{"id":38036,"date":"2017-05-18T11:23:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T01:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/before-its-too-late-church-island\/"},"modified":"2022-06-16T15:02:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T05:02:34","slug":"before-its-too-late-church-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/snowy-mountains\/jindabyne\/before-its-too-late-church-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you should head to Lake Jindabyne before it’s too late"},"content":{"rendered":"
A combination of factors, including the drought, a poor winter snow season and recent construction work on the new dam wall, has lowered the water level in NSW\u2019s Lake Jindabyne to 47 percent. And, like the Loch Ness Monster, ruins of old structures are now surfacing from the dim, dark depths.<\/p>\n\n
Old Jindabyne was flooded in the mid 1960s when the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority dammed the Snowy River. Many of the town\u2019s buildings were relocated but some were just left and others destroyed, their ruins covered for the next 40 years by the rising waters.<\/p>\n\n
At Waste Point on Lake Jindabyne, the foundations of Australia\u2019s most famous fishing lodge \u201cThe Creel\u201d can be seen, as can the remains of SunnyBrae cottage, including the water tank and yard. However, the prime site for amateur archaeologists is the now high and dry Church Island, where the foundations of the 1929 St Columbkille Roman Catholic Church are visible. The church was named for Irish-born Saint Columba (meaning \u201cdove of the church\u201d), who is credited with bringing a revival of Christianity after the fall of the Roman Empire. It seems like the old Saint is hard at work again.<\/p>\n