Joeys Daily Dose of History - 17 October 1949

One of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century got underway on this day 63 years ago, when Governor General Sir William McKell, Prime Minister Ben Chifley and New Zealand engineer Sir William Hudson fired the first blast at Adaminaby/NSW to start construction of the Snowy River Scheme. Over 100,000 men and women from over 30 countries worked for 25 years to build sixteen dams, seven power stations, a pumping station, 145 km of underground tunnels and 80 km of aqueducts to redirect the river flow inland for hydroelectric power generation and agriculture irrigation purposes and proved to the world that Australia was not a technological backwater.

Elsewhere in the world, King Cyrus The Great of Persia marched into the city of Babylon, released the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and made the first Human Rights Declaration (539BC), the first commercial wireless telegraph was sent across the Atlantic Ocean (1907), Albert Einstein arrived in New Jersey with his wife after fleeing from Nazi Germany (1937), the musical "Hair" was performed for the first time on Broadway (1967), Eric Clapton released "After Midnight" (1970), Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1979, Oslo) and a major earthquake registering 6.9 on the Richter scale hit the San Francisco Bay Area (1989).

German author Georg Büchner ("Woyzeck") was born in Goddelau near Darmstadt (1813),US actress Margarita Carmen Mansino, aka Rita Hayworth (Brooklyn/New York, 1918), Australian poet Les Murray (Nabiac/NSW, 1937), Robert Craig Knievel, better known as daredevil and motorbike stuntman Evel Knievel (Butte/Montana, 1938), Marshall Bruce Mathers III, aka Eminem (Saint Joseph/Missouri, 1972).
The famous Polish composer Frederic Chopin died in Paris aged 39 (1849), as did 61 year old Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of China (Beijing, 1967).