16 May 2023
Oliver Giudici is a Civil Engineer. He is also the fourth generation of his family to work for Hydro Tasmania, previously known as the Hydro Electric Commission (HEC), or simply the Hydro.
The story begun in 1939, with the arrival of Bruno, Oliver’s paternal Great Grandfather, an Italian immigrant who arrived in Western Australia in the first years of World War II. After spending some time working in internment camps in warmer states, the Northern Italian “Mountain Boy” jumped at prospects of work with the HEC in cooler climate Tasmania. Bruno’s wife and son, Sergio, joined him in Butlers Gorge in central Tasmania in 1948, almost 10 years after his arrival.
Butlers Gorge was the site of a ‘hydro’ construction village to support development of the Tarraleah power scheme, where Bruno got work maintaining heavy machinery.
Oliver’s grandfather, Sergio, started at Butlers Gorge school at ten years old, speaking only Italian. “Apparently by the end of his first year, he was winning awards for English. He was a bright spark for sure.” Sergio went on to study Civil Engineering, win the Tasmanian Rhodes Scholarship in 1960, and join the HEC in 1963 following completion of his PHD at Oxford University.
During the 1990's, Sergio’s daughter (and Oliver’s aunt) Christina Giudici joined Hydro Tasmania as an Environmental Officer. With considerable construction being undertaken since the early 1900s, our first Environmental team grew significantly. Christina authors a piece on her family’s roles with the Hydro as part of Ticklebelly Tales (and other stories from the people of the Hydro), by Heather Felton.
So, of course Oliver was inspired to take up engineering by his hydro family, right?
Oliver kept his options open through college, but eventually applied for engineering at university. He joined Hydro Tasmania’s 2011 graduate program and since then has primarily worked with the team monitoring and maintaining the vast array of civil infrastructure around the state.
“When I was studying engineering, it was clear that the exciting design and construction phases of hydropower development in Tasmania were in the past and such opportunities were only possible overseas.” But that didn’t mean there wasn’t work to be done.
Oliver and his team at Mossy Marsh Dam site
Oliver is currently part of the team working on upgrading Mossy Marsh Dam, which is located within a few kilometres of the now rehabilitated Butlers Gorge Village. Working on site down the road from where his great grandparents first lived and worked is something only a lucky few will experience, “It’s quite a special connection for me.”
The dam upgrade is to improve safety of the existing embankment and provide a controlled and safe emergency spillway for the storage. You can learn more about our upgrades to the Tarraleah scheme below:
Now in his twelfth year with Hydro Tasmania, he still comes across instances of his grandfather Sergio’s legacy during his day-to-day, “I still come across design memos or papers of his… I’m working on and around structures that he was involved in designing. That’s such a proud linkage to the past for me.”
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