What's at the Museum

The Museum's Collection 

The Snowy Scheme Museum houses a nationally significant collection and exhibits material relating to the design, construction and operation of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme in New South Wales.

The collection commenced in 2002 with the purchase of eight large technology items: TD24 and BTD6 bulldozers, a Le Tourneau scraper, a Harman face shovel, an Albion Tipper, a man-haul bus trailer, a tunnel testing dome plug and a V-shaped snow plough.

Today the collection includes machinery, historic vehicles, laboratory equipment, surveying and drafting equipment, artworks, photographs, maps, plans, paper records, books, pamphlets, newsletters, small tools and equipment, precision instruments, medical equipment and domestic items of the Scheme's era.

The objects and materials of the collection continue to be acquired through donations or purchases and there are more than 1000 items in the collection. The collection has three separate categories which reflect the Museum's three subject areas (themes):

1. Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme Historical collection
2. Museum Collection
3. Archive Collection

Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme Historical Collection

This is the Museum's core collection, representing material relating to the design, construction and operation of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. It is both representative and selective.  

Museum Collection 

This part of the collection contains material of historical importance, but it does not meet the higher level criteria required for inclusion in the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Historical Collection.

Archive Collection

The Archive Collection comprises historically important documents, photographs and/or material that supports and assists in interpretation of material in all other parts of the collection.

Collecting Policy 

The Museum's collecting activities are guided primarily by the obligation to document and represent the history of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. From time-to-time, however, consideration is given to collecting for shorter term needs such as a temporary exhibition. The Museum's collecting and exhibitions are further guided by three interrelated thematic areas:

1.  Investigation and design
   
2. Construction
   
3. Operation.
   

The three areas overlap and are not discrete areas. Objects included in the Museum's collection are often significant in more than one of the thematic areas and represent a range of historical experiences.

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