The Snowy Vision

An Organisation for the Task: A Corporation Sole

The administrative form of the Snowy Authority was deliberately chosen to ensure that the construction of the project would proceed unimpeded by changes in the political environment.

The construction of the Scheme was seen as an engineering task, and Cabinet preferred the appointment of a single outstanding engineer to manage the Project, unimpeded by any Board or group of experts, or any representatives from state governments. They deliberately chose rule by one man.

The Authority was formally constituted as a single commissioner. Thus the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority was, in law, one person. That was a fundamental departure from a normal ministerial department, although the concept of corporation sole had been quite effective in other public enterprises.

In the case of the Snowy Scheme, it was outstandingly successful. There was no indication that the ultimate control of the project by a single commissioner was anything other than beneficial.

It was Nelson Lemmon who selected William Hudson as the Commissioner, and made a single recommendation to Cabinet. The record of the project shows that Hudson was an extraordinarily fine choice, and that the combination of capable leadership and unimpeded authority enabled the huge project to be built on time and within the estimate.

Hudson selected his two Associate Commissioners. Mr T A Lang, a young and distinguished civil engineer, and Commissioner of Irrigation and Water Supply in Queensland, and Mr E L Merigan, Electrical Engineer, State Electricity Commission of Victoria. Australia had a population of only 8 million in 1949, and there were wide-ranging and critical post-war shortages of men and equipment. It was the beginning of a great adventure.

Creating Competence

The critical challenge from the beginning of the Scheme was the enormous magnitude of the task ahead. There were very few engineers in Australia with experience in projects of that magnitude. The Authority had attracted an initial team of mostly young engineers, many with honors degrees and all with strong potential, but with no experience at all in hydro-electric engineering or major projects. In retrospect, it seems that only the Commissioner had any comprehension of what was involved.

The Authority decided to obtain overseas assistance in the preparation of designs and specifications for certain of the first major projects, and also to train the young engineers to a level whereby the Authority could complete the remainder of the Scheme from its own resources.

At that time many engineers around the world had been inspired by the achievements of the American civil engineers in the imaginative public works they built during the thirties. These projects were undertaken in a deliberate program of national economic recovery from the disastrous effects of the Great Depression. These great US public works included the projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and many big projects by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation such as Hoover Dam, and the Central Valley Project in California.

This strong example in America undoubtedly aided the acceptance of the idea of the Snowy Scheme in Australia, and encouraged Lemmon and Chifley to provide similar direct and vigorous leadership.

The Snowy Authority decided to seek assistance in the United States for the initial group of major projects. This prospect was examined in America by Associate Commissioner T. A. Lang. He proposed an agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the United States of America whereby the Bureau of Reclamation would undertake the preparation of designs and specifications for certain tunnel projects and dams, and provide training and experience for a number of Snowy engineers.

At the beginning of 1952, twelve Snowy engineers began work with the Bureau, studying their practices in design and construction of dams and tunnels. Eventually, over 100 young engineers benefited from the program.