Happy Jacks Dam

Happy Jacks Dam
Location of the Happy Jacks Dam in
New South Wales
CountryAustralia
LocationSnowy Mountains, New South Wales
Coordinates36°01′S 148°26′E / 36.017°S 148.433°E / -36.017; 148.433
StatusOperational
Opening date1959
Owner(s)Snowy Hydro
Dam and spillways
Type of damGravity dam
ImpoundsTumut River
Height29 metres (95 ft)
Length76 metres (249 ft)
Dam volume8,950 cubic metres (316,000 cu ft)
Spillways1
Spillway typeUncontrolled
Spillway capacity1,827 cubic metres per second (64,500 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
CreatesHappy Jacks Pondage
Total capacity271 megalitres (9.6×10^6 cu ft)
Surface area5 hectares (12 acres)
Normal elevation1,192 metres (3,911 ft)

Happy Jacks Dam is a major ungated concrete gravity dam across the Tumut River in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's main purpose is for the generation of hydro-power and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro.

The impounded reservoir is called the Happy Jacks Pondage. The dam wall is immediately downstream of the confluence of Happy Jacks Creek and the Tumut River.