In addition to electricity generation, Burrinjuck Dam is used for purposes including flood mitigation, irrigation, water supply and conservation.

Also known as Barren Jack Dam and Barrenjack, it was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

It was designed by Lawrence Augustus Burton Wade[3] and built between 1907 and 1927 by Lane & Peters of Sydney[2] on behalf of the New South Wales Water, Conservation & Irrigation Commission and the NSW Department of Public Works.

[9] He had an interest in water conservation that led him to construct a series of irrigation channels and steam pumps that were critical to the rice-growing activities in the area at the turn of the century.

Problems were found in part of the foundations of the dam wall in 1911, which led to a 12-month delay in completion of the first stage of the construction works.

[19] The flood waters tore through the unfinished southern spillway and fell 200 feet (61 m) to the river below, resulting in a massive fog which one journalist compared to that of Niagara Falls.

[19] The flood water came within 2 feet (0.61 m) of spilling into the finished northern spillway,[19][20] which was being used as a storage site for sand and granite used in the dam's construction.

Arrangements were made with police, the New South Wales Government Railways, the postal service, military and air force officials, radio stations, boat operators and local committees to be put into effect at a moments' notice.

[25] The first stage of remediation works involved lowering the dam wall by 10–15 feet (3.0–4.6 m) and was estimated in 1937 to cost approximately £100,000.

[29] A major flood in 1974 eroded unweathered granite from an unlined spillway discharge channel which then resulted in the destruction of a penstock to the Burrinjuck Power Station.

An inquest held the following day found that Mr Miller had died of a fractured skull and made a finding of accidental death.

[2] When the government began privatisation of electricity generation, Burrinjuck Dam was one of several renewable energy assets that were not immediately sold, but instead transferred to a State-owned corporation, Green State Power.

[36] He alighted from the southern mail train at Goondah railway station where he was met by the resident engineer on the project, Mr Smith.

They then boarded a train on the light rail line which took them 45 kilometres to the temporary township housing 1,000 people, the workers and their families, engaged in constructing the dam.

Burrinjuck Dam is situated on the Murrumbidgee River 60 km by road from Yass in southern New South Wales.

Apart from acting in a regulatory role the dam can also pass water through its 10 megawatt hydro-electric power station thus becoming a very fast and clean supply of electricity.

[5][6][7] Linked to the dam is a pump house, left and right spillways and a hydro electric power generation system.

The dam was part of a larger system of weirs and controls providing water for the government-sponsored Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme which enabled agriculture to expand in the area.