Portraits of German migrants to Australia – a book by Sabine Nielsen
Memories in my Luggage
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613 German tradesmen contracted to the Snowy Scheme in 1951

1/4/2015

11 Comments

 
By Artur Baumhammer, son of Willi Baumhammer

‘My name is Artur Baumhammer, and  I am the son of Willi Baumhammer, who was one of the first 613 German tradesmen that were contracted to the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority (
SMHEA) in 1951. 44 men arrived by plane, including my father, the rest arrived on various ships. Their contracts were for two years.
I arrived in Australia with my mother in 1952, joining my father on the Snowy scheme. In 1952, I was the youngest in Island Bend camp, Mt Kosciuszko, and  it certainly was no holiday, no friends and no sport. 

Amongst my father’s papers I found records of the compulsory English lessons issued by Immigration & Education Department, a contract document issued between SMHEA and the tradesmen and the contract stating conditions, efficiency, proper conduct and character. I also kept some on-board newspapers, as well as the daily notes of our positions latitude and longitude, weather and rough seas as we came over via Cape Town. Through an unusual incident I was able to obtain a paper clipping from 6 April 1951 edition of the Daily Telegraph, "First Migrants from Germany ", also a gold embossed pamphlet called “Souvenir Commemorating the Commencement of Works on the
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority,  Adaminaby, NSW on 17 October 1949”.

After the 65th freunion celebrations held in Cooma from 17 to 20 October 2014, under the banner of the Snowy Scheme Association, I perused the computer and other media outlets but found no trace of these 613 Pioneer tradesmen anywhere.

I wish to keep the record alive of these men and forward it to the Museum in Adaminaby. We have a first-class museum in
Adaminaby that recently was runner-up out of 74 museums in NSW. We are all volunteers and the museum is open on weekends, and if an opening during the week is required, access will be arranged.  All the equipment on display is from volunteers and they can relate many events and incidents.

Now, I would like to assemble information on these men and their lives while working and living in Australia for the benefit of later generations, and compile a tribute to these pioneer contract tradesmen.

I hope some of these men and/or their families are still alive and may be able to give me some information, photos or other item of interest that would be interesting to the Snowy Scheme Museum in Adaminaby, for future generations to access.’

Has anyone got a "Zimmermanns Tracht"?
Artur and the museum volunteers would dearly like to add a traditional “Zimmermanns Tracht” to their collection. Can anybody help?


Please contact Artur Baumhammer info@snowyschememuseum.com.au

Snowy Scheme Museum Adaminaby
5199 Snowy Mountains Highway
Adaminaby NSW 2629
Phone (02) 6454 1643

Email
info@snowyschememuseum.com.au
www.snowyschememuseum.com.au



Further information to photos above:
1.
The frames in the photo were later covered with tents, very often the tent pegs were small crowbars as the winds reached up to 160km/hr and without hardwood frames normal tents would not be able to withstand those winds. The Snowy River is behind both men, note: in a distance of 15 to 20km the tree line where the last trees grow between there and Mt Kosciuszko. Sudden weather changes killed many men.

2. Note the pressure cooker between post and gumboot!  All the firewood had to be carried in from the treeline, These men erected small dams to measure the water volumes to the aquaducts & dams, blasting boulders out of the creek beds was Willi's job, some times it was half a case.

3.
Typical accomodation were tents, despite the freezing conditions. Tent pegs were held down with rocks, Note: no trees! The men stayed there the whole week, and usually Arthur Baumhammer would pick up his dad with the motorbike at Seamans Hut - just below the Mt Kosciuszko summit. Most times, Arthur would take the other men to Charlote Pass where they were picked up by a land rover, Often, the land rover was late due to the extremly deep washouts. Arthur once lost a new tyre, but he knew how to help himself: "I cut my boots up to mend the tyre and pumped it up again".
11 Comments
Lothar Huebsch
1/13/2018 02:54:18 am

Am currently in Australia on our first visit here. My father was one of these 613 German tradesmen contracted to work on the snowy mountain project. He arrived by boat. After the 2 years were over he returned to Germany and 4 years later immigrated to Canada. His name was Erwin Paul Huebsch. He was a carpenter and was involved in building barracks for project workers.I have a dozen or so photos of he and a group of colleagues/countrymen travelling to Australia and then at work in the snow Am not sure I have any names etc. But when I return to Canada I shall send you electronic copies of them if that might be of interest.

Reply
Artur Baumhammer
4/22/2018 11:39:48 pm

I wuold dearly have some of those fotos, as you may appreciate in those days a camera was a Luxus article, acccording to my fathers list of all 613 Trades Men, in alphabetical order , your father i #206 & arrived from BERLIN ,tha's the first lot, dep., Berlin 1-4-1951, Sydney ,6-4-1951 , love to hear from you again, I'm 83/y Artur

Reply
Christian Elliott
7/19/2020 07:08:58 am

hey mate, I was wondering if you have any information in my 2 grandpa's, Wladislaw Szedel and Roland Karl Bischof by any chance? I think they were part of this 613 but I haven't been told anything about my ancestors from my family which leads me to believe WW2 wasn't friendly to them, I would appreciate any information you have. I still own a house in Khancoban

Artur Baumhammer
4/22/2018 11:45:40 pm

it is beyond me that no one has raised the efforts of those 613 German Trades Men , it has come to light that they were responsible for the succes as soon as it got cold snow , the aussies went don the coast in warmer climate , I found the records , Artur Herzliche gruesse !

Reply
Julie Gustavs link
12/29/2020 06:56:27 pm

Dear Artur
What a great project. I hope you are still engaged with it

I think my father Wener Fritz Karl Gustavs was also part of this group. He was a mechanic and told my brother and I of the bitter first winter where he did not have enough money till the second month in the snow to buy a blanket! I inherited that blanket in 2006 when he died. He had led a very successful life as a flight engineer for QANTAS. He set sail from Germany in 1951 orginally from Berlin and I think his ship was called the Castello Blanco. I don’t know much more about this time and would love to learn more. I have a few of his snaps from the snow

Thanks
Kind regards / his daughter Julie

Reply
Teri
11/4/2018 04:33:42 am

Does anybody remember a George Zimmer from this project?

Reply
Sabine Nielsen link
12/31/2020 11:47:44 am

Dear Teri,
I've been remiss in not answering your querie re George Zimmer on the Snowy Mountain Scheme. The person who would now is Atze (Arthur) Baumgartner - jan.artur@bigpond.com
Good luck! Sabine

Reply
Christian Elliott
1/8/2020 06:08:30 am

My Grandfathers name was Roland Bischof (bob) , i think he may have been one of these men, he Emigrated from Schruns around 51 and lived in cooma, cabramurra then settled in Khancoban, he worked his entire life on the snowy scheme and died about 15 years ago

Reply
Sabine Nielsen
7/19/2020 11:28:03 am

Dear Christian, please contact 'Atze' (Artur Baumhammer) direct )see email above. He may be able to help you.
I wish you all the best in your search.
Sabine

Reply
Sabine Nielsen link
12/31/2020 11:49:30 am

Dear Christian,
I notice that I did not give you Atze's email re your querie on the Snowy Mountain Scheme - it is jan.artur@bigpond.com
I very much hope, he can help you.

Cheers
Sabine

Kirsten Sandona
1/5/2021 05:56:47 pm

My father, Roland Ommer was an electrician who migrated to Australia with his wife and 2 daughters in 1956. He worked at the Steelworks at Port Kembla for a short time before heading off to work in ‘The Snowys’. We rarely saw him in the 4 years he worked there, often 7 days a week for long hours per day.
We were able to purchase a home because of his efforts. He suffered several minor injuries and the cold, working whilst standing in water and general working conditions didn’t do his arthritis any good ( he was in his mid forties then).
Unfortunately there are no photos.
On his return he worked as an electrician at Nebo Colliery.
I am proud of his contribution to the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme.
Kirsten Sandona ( Ommer)

Reply



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