Oral history of the Snowy River

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Some of the more senior residents who have lived along the Snowy River for most of their lives agreed to be interviewed, or to send a letter, describing the changes to the river during their lifetime. Their stories are presented just as they were spoken, or written. The first four are oral histories from New South Wales.

Charlie Roberson
Born in 1919 at Dalgety

I lived one kilometre from the Snowy River for most of my life. We could always hear the Snowy singing from home. That is how I used to describe the sound of the river. It used to be quieter in the summer. Now we don't hear it at all. You wouldn't know there was a river there now.

It was a clear river most of the time, 99 per cent pure. It's hard water now. Before it was soft. The river had a gravelly sandy bed with rocks and boulders but they're overgrown now and you can't see them. During the spring thaw it used to flow for three months at least in a good strong flow, bank to bank. The level used to be up into the first ring on the pylon for that period.

When there was storms in the mountains the river used to go up and down. In my lifetime it never got as low as it is now. There was enough water in the river at all times to form a boundary. In a wet season the river used to flow quite strongly, sometimes even flooding during the summer. The river lived with us. We were conscious of it all the time. Now it is nothing.

We followed the building of the Jindabyne Dam with interest and thought it was going to be a good thing. Trap the snow water and use it for irrigation and hydro power. At no time were we informed that the whole river would be taken nor did we think it would. It was never considered that we would lose the character of the river. It is very grim to think that it has happened.

I fished the river quite a lot. It was always good fishing from Dalgety to Iron Mungie, my favourite stretch There seemed to be more rapids. However the fisherman that came here would fish the river up and down from Dalgety. They used to come and stay at Jindabyne as well and fish all through there. It was a very popular river for fishing. You could see the fish from the bridge. You could just about get to the river anywhere you wanted with some exceptions. Now you can hardly get to it for the weeds, willows and blackberries. When the river was dammed there was nothing to fish. There was no fish in the dams just after they were built. I have been up there and it doesn't interest me at all, especially when you've spent much of your life fishing the river. It's a different kind of fishing all together. I used to fish at night for native fish. They are all gone now. I gave up fishing when they dammed the river.

I am familiar with the Snowy River from the headwaters to the Maclaughlin/Snowy confluence most of which I used to fish at any opportunity.

All of the mountains was very popular with the fisherman. I can remember the fisherman staying at the hotels that were run both by the New South Wales Government Bureau and privately owned. The Creel was popular as it was adjacent to the Snowy River but situated on the Thredbo river. This allowed fisherman to take a choice of streams, left to the Thredbo and right to the Snowy. I can remember at the junction of the Snowy River and the Thredbo River, there being an area of about 40 acres of Kentish cherries that was very popular with the tourists and the locals. That area went under the dam. The Jindabyne Dam flooded out a very beautiful and productive valley. We looked forward to the springtime to go fishing but we had to wait until the flows reduced to a suitable level. I mainly fly fished the river. From our house, some four miles distance from the river, we could hear the river roaring down the gorge any time the river was running strongly. Now you can't hear it even if you're standing beside it.

I would describe the original river in the summer by saying that there was fast flowing rapids that flowed into deep pools which flowed again into more rapids then more pools. The formation of the river used to change with the summer storms which tended to be the main source of flooding in the Snowy River. We used to have to assess the river each time we wanted to fish or cross over. The river was changing with each season. It would carve new channels and fill others up. Where you could once wade across it could then be over your head or vice versa. The quality of the water was 99 per cent pure. It was that good that it had a reputation of being addictive to drink. If you had a drink while you were fishing you couldn't get enough of it. One wouldn't even consider taking a mouthful of it now.

One of the prettiest sights I ever saw was on the Snowy River on a large expanse up- stream of Dalgety, not long before the river was dammed. There was a very large hatching of dragon flies and they were flying just above the water and suddenly to my surprise, hundreds of fish were in the air all at once, like a cloud, jumping for the dragon flies. With the early afternoon sun shining on the fishes' rainbows it was a sight like no other. I didn't believe there was that many fish in the river. A week later I witnessed a similar event but on a smaller scale about three miles below Dalgety. The fish would go on and off the bite. You could fish all morning and only get one or two. Then suddenly they would come on and you would pick up another half a dozen in no time. The Snowy River was very popular for swimming and fishing for locals, district people and tourists. The professional people from Sydney and other places fished the Snowy River year after year until they were too old to fish. This enjoyment has come to an end through the damming of the river.

I flew with Bill Hudson, the first commissioner of the Scheme in the beaver aeroplane to look at the fence lines along the Snowy. We eventually ended up at the Dalgety Hotel where we had further discussion and he assured us that we would not be lacking for water flowing under the bridge. Whatever his interpretation was of enough water under the bridge the result for the river has been very disappointing. I think it is a bloody disgrace that the Snowy River has been allowed to deteriorate to the present extent.

The Snowy River was so deep. In the big pools you couldn't see the bottom. We used to throw in a big rock to check the depth. You could tell by the sound of it hitting the bottom to how deep it was. It was too deep for us kids in places to be allowed to swim. We used to watch the fish (trout) swimming upstream to spawn from the edge of our property. In summer we couldn't wait to get home from school and go to down to the river for a swim.

My four children used to swim in the river in the blue hole at Dalgety bridge. It was called the Blue Hole because it was so deep. In the summer the teenagers used to see if they could bottom the Blue Hole. The river was that deep and clear that it was always a popular spot. It was the meeting place for the young ones to congregate, swim and lay out in the sun.

Fisherman used to come from all over the country and a lot of them. It was not choked like it is now. It is strangled now. It was a beautiful river. It was absolutely picturesque. It's criminal to see it in the state it is today. My father used to grow lucerne on the river flat at Rockwell. Just that lucerne paddock fed all the stock all winter. The springs used to be in plenty but now people say that they don't exist like they used to. Looking at the river the way that it was and it to look at it today is simply heartbreaking.

For example the biggest flood in my lifetime occurred in the summer of 1934. All the mountain water came down here. The Snowy River's water was clean and pure. In fact when you drank it, you couldn't get enough of it.

I can remember the years between 1949 and 1956 as being particularly wet, with a peak in river flow in March 1950 when it flooded. The river could rise and fall all year round depending on the rainfall. In my lifetime I never saw the river any where near as low as it has been since the damming.

I remember the Snowy River as being famous for its fishing. All sorts of bigwigs used to come and fish in it. We camped for three months on the river working at Iron Mungie and fish was always on the menu. I haven't seen the platypus like I used to. You could see colonies of platypus along the river before. Now you're lucky to see one. In our leisure time we used to go fishing for blackfish and eels at night time. We used to bag 30 or 40 blackfish a night as well as a dozen eels. In the depression days, in the 1930s, this helped things a bit.

I can remember the hotel and camping ground used to full up and would be coming and going through the whole fishing season. They not only camped here. They would be all up and down the river. The opening weekend used to be a big event with fishermen lined up along the river. They used to be from El Paso to the Victorian border. The fisherman used to come back every year to their pet patch. Of course they used to congregate at all the hotels to tell their fishing yarns.

And from the lower end of the Snowy River, in Victoria came the following contributions:

Mr W. B. Dreverman
Born in Orbost in 12-1-1910

OUR (STOLEN) SNOWY RIVER

Gone are the days
When the Snowy was a river not just a creek.
When the snow water flushed out the entire river.
When the river was deep enough to take large sized boats and ships.
When as a youngster I had picnics on the Curlip paddle-steamer up and down the Snowy River.
When the river bank had several landings to load and unload goods and produce.
When the entrance was deep enough to be safe for all who wished to use it.

The Snowy is just like a ship that has run aground.
Both are no longer able to do what was required of them.

Having lived in Orbost - Marlo all my life
It's a sad sight to see our Snowy water vanish over the hills to the other side.

(signed) W. B. Dreverman

P.S.

May I say that I was born in Orbost on 12-1-1910.

I have worked in Orbost all my life; moved from Orbost to Marlo during 1965; now retired; my wife and I enjoy looking at the ocean and the Snowy when the tide comes in.

During our lives we have seen the Snowy change from a beautiful river to a sandy bottom creek.
W. B. Dreverman

Mr J. E. McKeown Born in Bairnsdale in 1907
15 Stewart St Marlo 3888
22-4-1998

The Snowy River

1920->1967->1998

Then->the dam->now

The Snowy then was in its wild natural stage. As youngsters we could swing out on a weeping willow and drop into eight feet of water.

The river was a series of deep channels in summer. In front of our farm, Bete Bolong, near where the Snowy left the hills, it was possible to row a boat in summer several miles upstream to Sandy Point (now called Long Point), as you can see in the photo.

Snow water used to flow in September and October giving us minor flooding, flushing out the river, lifting the water table and giving a useful entrance used by offshore anglers.

During the Second World War the Snowy flats were called on to produce vegetables for the armies, which was done successfully. Now we have an extremely low flow, with the river at summer level throughout the year except for freshes and floods.

Where we used to swim, there are trees up to thirty feet high growing, and now it is not possible to row a boat. There is no longer the beneficial snow water. The entrance is unusable. Offshore anglers have to travel 15 kilometres to Cape Conran for their sport. High tides push unusable brackish water many miles upstream.

A few years ago when Edgells were based in GardenLand at Lindenow all types of vegetables were grown, until Pacific Dunlop recalled the processing plant. Only a small area of vegetables are grown now but in future the time will surely come when these fertile flats will be required to grow them again, and water will be required for irrigation.

Sincerely hoping for an increased flow of water for this great river, so sorely degraded below the Jindabyne Dam.

Yours faithfully

(signed) J. E. McKeown

Mr James Nixon
Born in Orbost in 1911
Resident for 86 years

I have lived in Orbost for eighty-six years and I have farmed land with frontage to the Snowy River for seventy-one years and it makes one very sad to see what has become of this once mighty river.

My first lasting memories of the river were at Marlo where the family spent the school holidays and weekends. My father had a boat and we fished every part of the estuary. It was a deep draught boat so we knew every sand bank but there were very few. We even went to the extreme dead-end of the backwater on occasions. I do not think there has been a boat there in the last thirty years. What a pleasure it was to pull up alongside the second island with its impenetrable green wall of lilly pilly and clematis and catch as many bass (in those days, Gippsland perch) as was needed. It was impossible to fish from the bank there and in fact, there were very few places in all the estuary above Marlo where fishing was done from the bank. Bream Point was one and another popular spot was where the old Marlo Road followed the Broddribb River near its junction with the Snowy.

On leaving school, I started growing beans and maize and my association with the river has been very close. I have seen every major flood this century. The largest and most damaging have been since the Snowy Mountains Scheme was completed. Prior to this destructive Scheme, at the driest time of the year there was nowhere along the river where it flowed through the flats where it could be crossed directly across without swimming.

Every spring we would have a snow fresh and the river would run at a level of from twelve to sixteen feet for two or three weeks. The bass would run at this time and many were caught on their upstream travel. In 1951 in the event of diving masks, I took up spear fishing and I have dived the length of the Snowy from its confluence with the Buchan to its mouth and I found that there were two holes that were 30 feet deep but most of the outside bends ranged from 10 to 18 feet deep at summer level.

As I write this, nearly anywhere along the river it can be crossed directly across at about ankle depth and the mouth has closed for the second time since the SMA(1)

1 Scheme was imposed upon us. The river bed is a flat plain of sand, densely covered now with seedling willow and mahogany.

(signed) James Nixon