A quiet town in the Snowy Mountains that has become a popular trout fishing destination. Adaminaby is the gateway to the Northern NSW Snowfields and Mount Selwyn - the oldest ski district in Australia, where recreational skiing has been conducted since 1861.
Where is it?: Southern Agricultural. Adaminaby is 51 km north west of Cooma; 453 km south west of Sydney. Adaminaby is situated on the high Monaro Plateau near Cooma.
The construction of nearby Lake Eucumbene made it necessary to re-locate the original Township of Adaminaby in 1957. In times of drought, the original township and relics of the old valley re-emerge from under the waters of the lake.
In 1959 Hollywood came to the newly re-situated Adaminaby race course for the filming of "The Sundowners", starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, and Deborah Kerr. In 1984, the Adaminaby Race Track doubled for Mexico in the Australian movie Phar Lap, starring Tom Burlinson. Adminaby is a popular destination for horse riders, bushwalkers, fly-fishermen and water sports enthusiasts as well as a base for viewing aspects of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Adaminaby is today a good base from which to view different aspects of the Snowy Scheme, including nearby Lake Eucumbene, Tantangara Dam, Tumut 2 Power Station and Cabramurra, Australia's highest town.
Things To See and Do
Lake Eucumbene, the largest of the man-made lakes in the Snowy Mountains, it was completed May 1958. The lake was created by the damming of the river as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The dam was built between 1956 and 1958. Eucumbene Dam is an earthfill dam 116 metres high and 686 metres thick at the base. The wall is 580 meters long and carries a roadway. Its storage capacity is 4,300 million cubic metres, approximately equal to nine times the volume of Sydney Harbour. Lake Eucumbene is connected by tunnels to the Snowy and Murrumbidgee Rivers, and to Tumut Pondage and Tantangara Dam.
Heritage features: St John's Anglican Church (1906, moved 1956); Uniting Church, previously the Presbyterian Church (1886).
Surrounding Area
Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme is the biggest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Australia. It is also one of the largest and most complex hydro-electric schemes in the world. More than 100,000 people from about 30 countries were employed in the region on a project that lasted from 1949 until 1974. Adaminaby was the starting place of the project.
Cooma is set amongst the rolling Monaro plains, and with snow-covered peaks in the distance, Cooma is the largest town in the Snowy Mountains and gateway to the State's alpine area.
Yarrangobilly Caves: some caves can be self-guided or there are guided cave inspections such as the beautiful Jersey Cave, the wheelchair accessible Jillabenan Cave, (one of the most highly decorated caves in eastern Australia) or the immense North Glory Cave. The area has a rich Aboriginal and European history. As well as cave inspections undertaken with experienced guides, there are a number of short walks and the popular thermal pool for swimming.
Kosciuszko National Park is one of the best known and best loved national parks in Australia, attracting around three million visitors each year. The park is named after Mount Kosciuszko, which at 2,228 metres is Australia's highest mountain.
Cabramurra is the highest permanently inhabited town on the Australian continent, situated at 1,488m in the western Snowy Mountains of the Great Dividing Range. Cabramurra was established in 1954 using prefabricated houses, as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme and associated Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. An earlier surveying camp had been established there in 1951. The town was moved some 500m and 20m vertically to a more sheltered position, its current site, in 1974, leaving the original site as the lookout. Cabramurra is a 'company town', being the place of residence for workers in the nearby Tumut 2 hydro-electric power station and electrical switching yards, and Tumut Pondage dam. Only persons directly employed by Snowy Hydro, and their families, are permitted to live in the town.
Monaro High Country: billed as one of the seven wonders of New South Wales, Monaro High Country stretches the length of the South Coast region, its main feature being the Snowy Mountains. Winter is renowned for its picturesque snow fields, Spring is a multitude of rural shows and festivals, a time the mountains are painted with wildflowers and blossoms. Summer provides for relaxing fishing and bush walking activities with Autumn portraying the regions brilliant colours during its warm days and cool nights.
About Adaminaby
John Cosgrove and Charles and Henry York were the first European settlers. They named one of their large land holdings 'Adaminaby', a local Aboriginal word believed to have originally been spelt Adamindumee that means either 'a camping or resting place' or 'place of springs'.
When the township was proclaimed in March 1885 it was named Seymour, the name given in 1860 when the town had first been surveyed. This name had never gained favour and was never used by its residents. In less than a year the town had to be officially renamed Adaminaby.
The original town did not come into being until 1885, though a settlement of sorts had serviced prospectors travelling to and from the Kiandra goldfields. The Snowy Mountains Authority moved the town to its present location in 1956-57 to make way for the rising waters of Lake Eucumbene. Over 100 buildings, including 75 houses, were removed from Old Adaminaby to the site of the new town. The marina and caravan park on the lake's shore are all that remain of the original village.
The current town served as a construction hub during the building of the Snowy Scheme. The distinctive "architecture" of the buildings in the main street, defined by cost and engineering requirements of the time, is similar to the main street of Tallangatta, Victoria, which was reconstructed around the same time and for similar purposes.
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