Snowy Mountains – photos

Below is a selection of the photos I took on my recent camping trip to the Snowy Mountains in NSW. To see my sketches go to my previous post here.

We camped in a slightly different part of the Snowy Mountains at a similar time last year, and this time we could see renewed growth beginning at the base of trees that were so severely burnt in the widespread bush fires of several years ago. The flowers were magnificent as usual, broad swathes of the papery everlastings, as well as delicate bluebells, billy buttons and more.

Our campsite at Three Mile Dam
Some of the brumbies (feral horses) that wander through the campsite. In the background are the Snow Gums killed by fires, but with regrowth sprouting from their roots.
The massive 90m dam wall at Tumut Pond Dam and the dam from higher up the valley. This is one of the dams installed in the 1940s for the Snowy Hydro Scheme to generate electricity.
Bungonia National Park – the view from a lookout across the park. Most of the other people camped here had come for the abseiling and rock climbing. Not us!
Another view from the lookout, outside the park is an enormous open cut limestone mine, you can see the haze of dust across the landscape. This mine has been active for over 150 years, producing limestone for cement for many of the biggest building projects in NSW, including the Sydney Opera House. The owners have committed to restoring the landscape.

Author: anna warren portfolio

I draw, I paint, I am a printmaker. Always searching for the interesting detail in the world around me.

5 thoughts

  2. Your photos are both beautiful and daunting at the same time. I am comforted to see the flowers but discomforted to see the burned trees and the limestone mine and (I guess) the enormous dam and the brumbies. So many ways humans impact the landscape in a big way. I’m not saying the dam and the mine are wrong – I don’t know enough to be able to say that. But they certainly make their presence known.

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    1. I actually felt a sense of hope with the new growth appearing below the burned trees – it will be many years before they are back where they were, but it does feel that nature is on top of this. As to the dam and the mine – I imagine neither would be allowed to happen now. The landscape around the dam is lovely and I guess a good source of water for many creatures. As for the brumbies – if their numbers had been managed better a number of years ago they would not have become the problem they are, damaging the ecosystem and destroying habitat for native animals. It has become a political issue, exacerbated by the fact they are beautiful creatures and many people are sentimental about them. The solution will have to be quite a drastic one I fear.

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