Transport and plant/equipment used in/on Snowy Scheme

I found a few Antar photos on the web, they appear to have the old C-nnnn plates. The Z series didn't come in until the early 1960s.

...pretty sure they were a white plate with red letters/numerals with the first letter being black (or along them lines)...the "C of A" was in fine print at the top centre with a star...I think ???


...late edit .. had the colours of the letters/numerals back to front ...red first letter followed by the rest in black.

Just as something to fill my useless information scrapbook, but didn't the old P.M.G. as well as the Department of Supply also run those "Z" plates? Dept of Supply almost certain, remember their old Leylands and Commers, the Leylands on floats and a few of the Commers pulling dog trailers. Bound to be a photo or two kicking about.
Dave

Some good info on plates here.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Australia

Not mentioned in that article is the fact that the second letter of the Z plate was a designation for the Department using the the plate. So ZPa plates belonged to the PMG, ZSa was Dept of Supply, ZNa was Navy, etc. When a lot of Deaprtments were corporatised, they lost their entitlement to the plates and went to state based issues.

Found this one on the net.Thanks to James-39 for the pic.



LN700.

Bob "Tiger" Lee. Now there is a blast from the past. Would have forgotten more about Macks than most blokes will ever learn. And one of natures gentlemen to go along with it!
Dave

Local library came good with that book eerfree recommended. ("The Snowy: The People Behind the Power" by Siobhan McHugh.) Up until ridiculous o'clock poring over it. What a fascinating read! You have a look at some of the utter crap that kids are force fed in school these days and it makes you wonder why we don't place more emphasis on local and recent history! These sort of books SHOULD be made part of the curriculum, compulsory even.
The only part I was slightly disappointed in was the very few actual photo's of plant and/or transport equipment used. But as an all round balanced unbiased read, magic! Thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
If you do a bit of fossicking on Mr Google, you can find a few more photo's from private collections and such. Well worth the effort if you have a bit of time to spare on a wet miserable day and can't quite gee yourself up to be out in the shed with your pet project.
Dave_64

With regard to The Australian Commonwealth Government Motor Vehicle licence plates, when the Snowy Mountains Scheme first stated up they were using "C" plates .ie.C.12345, same as all other Commonwealth Departments, Commissions, Authorities etc. The "Z" plates kicked off in the mid to late '60s from memory ie ZAA.123. Departments etc were allocated a range for their use. Dept Interior ZIT.123, PMG/Telecom ZEX.XXX, ZFX.XXX,ZGX.XXX, Civil Aviation ZCA.XXX, ACT Police ZZA.XXX etc.

Concerning the Mighty Antars, when the SMA (Snowy Mountains Authority) were auctioning them off, early 70s?, the Federal Government stepped in and made a "ruling, direction" what ever, that they weren't to leave the country. They were considered a possible defence asset. I think that Klutha Mines may have ended up with them & I think that is were they were finished off. I read an article in Truck & Bus 30 plus years ago about their demise. I'm not sure if the SMA had 2 or 3 of these vehicles?

When the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the Snowy Scheme was held in 1999 there was a certain amount of material written by former SMA Motor Vehicle Plant employees about the vehicles, plant etc used by the Authority (Not Contractors vehicles) which featured a fair bit on the Antars.

There's a Snowy Scheme Museum being created at Adaminaby that is worth a visit. They may have information on these trucks.

Regards
Rob

Antar with the "C" plate.

Photo by Phil Rye