Tongariro: New Zealand’s Engineering Feat

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Tongariro: New Zealand’s Engineering Feat

Category: Article


Title Tongariro: New Zealand’s Engineering Feat
Author
Authors/Editors
Year 2024
Publication We (Build Value) Digital Magazine
Pages
Publisher
Language English and Italian
Format {{{format}}}
Geographic reference Tongariro
Time reference 1967
Online resource Yes
Subcategory {{{subcategory}}}
Topic Moawhango Tongariro Tunnel, Codelfa-Cogefar, Italian tunnellers in New Zealand,


Link:


English:

Article about how Italian expertise built the tunnels of the Tongariro Power Scheme, one of New Zealand’s largest hydropower projects. The article is available in Italian here.

Highlights After agreeing to work on the Tongariro Power Scheme, Codelfa-Cogefar convinced the New Zealand government to let it bring not only its tunnelling experts from Italy, but also their food and drink of choice.

The construction of the Tongariro was as much an engineering feat as the Snowy Scheme in Australia, diverting streams and rivers on the flanks of volcanic mountains to hydropower dams to generate electricity.

Codelfa-Cogefar would later become involved in major projects in Australia, including the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop and the Wivenhoe Power Scheme. At more than 19 kilometres, Tongariro's Moawhango-Tongariro is among the longest hydro tunnels in the southern hemisphere.

Despite the incredibly difficult conditions, Codelfa-Cogefar completed the tunnel without losing any lives.

In the end, it was responsible for more than half of the nearly 80 kilometres of tunnels and passages comprising the project’s underground network.

The full article with photos is here.

Italian:

Negli anni ’60 del secolo scorso il meglio delle maestranze italiane ha partecipato alla realizzazione di uno dei più grandi impianti idroelettrici del paese oceanico.

Highlights Tongariro Power Scheme impresa ingegneristica iniziata nel 1964 tra le più ambizione della Nuova Zelanda.

Le italiane Codelfa e Cogefar chiamate a costruire i tunnel del mega progetto Dall’Italia arrivarono le migliori maestranze specializzate in tunneling Uno dei tunnel idraulici realizzati da Codelfa e Cogefar è ancora tra i più lunghi dell'emisfero meridionale.

Per l'articolo completo e foto cliccare qui.

More info about the Codelfa-Cogefar workers in New Zealand and the The Tongariro Power scheme can be found here:


Tunnellers get together for 50th
To go or to stay: A study of decision-making by Italian workers and their families in Turangi
Transference markers: Verbal Devices for Marking Transference in the Speech of First Generation Italian-English Bilinguals in and Around Turangi
What was the importance of food and wine to the Italians who worked for Codelfa in New Zealand and what effect did it have on the eating habits of many New Zealanders?
Italian Tunnellers are Prepared for any Sacrifice - Except Food and Wine. A Review of the Contribution of Italian Tunnellers to Life in the Central North Island of New Zealand
Cover of The New Zealand Journal of History Volume 54, Number 1, April 2020
Codelfa-Cogefar: Moawhango, Tongariro Tunnel