Tumut

Tumut NSW 2720

	Population: 6,195, Height above sea level: 700m Latitude: 35.10.00, Longitude: 148.13.00 Location: 440km south west of Sydney Highway: Snowy Mountains Hwy (18) Nearest Major Town: Wagga Wagga Nearest Airport: Tumut Touring Area: Snowy Mountains

Situated on the Tumut River in the western Snowy Mountains it sits in a fertile valley surrounded by massive peaks.
Explorers Hume and Hovell visited the Tumut region in November 1824 and their glowing reports soon led to settlement of the area. In the first 20 years, settlement stretched along the Tumut River with the main concentration being at Mill Angle, at the end of the Showground Rd., where Tim O'Mara built an hotel. Across the river was a blacksmith shop and a bridge was constructed to connect the two in 1850.
The name Tumut is taken from the aboriginal for 'a quiet resting place beside the river'. and by 1928 it was the headquarters of the Tumut Shire which includes Adelong and Batlow.
Tumut is at the centre of a beautiful valley at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains (See below). It is near the massive lakes, works and power stations of the Snowy Mountains Scheme which was Australia's largest civil works programme built between 1949 and 1974, harnessing the natural resources of the Snowy Mountains through a series of power stations and employed thousands of people during its construction.
Tumut is also on the edge of the Kosciuscko National Park with spectacular high country scenery, wildlife and flora, and snowfields in winter.
There are plenty of places to while away a few hours, but the most spectacular way to enjoy the Tumut area is by foot along the many walking tracks, with a fishing line in the beautiful river, and by a tour of the Snowy Scheme.

SEE TUMUT MAP

PLACES OF INTEREST:

Elm Drive Walk

River Walking Track

Rotary Pioneer Park

Richmond St.

McFarlane's Creek Walk

Alex Stockwell Gardens

Racecourse-Showground Walk

Yarangobilly Caves

Snowy Mountains Scheme (1800 623 776)

ACCOMMODATION & SERVICES:

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INFORMATION CENTRE:
Tumut Visitors Centre
Fitzroy St. Tumut. N.S.W. 2720
Ph: 02 6947 1849 Fax: 02 6947 3752
Open 7 Days.

HOW TO GET THERE:
SRA Coach service from Tumut, Adelong, Batlow and Tumbarumba daily, links with Sydney-Melbourne trains at Cootamundra and Wagga Wagga. Enquiries 02 6947 1031 or 1800 043 126 weekends.
Tumut Aero Club Charter Service: Ph: 02 6947 1148
By car from the Hume Hwy near the Wagga Wagga turn-off at the Sturt Hwy. south of Gundagai, or direct from Gundagai via Gocup.

The Snowy Mountains Scheme
One of the great Australian engineering feats of the last century is the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the most complex, multi purpose hydro-electric scheme in the world. The scheme involded diverting the headwaters of the Snowy, Eucumbene and Murrumbidgee Rivers westward through the alps and creating extra water supplies for the irrigation areas of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area of the Riverina. As part of the plan the water would drop steeply through 800 metres, through a series of power stations, driving the turbines as it passed and creating power for the growing demands of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The total area of the scheme is 3200 square kilometres and the main features are: Seven power stations (2 underground) a pumping station and 16 large dams. A 225 km. network of aquaducts and tunnels. Active storage capacity of 7,000 gigalitres or 13 times the volume of Sydney Harbour of fresh water. There are also hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines connecting the power stations to customers in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. The scheme has the potential to produce 17 per cent of the total power requirements of mainland South Eastern Australia. (Tasmania has its own Hydro-electric System) Constructed over a 25 year period it was completed on time, and on budget. It was a daunting task. Heavily forested areas with almost vertical ravines had to be tamed and diverted through dozens of kilometres of tunnels drilled through granite mountains. Towns like Cabramurra and Talbingo are reminders of the towns which sprang up to house the multi-cultural workers. In the period of construction over 100,000 men and women were employed from 30 countries. Today the recreational opportunities created by lakes such as Blowering, Talbingo and Jounama are popular with locals and visitors who enjoy the fishing and water sports. Lake Blowering is the second largest of the lakes created and is 18km. long and 4km. wide. It was the venue for Ken Warby's successful assault on the world water speed record in his jet-powered boat "Spirit of Australia". Tours Murray 1 Power Station: near Khancoban. Open 7 Days Underground: Tumut 2 Power Station. near Cabramurra (7 days Summer & Winter tours) Tumut 3 Power Station: at Talbingo (Open 7 Days Snowy Mountains Information centre 1800 623 776 or 02 6453 2004

The Snowy Mountains Scheme

One of the great Australian engineering feats of the last century is the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the most complex, multi purpose hydro-electric scheme in the world.
The scheme involded diverting the headwaters of the Snowy, Eucumbene and Murrumbidgee Rivers westward through the alps and creating extra water supplies for the irrigation areas of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area of the Riverina. As part of the plan the water would drop steeply through 800 metres, through a series of power stations, driving the turbines as it passed and creating power for the growing demands of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
The total area of the scheme is 3200 square kilometres and the main features are:

Seven power stations (2 underground) a pumping station and 16 large dams.

A 225 km. network of aquaducts and tunnels.

Active storage capacity of 7,000 gigalitres or 13 times the volume of Sydney Harbour of fresh water.
There are also hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines connecting the power stations to customers in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. The scheme has the potential to produce 17 per cent of the total power requirements of mainland South Eastern Australia. (Tasmania has its own Hydro-electric System)
Constructed over a 25 year period it was completed on time, and on budget. It was a daunting task. Heavily forested areas with almost vertical ravines had to be tamed and diverted through dozens of kilometres of tunnels drilled through granite mountains. Towns like Cabramurra and Talbingo are reminders of the towns which sprang up to house the multi-cultural workers. In the period of construction over 100,000 men and women were employed from 30 countries.
Today the recreational opportunities created by lakes such as Blowering, Talbingo and Jounama are popular with locals and visitors who enjoy the fishing and water sports. Lake Blowering is the second largest of the lakes created and is 18km. long and 4km. wide. It was the venue for Ken Warby's successful assault on the world water speed record in his jet-powered boat "Spirit of Australia".

Tours

Murray 1 Power Station: near Khancoban. Open 7 Days

Underground: Tumut 2 Power Station. near Cabramurra (7 days Summer & Winter tours)

Tumut 3 Power Station: at Talbingo (Open 7 Days

Snowy Mountains Information centre
1800 623 776 or 02 6453 2004