The Hume Dam is upstream from Albury on the Murray River. This is the wrong direction for the rest of the trip, but having never seen it ...
Construction began in 1919 and completed in 1936, at which time it was one of the largest dams in the world. Capacity was doubled in 1961, and the dam was bought up to modern standards in the period 1994 - 2003.
The land on this side is in New South Wales, the other side being in Victoria. The southern bank of the Murray River is the border.
The dam has been honoured by the Institution of Engineers, Australia as a National Engineering Landmark, as shown on plaques at the dam wall.
Part of the visitor area, including some autumn colours, and also a person, for scale. The water level is quite low, but it's expected at this time of the year, given winter is not far off. Most of the water comes from the alpine regions of southern NSW and eastern Victoria. Plus the water diverted through the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
The visitor area seen from the dam wall. The vehicle only partly visible on the right is a diesel powered generator, for some construction work taking place on the upstream side of the wall. Exactly what was being done was not obvious.
The water level is quite low.
The upstream side of the dam wall, with stains showing previous higher water levels. The concrete towers on the top are part of the spillway.
These are the spillway structures for the dam. There is a gate located in each of the sections, operated by a chain mechanism. The spillway is opened by raising the steel gates as needed. During snow melt season, especially before the Snowy Mountains Scheme was built, there could be very high river flows.
This was the only water coming out of the dam, as the power station appeared to be not operating.
The front of the dam wall shown here is where water released via the above spillway gates would come forth. The concrete, block shaped building behind the water plume is the power station, and next to it the electrical switch yard.
Towrang Rest Area
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