Buried in time.
When the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) was established in 1970, it operated from within the original…
When the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) was established in 1970, it operated from within the original Snowy Mountains Authority (SMA) offices (now Snowy Hydro) in Cooma North. As staff transferred from the SMA to SMEC, they relocated to the offices and laboratories of the Scientific Services Division (SSD) compound at Cooma Back Creek. In 1977, SMEC purchased the SSD compound from the SMA and converted buildings 1 and 2 from archival and storage space into office spaces and building No. 3 was converted into photo reproduction, micro-filming and a library service for the operational needs of SMEC and its international projects.
In 2016 during the demolition of the SSD buildings, a time capsule was discovered and handed to the Hydro1 Heritage Centre for its preservation. Among the contents were details of the staff and functional groups of SMEC, signatures of the renovation team and their group photo shown here.
From left to right, Front row, seated: Les Harding, Life Larsen, Fred C. Chatelain, Kevin Bailey, Harry Von Der Berg.
Back row, standing: Sandy G. Varga, Robert J. (Bob) Simpson, K.T. (Gidi) Kaufline, Denis P. Nowland, Ken Bond, Max Kingston, Frank Woodhouse.
