How things were done.  A fleet of Land Rovers, utes and sedans etc in for a complete repair service from the ground up on the vehicles used in building Snowy Hydro about fifty years ago.
Many institutions and workshops of all shapes and sizes and previously used on the Snowy project can be identified in Cooma. The rail link (no longer in service) was utilized to transport all the gear and installations into Cooma for distribution to the construction sites in the mountains.
After all this time the shed is very rusty.  Construction by the tilt built method must have been influenced by barn raising as perfected by the Amish community althought their craft and hand work was in no way adopted.  Amazing amounts of timber and massive beams are seemingly available for building in the UK if the home shows are anything to go by.  Where are the forests?
While heritage has my support, the lengths that are adopted to restore or build are too much to take, the projects become too 'precious' and self centred. Modest homes with naive simplicity and recycled concoctions, adobe or pise are a good alternative.  

In Cooma, inside  a vast shed is shown part of a unit that takes data about the fleece inside a bale of wool.  The bale moves on a conveyor and sensors are pushed into the bale. The marks of the 'stabbings' can be seen in a grid pattern on the bales afterwards.  From Sunhill and Gleneira sheep stations etc to China and to those who still buy wool.  Today is a suitable day for a wooley coat because winter returned for twenty four hours or so, staving off summer for a little while longer. Even snow falls were seen in less likely districts.  Conventional woolen clothing is usually too warm to wear in Newcastle as far as I'm concerned.   

The Man From Snowy River - an epic poem with themes about men and horses and daring rides by Banjo Paterson. Another literary work to catch-up on. As if. Photo from Cooma where life is quieter. No larger than life, nor in 'yer face crowds, or horses around there much or here either.

 Labour Day Long Weekend.  Here's to all the workers around the world!
Guest worker/slaves, child workers, the working poor - to those in power: reform all injustices!

Pictured is a park in Cooma which commemorates the multi-national workforce that build Snowy Hyro Electricity Scheme long ago. Whole little suburbs built for the workforce, the administration and ancillaries can be identified around the town. Who knows what conditions were like for those workers but one hears some favourable accounts from those migrants. A 'can do' attitude in a new country on a pioneering scheme was a great asset.

 Seems everyone is going away but I'm going to feed some chooks in their absence. Sadly, a fox killed three of the hens recently in mid suburbia and sometimes others nearby have had the same fate. It's a jungle out there

What a place to put a communications tower right on top of a bald hill that maintains a presence over Cooma.
They say that down Cooma way, the land didn't have any trees, except up on the hillsides, so the region became settled because it was easy to use for grazing and things.

Several other hills circle the town and they have trees growing on them. And one is Billygoat Hill. The goat is in cast iron.
I guess the hills will change from winter browns to green at some stage.
Around Tumut, over to the west of the ranges, the country soon changed and soon appeared green again.

Today the first call of a bird was heard that arrives around this time and repeats and repeats a plaintive call.

Wow! This telephone related building is the outstanding contribution from Telstra to the cluster of historical buildings in Cooma (the court house, goal, post office and police).