ENGINEERING GEOLOGISTS HONOURED
On 21 April 1993, a short ceremony was held at Tumut Pond Dam, a large concrete arch dam in the Snowy Mountains, to unveil the following plaque:
This plaque is dedicated to DANIEL GEORGE MOYE and his team of geologists who, in close co-operation with the engineers, contributed effectively to the successful completion of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme 1949 – 1974 and thereby established the profession of engineering geology in Australia. Geological field investigations of the scheme commenced at Tumut Pond in February 1950.
Eric Rudd, formerly Professor of Economic Geology at Adelaide University, conceived the idea of officially recording the contribution of engineering geology to the construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, and in particular the leadership of Dan Moye.
Tumut Pond Dam was selected as the most appropriate site for the plaque because the first systematic geological field investigation for the Scheme began at Tumut Pond in February 1950, and because many visitors to the Scheme pass over the dam.
Dan Moye worked for the Sydney Water Board as resident geologist on Warragamba Dam before joining the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority (SMA) in late-1949. He held the position of chief geologist on SMA until 1967, when he took up a senior position with BHP. He was killed in a car accident in 1976.
A total 36 geologists and geophysists worked for SMA between 1949 and 1971, with a peak staff of 13 between 1958 and 1962. ln 1971 the remaining five geologists were transferred to the newly formed Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC).
The proceedings at the ceremony were opened by Eric Rudd. He was a member of an international advisory panel to the Authority from 1950 until 1970, which also included Roger Rhoades formerly chief geologist of the United States Bureau of Reclamation. He outlined the role that Dan Moye and his geological team had played in the Snowy Scheme making particular reference to the extremely close collaboration between the geologists and engineers on the scheme which was instrumental in establishing the profession of engineering geology in Australia.
