When Bruce Elliott started on the Snowy Hydro scheme at the remote Geehi camp in 1954, his only protective clothing was a borrowed raincoat and gumboots that had to be returned. Discarded army or air force woollen coats and other gear could be bought.
Toiling in the often bitterly cold high country, some of the mostly European migrants reputedly took to wrapping newspaper under clothing to avoid freezing. One group declared they were being “sent to Siberia for forced labour”, a name that still turns up on maps.
