The school celebrated its 150th jubilee earlier this year, with pupils and faculty of the past coming together to share.
One Edendale resident took it a step further, however, as Glenys Macbeth worked behind the scenes to gather up a few photos to share.
From the first inquiry, the project quickly grew in scale; Mrs Macbeth and her husband found themselves amateur archivists and historians.
Many phone calls were made, hours pored over old newspapers and documents, as Mrs Macbeth found herself a regular visitor at the Invercargill Library.
Every Monday for a year and a-half, she went down to the school with the previous week’s findings, photocopying and organising, with help from others in the community as well.
Mrs Macbeth said there were so many behind the scenes who helped with the project.
"I had a whole team of helpers. One lady would come every Wednesday — there’s just a lot of little things people have done for us.
"We’ve met so many people along the way, and although I like to get stuck in and do it, I don’t like to take credit for it," she said.
Their efforts were massively successful, with five folders now sitting at the school packed to the brim with photos, newspaper clippings and information on the school.
A fire in 1961 had decimated the school’s records, but Mrs Macbeth slowly pieced it all back together.
Amanda Hunter at the archives in the Invercargill Library was also a major help, delivering a staggering 13GB of photos and information for the project.
Mrs Macbeth said it was remarkable just how much was gathered during the project and how much they were able to recover despite the fire.
"When you see the folders you’ll be really surprised as to what we’ve done.
"We had nothing, we lost so much history from the fire," she said.
"Once we started finding stuff, it was amazing, people saying how they remember this, coming along, delivering that."
Mrs Macbeth said she was proud of the effort, but did not wish to toot her own horn.
"I was relieved when it was all done. It was such a pressure. I’m just very proud of what I’ve achieved.
"I’m not a person to go out and skite though, just an ordinary person, who gets on with the job and gets it done," she said.
Edendale School principal David McKenzie said he was amazed at just how much Mrs Macbeth had accomplished.
"It’s a colossal amount of work Glenys has put in, all in her own time.
"It can only come about because she has six generations of connections in the area.
"She was able to go be a super sleuth, go see many people and source photos and information we never had.
"It’s such a valuable resource to our school," he said.
