungary as a refugee and immigrated to Australia. Her skillsets as a civil engineer were needed and after receiving a job, she was placed in the hydrology 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.

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.

Anton Glavica moved to Australia from a country that no longer exists! Yugoslavia is present day Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia.

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.

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 accounting 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."

Richard Lodge spent most of his working life (38 years of it) working for the Snowy Hydro Authority. Driving lorrys 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.

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

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.

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!

Harold Gibbs - Electrical Engineer - blurb to go here

Robert Brodie blurb here

Constance Harvey - blurb needs to be added here

Rudolf Belin - Scientific Officer - blurb needs to be added here

Peter James French - Scientific Officer - blurb needs to be added here

Thomas Matthew Crawford - blurb needs to be added here

Joseph Gotts - blurb needs to be added here

Francis Gibbs blurb needs to be added here