When the Snowy Mountains Scheme started 75 years ago it also started a period of multi-culturalism. Thousands of migrants moved to country towns like Cooma to work on the project. And with a second Snowy Hydro Scheme underway, history is repeating itself.
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00:00The snowy workers are taken by bus to Kuma, headquarters of the Snowy Mountain Scheme.
00:07Whether it's buses filled with new arrivals, or lessons for people from different language
00:11groups.
00:12School goes on after work, as the new settlers from Europe get to grips with adding this
00:16language.
00:17In Kuma, everything old is new again.
00:20My husband, he works for snow, so he has been called to work this side.
00:27Regina Maraviglia arrived just 10 months ago.
00:31She's part of a new generation of families moving here because of Snowy 2.0, Australia's
00:35largest energy project.
00:37When I saw the Google map, it was very far away from other countries that I have been.
00:45I was excited and a bit afraid.
00:50What else is different?
00:51Language.
00:52Language.
00:53It must feel a bit like it felt in the 50s, just to all of a sudden hear different languages.
01:00Around 65,000 migrant workers from more than 30, mostly European, countries answered the
01:05call to work on the original Snowy Hydro scheme.
01:08These flags on the Kuma main street were installed to celebrate the multicultural workforce for
01:13the original Snowy Hydro project 70 years ago.
01:16This time, they're coming from an entirely different range of countries.
01:20I'm from Ecuador.
01:22My home is Mozambique.
01:24Forty-five different cultural backgrounds are represented in the Snowy workforce this
01:27time around.
01:28And you can celebrate the most amazing Indian festival of lights, Diwali, right in Kuma.
01:36For us, we love everything, and this centre is important for us.
01:42And I feel here is like my house.
01:46Making a home for so many, far away from home.