One of the first families to make their home in the region was the Pendergast family, a name synonymous with great horsemanship, who originally settled at Crackenback along the Alpine Way.

With the beginning of the 2012 school year, Jindabyne Central School has among its students 11 direct descendents of the original Pendergast family.

The late Mrs Innes Pendergast, better known as “Jack,” widowed mother of nine children after the death of her husband Pat, was the last person to leave the old township of Jindabyne before it was flooded - these 11 students are her great grandchildren.