Douglas Holleley

Adaminaby Douglas Holleley

Adaminaby is the name of a town in southern New South Wales, Australia. This town was sacrificed for the common good in the 1950's when the waters of what is now Lake Eucumbene submerged it forever. This lake was created during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast project of tunnels and dams that diverted rivers originally flowing east, westwards to water the arid interior of Australia. The story personifies this place as a beautiful, generous and kind woman of the same name. Her spiritual and earthly duty was to ensure the well being of the valley of which she was the caretaker. The story is somewhat sad, as inevitably Adaminaby must accept the white man's definition of progress. The narrative is expressed in a mythical manner and pays homage to the long-standing Australian tradition of story-telling that extends from the dreamtime to the present day.