THE SETTLERS

Australia's huge Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme was started in 1949 and completed in 1974. Covering more than 5,000 square kilometers, it has been described as ‘one of the modern wonders of the world’ -- there is only 2 percent of the massive engineering project above the ground. It was an enormous undertaking that would change not only the landscape of the Snowy Mountains but the very culture of Australia forever.

During its construction, more than 100,000 people from 30 different countries, including Australians, worked on its 90 miles of tunnels, drilled and blasted through granite rock. Towns were moved to new sites or submerged beneath 16 large dams. Seven power stations, two of which were underground, together with a pumping station, were all part of the infrastructure. The project diverted the waters of the Murrumbidgee, the Snowy and the Tumut rivers, to provide irrigation water west of the Great Dividing Range, and to generate hydro-electric power for use in New South Wales, Victoria and the national capital, Canberra.

Into this feverish activity in 1962, came a young Irishman, Ulick O’Boyle, from County Roscommon, finding employment as a concrete worker. During the five years he worked on the scheme, O’Boyle observed the interaction of people from many nationalities that lived in the construction camps and nearby small towns. Working and living together in the freezing cold or stifling heat of the capricious mountain climate, these ‘New Australians’ forged a vibrant multiculturalism.

O’Boyle was a very talented man, with the heart and mind of a poet. In poem, ballad and song, he wrote his impressions of the places, the people, and the work that was being done. His fellow settler Paul Davey says, “Ulick captured the atmosphere of the life of Snowy workers, the diverse nationalities, the loves and heartaches, the dangers and terrors, the comedies and tragedies.”

The band started in 1965, playing at venues around the Snowy for their fellow workers. Then they sent a tape to the Cooma radio station and the response to airplay saw RCA offer them a contract; they recorded their first album in 1966. 'Songs of the Snowy Mountains' became popular among the folk fraternity. It was followed quickly by 'The Settlers Sing More Songs of the Snowy Mountains', and later there were more records including 'West of Cooma'.

After O’Boyle left the scheme (which was completed in 1974), he lived in Canberra for many years. The Settlers, now with a different line-up, played at venues ranging from The Canberra Irish Club and the Merry Muse to the National Folk Festival. They were well known to the Monaro Folk Society. O’Boyle’s marriage to Rutherford had ended and he remarried in 1984, to Noelene. They moved to Healesville in the Victorian high country in 2002.

When the 50th Anniversary of the Snowy Scheme’s birth was celebrated in 1999, O’Boyle featured in the two-part SBS documentary on the Snowy and The Settlers performed in Jindabyne as part of the celebrations. Siobhan McHugh interviewed O’Boyle for her award-winning book and her ABC radio series on the Snowy. Sadly, Ulick O’Boyle succumbed to Alzheimer's disease and died in 2011. Friends held a tribute at Cooma’s Alpine Hotel, the watering hole immortalised in the song ''Cooma Cavaliers''. According to Peter West, who played with The Settlers, O’Boyle wrote an amazing 122 songs.

Members

Anne Rutherford (guitar/vocals), Peter Barry (guitar/vocals), Paul Davey (guitar/vocals), Ulick O’Boyle (vocals/guitar)

SINGLES

''The Cooma Cavaliers / Jindabyne Farewell'' 1967 RCA

ALBUMS

'The Settlers Sing Songs Of The Snowy Mountains' 1966 RCA
'The Settlers Sing More Songs Of The Snowy Mountains' 1968 RCA
'Love At Kings Cross' 1969 RCA
'Songs Of The Snowy Mountains Vol 2' 1973 RCA
'West Of Cooma' 1980 Selection