When Tony Werrett joined Snowy Hydro on October 14 1974, the Sydney Opera House had only just opened, black-and-white TVs were still the norm and Advance Australia Fair had just been named our national anthem.
While the years have been kind to this Khancoban-based larrikin since, he’s met plenty of characters, spun plenty of yarns and become Snowy’s longest-serving employee in the process.
Born in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, the Werrett family headed north up the Hume and settled on an Upper Murray beef and dairy farm in 1966.
Joining the Snowy as an 18-year-old, Tony’s journey has spanned fires, floods and remote high country wilderness.
Over 52 years, he tackled everything: high-voltage tower work, plumbing, cloud seeding, carpentry and civil maintenance across the Murray region.
Tony’s early days were spent living in spartan bush camps near Geehi Dam.
An avid outdoorsman who has trekked Everest and explored Antarctica, he still considers Geehi “the most beautiful place on Earth”.
Working in the bush came with wild stories and high-voltage close calls.
Tony once struck a live line with a crowbar, lighting up “like a neon sign”.
Another time, a wild gust of wind while pruning a tree near a 330kV line and a resulting arc caused a singed beard and an X-rayed silhouette.
Over five decades, Tony witnessed the Snowy Scheme evolve from manual linesman work to complex automation and remote telecommunications.
He also spent 16 years maintaining the remote trailer sites and precipitation monitors for Snowy’s now-defunct cloud seeding operations.
Despite clocking over half a century of service, Tony shows no signs of slowing down and rides his beloved pushie, adorned with a personalised Snowy plate, to work daily.
When asked to reflect on what’s kept him going for more than half a century, his response was simple.
“Khancoban is a great place to bring up a family, it’s quiet and there’s no crime, you can let the kids run around the place,” Tony said.
“I still really enjoy my job and it’s enjoyable, you feel pretty good when you’re showing most of these young blokes up!”
