Like Talbingo and Adaminaby, modern day Jindabyne is a relatively young town created after the original settlement was drowned by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electricity Authority in the late 1960s.
Where is it?: 61 km from Cooma; 462 km from Sydney; 991 metres above sea level.
Jindabyne is a popular holiday destination, especially in winter, due to its proximity to several ski resorts throughout the Kosciuszko National Park, including Thredbo and Perisher. Jindabyne also attracts visitors in summer with Lake Jindabyne popular for activities such as fishing, water skiing and wakeboarding.
The town is heavily tourist-oriented with a large range of snow-sport rental outlets and accommodation facilities.
Built features: Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme; Lake Jindabyne; Lake Eucumbene; Bicentennial Statue of Count Paul Strzelecki; Murray 1 and Murray 2 Power Stations; The Alpine Way; Gaden Trout Hatchery.
Tumut No.3 Power Station
The Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme is the biggest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Australia. It is also one of the largest and most complex hydro-electric schemes in the world. More than 100,000 people from about 30 countries were employed in the region on a project that lasted from 1949 until 1974. Adaminaby was the starting place of the project. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; seven power stations; a pumping station; and 225 kilometres (140 mi) of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts.
The water of the Snowy River and some of its tributaries, much of which formerly flowed southeast onto the river flats of East Gippsland, and into the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean, is captured at high elevations and diverted inland to the Murray River and the Murrumbidgee River, through two tunnel systems driven through the Snowy Mountains. The water falls 800 metres (2,600 ft) and travels through large hydro-electric power stations which generate peak-load power for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.
Murray No.1 Power Station
The Snowy Mountains Scheme was notable for its immigrant, mostly European, work force. The scheme's construction is seen by many as a defining point in Australia's history, and an important symbol of Australia's identity as an independent, multicultural and resourceful country.
Monaro High Country: billed as one of the seven wonders of New South Wales, Monaro High Country stretches the length of the South Coast region, its main feature being the Snowy Mountains. Winter is renowned for its picturesque snow fields, Spring is a multitude of rural shows and festivals, a time the mountains are painted with wildflowers and blossoms. Summer provides for relaxing fishing and bush walking activities with Autumn portraying the regions brilliant colours during its warm days and cool nights.
Kosciuszko National Park is one of the best known and best loved national parks in Australia, attracting around three million visitors each year. At 2228 metres, Mount Kosciuszko in southern New South Wales is the highest mountain on mainland Australia. It may not be the highest mountain in the world but it is one of the oldest.
Some 30,000 people make the trek to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko each year. Until 1974 it was possible to drive a car up there, today the only way to reach the top is to walk, or in winter, to ski. Most people walk from either Charlotte Pass on the Summit Walk or from Thredbo on the Kosciuszko Walk, which links up via a chairlift ride from Thredbo. The Kosciuszko Walk features a $800,000 elevated walkway made of steel mesh that lets sunlight reach the vegetation below.
Origin of name: of Aboriginal word originally spelt Jindaboine which either means a valley or was the Aboriginal name of a particular valley.
Brief history: Jindabyne is associated with the earliest settlers in the Snowy Mountains - the Ryries and the Pendergasts. The Pendergast brothers, sons of an ex-convict, are believed to have arrived in the area as early as the 1820s. By the late 1830s both families had runs, were raising sheep and growing a little wheat.
The Kiandra goldrush of 1859-60 gave the area a brief boost which resulted in the establishment of the first buildings of the original town of Jindabyne. The townsfolk were moved to the current town in 1962 prior to the old town being flooded when the Snowy River was dammed.
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