Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows the district of Jindabyne before it was flooded to make Jindabyne Lake, a dam that is now part of the Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric Scheme. It includes shots of the old township, the surrounding district and settler’s dwellings, including Spencer’s Cottage, where poet AB 'Banjo’ Paterson is said to have lived. Cattle are shown crossing the Snowy River and a black-and-white sketch depicts Ryrie’s flour mill on the banks of the river. The clip also features the song 'Jindabyne farewell’ by The Settlers and an excerpt from Paterson’s poem 'Under the shadow of Kiley’s Hill’.

Educational value points

• As indicated in the clip, old Jindabyne was flooded by the waters of a dam constructed for the Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric Scheme. As well as the town, thousands of hectares of land were flooded, including farms and homesteads. New construction in old Jindabyne was banned by the Government in 1959 and the town was relocated between 1962 and 1964 to the shores of the newly created Jindabyne Lake, with residents being compensated for the move.

• The clip is a nostalgic tribute to a bygone era. The old Jindabyne, not yet flooded, is represented as a relic of the past. It is referred to as a 'historic landmark’ and the clip focuses on dilapidated dwellings, including an exposed fireplace with a rusted pot and an old wooden gate hanging off its hinges. The film’s nostalgia is for a past that is remote from both the Jindabyne of the 1960s and the grief residents may have experienced at seeing their heritage disappear under the dam.

• The position of the new town on the shores of the dam, which today is used for trout fishing and water skiing, and its proximity to the snowfields, has underpinned Jindabyne’s development as a tourist destination. However, those who lived downstream from the dam and who had relied on water from the Snowy River struggled to get enough water for domestic and commercial use and were forced to find alternative sources.

• The Jindabyne district was first settled by Europeans in the 1820s. It was initially established as a grazing district for sheep and cattle, with agricultural farming introduced later. In 1847, Stewart Ryrie Junior built the flour mill depicted in the clip and the district rapidly expanded after Jindabyne’s first hotel and store opened in the 1860s.

• Poet AB 'Banjo’ Paterson (1864–1941) is linked with Jindabyne. Paterson came from a pioneering family near Orange in New South Wales and spent much time in the Snowy Mountains. His poetry, including The Man from Snowy River (1895), presented an idealised and affectionate vision of life in the bush, and celebrated the laconic but hardy and resourceful bushman who has become a symbol of Australian national identity. However, the poem in the clip, while honouring the pioneers of the Jindabyne region, also suggests that the old must give way to the new.

• The settlers’ homes depicted in the clip may have been constructed after the 1860s when greater numbers of people settled in the Jindabyne district. Most cottages were made of weatherboard, but some incorporated stone. Most had a shingled (tiled) roof and stone fireplace. Local granite may have been used for the stonework.

• Cattle are shown being herded across the Snowy River by men on horseback. By the 1960s, utilities and motorbikes were beginning to replace the horse on rural properties. However, some stockmen still mustered cattle and rounded up sheep on horseback. In the early days of Jindabyne’s settlement, cattle runs were huge and unfenced and the annual muster was a feature of life in the district. Paterson’s The Man from Snowy River was inspired by the stockmen who worked in this region.

• The clip includes the song, 'Jindabyne farewell’ by the Settlers, written about the relocation of the town. The Settlers were an Australian folk music group who performed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1968, they released an album, Songs of the Snowy Mountains, that featured ballads about the effect of the hydro-electric scheme on the communities in the area, and the experiences of workers on the Scheme.

• The film Snowy Hydro – The Jindabyne Story was made to promote the Scheme. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority had initiated a concerted public relations campaign in response to concern among some sectors of the media and the public about the huge cost of the scheme. The campaign, which represented the Scheme as a symbol of prosperity and progress, aimed to explain its complexities and promote its benefits. Hence, in this film, the displacement of people and the relocation of a town are presented as progress.