The Dams That Changed Australia - Reading Test Answers

Location: section One

Inland Australia has had a problem with drought from the time of white settlement in 1788 until today, and this is why the Snowy Mountains Scheme was conceived and founded

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One important change was the recruitment of people from outside Australia to work on the scheme.

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Many new arrivals spoke only limited English, and were offered English classes after work.

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The men worked long and hard, and many saved their money with a view to settling in Australia or returning home.

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The Snowy Mountains Scheme is the only hydro-electric scheme in the world to be totally financed from the sale of its electricity.

Location: Section One

The scheme set out to harness water for electricity and to divert it back to the dry inland areas for irrigation.

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After Federation the states retained rights to the water, and thus to what might happen to the rivers. Arguments between New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia led to a deadlocked Premiers' Conference in 1947.

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In 1949, while the world was still recovering from the effects of World War II (1939 to 1945), the Australian government needed immense numbers of people to work on the Snowy. It sought labour from overseas, and 60,000 of the 100,000 people who worked on the scheme came from outside the country.

Location: Section Two

In 1949, while the world was still recovering from the effects of World War II (1939 to 1945), the Australian government needed immense numbers of people to work on the Snowy. It sought labour from overseas, and 60,000 of the 100,000 people who worked on the scheme came from outside the country.

Location: Section One

To do this, thousands of kilometres of tunnels had to be drilled through the mountains, and sixteen major dams and seven hydro-electric power stations built over a period of nineteen years. The first of these was Guthega Power Station, which was commissioned in 1954. and the last one to be finished was Tumut III.

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The men needed primarily to understand safety instructions, and safety lectures were conducted in English and other languages. In fact, a great deal of communication underground was by sign language, especially when the conditions were noisy.

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At a reunion in 1999 many were happy to remember the hardships of those days, but it was all seen through a glow of achieve-ment.

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As well as being a great engineering feat, the scheme is a monument to people from around the world who dared to change their lives.