- This article is about the Snowy River in Australia. The Snowy River is also a river in the South Island of New Zealand.
The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia.
The Snowy River drains the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. The main branch rises on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest peak.
The main headwaters, the Snowy, the Eucumbene River and the Crackenback River meet near Jindabyne and wind southwards through inaccessible country, including the Snowy River National Park, eventually reaching the sea at Marlo, near Orbost, Victoria.
In days past, the Snowy had a huge flow from the spring snow-melt which was 'wasted' into the sea. In the 1950's, a network of dams was built to collect and divert most of the water of the Snowy through the mountains, to provide more water to the Murray River and Murrumbidgee River for irrigation. The water was also used to generate electricity. During the 1990's the low level of water in the Snowy River was a major environmental concern in Victoria, with a political campaign to increase the water from one per cent to 28 per cent of its original flow from the dam at Jindabyne. Independent candidate from the Orbost district, Craig Ingram, was elected in 1999, and re-elected in 2002, to Victorian Legislative Assembly on a platform to increase the flow of water in the Snowy River. See Snowy Mountains Scheme.
The rugged beauty of the Snowy River was immortalised in the 'Banjo' Patterson poem The Man from Snowy River, first published in 1890.
The Snowy River Shire surrounding the river in New South Wales is a Local Government Area.
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