The Snowy River has the highest headwater source of any in Australia and draws away a large proportion of the waters from the south-eastern New South Wales snowfields.

[7] The Commonwealth Government, looking at the national implications of the two proposals, initiated a meeting to discuss the use of the waters of the Snowy River, and a Committee was set up in 1946 to examine the question on the broadest possible basis.

This Committee, in a report submitted in November 1948, suggested consideration of a far greater scheme than any previously put forward.

[citation needed] The chief engineer, New Zealand-born William Hudson[8] (knighted 1955), was chosen to head the scheme as Chairman of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority, and was instructed to seek workers from overseas.

Hudson's employment of workers from 32 (mostly European) countries, many of whom had been at war with each other only a few years earlier,[9] had a significant effect on the cultural mix of Australia.

[11] Tunneling records were set in the construction of the Scheme and it was completed on time and on budget in 1974, at a cost of A$820 million; a dollar value equivalent in 1999 and 2004 to A$6 billion.

[12][13][14] Around two thirds of the workforce employed in the construction of the scheme were immigrant workers, originating from over thirty countries.

[16][17][18] Improved vehicular access to the high country enabled ski-resort villages to be constructed at Thredbo and Guthega in the 1950s by former Snowy Scheme workers who realised the potential for expansion of the Australian ski industry.

[2] During construction of the tunnels, a number of railways were employed to convey spoil from worksites and to deliver personnel, concrete and equipment throughout.

[citation needed] The Scheme also has a significant role in providing security of water flows to the Murray-Darling Basin.

The history of the Snowy Scheme reveals its important role in building post World War II Australia.

[23] The Scheme was completed with the official opening of the Tumut 3 Power Station project by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Paul Hasluck GCMG GCVO KStJ on 21 October 1972.

[25] On 16 April 1958, an elevator at a dam near Cabramurra fell about 400 feet when the cable broke, killing 4 Italian employees of a French construction firm.

[29] Her book is based on about 90 oral histories with former Snowy workers and residents, with original recordings archived as a research collection at the State Library of New South Wales.

An updated 70th anniversary edition of her book was published by New South in 2019 and its content showcased by Richard Fidler in an interview with McHugh for his popular ABC podcast, Conversations.

In an interview with Andrew Brown (The Canberra Times), Savigny said it was important to create a history of the Snowy Hydro using the participant's own words, "You just get a personal sense of what it was like to be there, and what it meant to people's lives.

"[31] The films premiered 7 June 2018 at the Palace Electric Cinema in New Acton in Canberra and can be viewed on the Woden Community Service YouTube Channel.

The Scheme is operated by Snowy Hydro Limited, an unlisted public company incorporated pursuant to the Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth), owned by the Australian Federal government.

The original plan was for 99% of the water of the Snowy River's natural flow to be diverted by the Scheme below Lake Jindabyne.

The Inquiry reported to the New South Wales and Victorian Governments in October of that year, recommending an increase to 15% of natural flows.

[33] In 2000, Victoria and NSW agreed to a long-term target of 28%, requiring A$156 million of investment to offset losses to inland irrigators.

[36] Some concerned water managers, conservationists, politicians and farmers continue to advocate for the return of environmental flows to the Snowy River.

Sightseeing driving tours to the key locations of the Scheme are popular out of regional centres like Cooma, Adaminaby and Jindabyne along roads built for the Scheme like the Snowy Mountains Highway and Alpine Way and towards sights like Cabramurra, as Australia's highest town, spectacular dam walls, and scenic lakes.

[45] Though skiing in Australia began in the northern Snowy Mountains in the 1860s, it was the construction of the vast Snowy Scheme from 1949, with its improvements to infrastructure and influx of experienced European skiers among the workers on the Scheme, that really opened up the mountains for the large scale development of a ski industry, and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts.