Jindabyne, New South Wales

Jindabyne is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy River Shire. It 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. Originally situated on land that is now under Lake Jindabyne, the township was transferred to its present location in the 1960s due to the construction of Jindabyne Dam, on the Snowy River, as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. At the 2011 census, Jindabyne had a population of 1727 people. The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word meaning 'valley'.

History

It is one of the highest settlements of its size in Australia, at 918 metres above sea level. Light snowfalls sometimes occur during winter. In mid-July in 2004 and 2005, snow fell up to half a metre following freak snowfalls over a large area of New South Wales.

Originally situated on a site that is now under the waters of Lake Jindabyne, the township was relocated to its present position in the 1960s before the damming of the Snowy River as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The Scheme was developed from the 1940s as a way of increasing the flow of inland rivers in order to encourage the development of primary industries based on irrigation, and to create hydro-electricity. Completed in 1967, Jindabyne Dam is a major dam, located approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south south-east of the relocated township. Parts of Old Jindabyne can be seen when the levels of Lake Jindabyne are low particularly the top of the church. The settlement of East Jindabyne is located above what was Old Jindabyne. 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.

Jindabyne (film)

Jindabyne is a 2006 Australian drama film by director Ray Lawrence and starring Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Deborra-Lee Furness and John Howard. Jindabyne was filmed entirely on location in and around the town of the same name: Jindabyne, New South Wales, situated next to the Snowy Mountains. The film was written by Beatrix Christian, and was adapted from the Raymond Carver short story, "So Much Water So Close to Home", which was also the basis for one of the storylines in Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Carver's story had been retold in song by Paul Kelly in his song "Everything's Turning to White", from his 1989 album So Much Water So Close to Home and Paul Kelly would go on to write the score to this film as well.

Jindabyne had its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in Australia on 20 July 2006 and was released in the United States on 27 April 2007.

Plot

On an annual fishing trip, in isolated high country, Stewart (Gabriel Byrne), Carl (John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Yiakmis) and Billy (Simon Stone) find a girl's body in the river; she has been brutally murdered by Gregory (Chris Haywood), a local electrician. The girl (Tatea Reilly) turns out subsequently to be Aboriginal. The men initially suggest hiking back the following morning as it is too late in the day to safely navigate their way to their trucks. They secure the girl's body by the ankle to the riverbank, so she will not drift downstream and get lost in the rapids. However, Stewart the next day goes fishing and, after catching an especially large fish, the men decide to spend the rest of the afternoon continuing their trip before informing the police in the morning.