Vale Noel Gough

Mark, Noel Gough's son, has informed us today 23 January 2010, that Noel Gough passed away quietly in his sleep in Melbourne this morning. Noel was reknowned as a tireless worker for KHA in particular on the Geehi Huts and will be remembered as a strong advocate for KHA and the SMA.

Noel was born in Warrnambool, Victoria, on the 25th December 1929. He retired to Moonee Ponds, Victoria, he was researching and recording a biography of Major Clews, an early surveyor with forty years army service and eight years with the Snowy Scheme.

After completing his studies in Melbourne and Nth Queensland and gaining early experience in NSW power stations, he joined the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority in July 1950 aged 20, as one of those early employees of the Authority who contributed to the construction of the Scheme. He spent ten years there, working as an electrical engineer, a power station manager, a search and rescue co-ordinator, and even a real estate agent. Along the way he rubbed shoulders with some of the 100,000 people from the thirty-two nationalities who worked on the Snowy, and saw first hand how the scheme played a central part in the re-shaping of a new multi-cultural Australia. Author of the book Mud, Sweat and Snow - Memories of Snowy Workers, an account of his own experiences and those of the many dedicated and adventurous people during the first decade of the Snowy.

Noel maintained a keen interest in the preservation and recording of early Snowy Mountains history. During his ten years with the Authority's Electrical and Mechanical division Noel worked at diverse locations such as Kiandra, Three Mile Dam, Tumut Pond, Island Bend, Jindabyne, Guthega, Alpine Way construction, Eucumbene and Cabramurra. In 1960, Noel left the Snowy to commence a 30-year career with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria as a District Manager, serving in several Victorian metropolitan and regional centres including Berwick, Pakenham, Tallangatta, Corryong and Sunbury. From 1972 until its completion in 1982, he was responsible for construction power supply associated with the construction of Dartmouth Dam and Hydro Power Station on the Mitta Mitta River in North East Victoria.

Noel was a member of Rotary for 33 years; he joined Kosciusko Huts Association in 1990 and has served as Huts Maintenance Officer, Geehi, responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the historic stone huts along the Swampy Plain River at Geehi, and involved with the production of a Conservation Study of Major Clews Cottage at Indi. He served as Australia Day Ambassador for the Snowy River Shire Council at Jindabyne in 1999. Noel leaves wife Anne, three children, Alison, Stephen and Mark, plus two grandchildren Emma and Alexander.

Note: Noel's publication "The Major", a biography of Major Clews, is available here.