BRAND NEW EDITION 2019 with NEW SOUTH BOOKS: THE SNOWY – A HISTORY
Cover endorsement from esteemed author Tom Keneally:
This classic work is the last word on the extraordinary human, industrial, ethnic and social event of the Snowy River Scheme. The tales of the men and women involved were more diverse than for any other Australian phenomenon, and Siobhan McHugh conveys the varied tales of humans spread by it all over the Snowy Mountain region with a humane historian eye. If you want to have a passing knowledge of the making of modern Australia, you should read this tale of an era when Australia dared to have a vision.
First published on 40th anniversary of the Snowy Scheme, 1989 by Heinemann. Launched in Dublin by artist Sidney Nolan. Reprinted HarperCollins 1995, went to 13 editions.
Winner, NSW Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction
1995 edition
‘A wonderful socio-historical document and an engrossing read… a fine achievement. It lives and breathes the Snowys and makes you feel as if you were there.’ – Sophie Masson, Sydney Morning Herald
2. THE RADIO SERIES:
6 x 30mins, ABC Radio National, 1987
The Snowy – The People Behind the Power
‘A saga of a series about an epoch-making project’. Barry Hill, The Age.
Featuring Snowy workers of 25 nationalities, the first time ‘ethnic’ voices were heard in such magnitude on Australian radio.
Available at ABC archives and coming soon on Soundcloud.
3. THE FILM DOCUMENTARY: 60mins, Film Australia, 1989
Snowy – A Dream of Growing Up
Based on McHugh’s book, directed by Stephen Ramsey, Assoc Producer Siobhan McHugh
4. THE YOUNG ADULTS’ FICTION: BOOK, 10-14 year olds
My Story, Snowy – The Diary of Eva Fischer (Scholastic 2003): BRAND NEW EDITION OUT 1 JULY 2019!
Selected for NSW Premier’s Reading List.
| A year in the life of a feisty eleven year-old-girl growing up in Cabramurra in the fifties as the Hydro-Electric Scheme transforms the social and physical landscape. |  |
| ‘Usually I just skip through books but since I read the first two pages of Snowy, it seems that I’ve gotten addicted to it. Thank you for showing me that there are some books that are not boring.’ Taiya, 13 yrs. | |
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See article 23 August 2011, ‘Sparks that lit a nation’
5. CONSULTANT to SBS TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY, 2 x 60mins, 1999
The Snowy – Part One: The Vision
The Snowy – Part Two: The People
Producers Lina Safro and Mika Nishimura. Narrator Bryan Brown.
6. THE THEATRE ADAPTATION, ‘Tunnel Vision’ – WORKSHOP, 1996
A collaboration between Siobhan McHugh and O’Punksky’s theatre, funded by an Australia Council for the Arts grant. Due to be premiered in Sydney Festival 1998, but funding could not be raised. Draft script, envisaged as a musical, remains on ice.
7. PUBLIC LECTURE: 60th anniversary of the Snowy Scheme, National Archives of Australia, 2009 (transcript)
Former Snowy workers and residents with Siobhan and Deputy Director, National Archives of Australia. (Photo NAA)
The Snowy Scheme today: Snowy Hydro
NOTE: Emily Ballou’s interesting novel Aphelion (Picador 2007) draws (with permission) on stories and imagery from my book, The Snowy... It tells the story of four generations of women, set against the inundation of the small town of Adaminaby, lost to the huge Eucumbene Dam in the late 1950s. Review of Aphelion
8. ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION
Original recordings of my interviews with over a hundred Snowy workers, associates and residents are archived at the State Library of New South Wales. The collection also contains my correspondence, working notes etc. Access HERE.
Siobhan McHugh 
6 comments
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July 6, 2020 at 2:45 pm
Lonnie Sulway-Keys
Trying to contact Otto Blank. Met in 1964 on voyage to Europe. Last letter from him in Devonport Tasmania.(1960s). When I googled Otto Blank you book came up The Snowy. Have photo and letter from him and would love to make contact again. Your story was so interestig I would like to talk with him again.
July 16, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Siobhán McHugh
Dear Lonnie, I’m sorry to say that Otto Blank died many years ago. If it is any consolation, a quote from Otto in my book (p.58, 2019 edition) is inscribed on the Migration Wall at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney – so he is memorialised forever in his new home, quite an honour. The museum chose his particular comment to represent all the migrants who worked on the scheme.
August 29, 2020 at 6:43 pm
Lonnie Sulway Keys
Thank you Siobhan, was saddened to hear that he had passed away.
August 18, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Shirley Gray
Otto was a friend to our family, he dated my sister in the late fifties, he remained a dear close friend until the day he died, called my mother Mum & used her as his next of kin.
August 19, 2020 at 11:11 am
Siobhán McHugh
That’s lovely to hear, Shirley – thank you for letting me know.
October 5, 2022 at 3:37 am
Are podcasts “dying”? – James O'Brien
[…] she did a wonderful oral history project about the people who worked on the Snowy Mountains scheme. https://siobhanmchugh.org/the-snowy/ More recently, she worked on a project with Patrick Abboud about the “special” gaols […]