Snowy Labour

Being from the Snowy Mountains in rural Australia, I grew up on stories of the brave men of the Snowy Hydro scheme, bravely digging away to secure our nations infrastructure. So, when I moved to Sydney for university, I was shocked to discover that most people my age knew barely anything about Snowy! This was what compelled me to create a documentary chronicling the hardships and triumphs of the Scheme, from the perspective of my Nonno, Charlie Salvestro, who dug tunnels and worked as a brakeman. This film is very personal to me because it taps into a deep family connection and shares stories passed down through the Salvestro family over the last 70 years. Getting my Macquarie University student crew down to Cooma to film this was a logistical challenge, and turned into a near nightmare once we lost half the crew to covid in the week before the shoot. But we persevered, and I hope that you enjoy this story of how bloody hard working on the Snowy was, but ultimately why it was worth it.