From www.castlebar.ie Nostalgia and History Castlebar man - Australian Folk hero. Story jointly researched by local Castlebar historians Brian Hoban and Ernie Sweeney. © A unique festival entitled "The Man from Snowy River Bush Festival" -April 1st to April 3rd 2005 was held in Corryong, Victoria the Australian Alps to celebrate the life of Castlebar born Jack Riley (1841- 1914). Jack Riley was born in 1841 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland to Daniel Riley and Anne (nee Murray). He was 13 when he emigrated to Australia, arriving in Sydney on a ship called "The Rodney" on March 15th 1854. He later lived with and supported his widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Anne Jones and operated a tailoring business at Day Street, Omeo in the high country. When his sister remarried he left Omeo to pursue the life of a gold digger, bushman and stockman. He worked in the Monaro district the Prendergast and Freebody families, and at a station called Eutamula near the border of New South Wales and Victoria. He quickly acquired notoriety as a mountain rider, horse-breaker, bushman and tracker of wild horses. In 1884 cattle baron John Pierce appointed him to look after cattle at Tom Groggin, an Upper Murray pastoral run of 20,000 acres in the foothills of the Kosciuszko Range. He lived alone in a log cabin for nearly 20 years and drove cattle out of Tom Groggin Station every summer to graze on the high country. Riley developed a reputation as a brumby hunter and horse breaker, but these tales would probably have been long since forgotten if Walter Mitchell had not introduced him to A.B. (Banjo) Paterson. (Poet and author of Waltzing Matilda.) This Walter Mitchell was father–in–law of Elyne Mitchell who wrote the internationally known Silver Brumby series of novels. Elyne has heard the story about the night Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson met Jack Riley several times since she married Tom Mitchell and moved to Upper Murray over sixty years ago. Walter took Banjo from the Mitchell homestead at Bingenbrong to Riley’s hut at Tom Groggin in 1890. A bottle of whiskey emerged in the hut that night and it is said there was none left by morning. "Riley just kept talking" Elyne said. "Those were the days when a person who could tell a good yarn was always popular because there was no wireless and no television." Riley told the tale of one of his exploits about chasing a herd of wild horses. From this Banjo Paterson wrote his poem "The Man from Snowy River." 1890. The poem tells of the story of a valuable horse, which escapes and the princely sum offered by its owners for the safe return. All the riders in the area gather to pursue the wild bunch of horses and cut the valuable from the mob. But the country defeats them all except for one "The Man from Snowy River" Jack Riley. His personal courage and skill has turned him into a legend. In 1914 Jack Riley died on the 15th of July, after suffering from heart problems. They buried him the next day at the Corryong cemetery. In 1956 Tom Mitchell erected a rough granite head stone in his memory. Corryong is a quiet attractive older-style town of some 1,500 people situated in the upper reaches of the Murray River at an elevation of 320 metres. It is one of the most unspoilt places in Victoria and is surrounded by spectacular countryside. It is located 437 km north east of Melbourne via the Hume Freeway and Murray Valley Highway. The town is the gateway to both the Snowy Mountains (Australian Alps) and to Kosciuszko National Park. When news reached Corryong that Jack Riley had become ill, a party was sent to bring him in. the going was tough with snow falling. On July 14th 1914 Riley died in a hut at Surveyor’s Creek and was buried two days later. This event is celebrated each year by a commemorative ride along the route taken by those who brought the dying Jack Riley into town from his mountain home. Jack Riley’s grave is located in the hillside cemetery at the top of Pioneer Avenue, Corryong. Australian born Fr. John O Brien (born Patrick Joseph Huntington) whose parents came from Lisseycasey, Co. Clare performed the last rites. The Man from Snowy River Museum is located at the corner of Mc Kay Street & Hanson Street in the old shire offices The poem is also remembered in two movies The Man From Snowy River & Return to Snowy River as well as a TV series Snowy River: the Mac Gregor Saga. The following is the text of the poem: The Man from Snowy River
Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson THERE was movement at the station, for the word had passed around There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup, And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast, But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay, "He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko’s side, So he went — they found the horses by the big mimosa clump — So Clancy rode to wheel them—he was racing on the wing Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black When they reached the mountain’s summit, even Clancy took a pull, He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet, He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill, And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam. And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise © Copyright 2003 by www.castlebar.ie and the author |