17/07/2023
A wee bit of history on Jack Riley The Man From Snowy River
On this day in 1914 Jack Riley passed away.
Born in Ireland, Jack migrated to Australia in 1851 and made his way to live in the hills of Omeo. The rough and rugged terrain had his heart while he worked as a tailor down in Omeo in his sisters store which was located opposite the Golden Age Hotel, before making the move to the Upper Murray.
In 1884 Jack Riley obtained work as a stockman for John Pierce Sr., who owned land at Tooma and Greg Greg. At that time, the Pierce family owned many thousands of acres of land in the Upper Murray and owned and held leases on 20,000 acres of land at Tom Groggin, west of the main range of the Snowy Mountains. John Pierce gave Jack Riley a management role, supervising his cattle in the high country over the summer months and then the job of mustering the stock down from the mountains to the home paddocks before a brutal winter.
This sparks huge interest to us here at the Festival because the Pierce Family are still heavily present in our Challenge and our Community today.
From his early days in the job, Jack Riley consolidated a reputation as a fearless and dashing rider and a first-class hand among livestock. It was a lifestyle that Jack Riley relished and, as the years passed, his love and knowledge of his high country environment grew.
Jack Riley's high country home was a simple timber hut. Despite living on his own for most of the time, he was not adverse to visitors and was better known than probably any other man in the mountains at that time. He was liked and respected by all who knew him. His open heart and generous disposition won him many friends, especially among wayward tourists passing through the area.
Gifted with a bushman's unerring sense of locality, he developed a quiet contempt for the value of a compass when in the hands of those who did not know how to use one.
Living in isolation for 30 odd years suited Jack, he liked the peace and quiet of the rolling hills that Tom Groggin offered. He was a simple man, who obviously back then, lived a simple life. He didn’t mind a drink or two and was reasonably social. Sparking a tight friendship with Walter Mitchell of Towong Station, the pair trekked the ranges of the Kosciusko and the Snowy’s and many campfire yarns were shared.
Many comments on Jack say that he was a good man, a talented horsemen, made for the bush and hills of the Snowys. He was born to be there and left his mark on the rough terrain.
We learn all this through research on Jack Riley and he has given us the ultimate image of a true bushman.
In this day and age, we commemorate Jack Riley at our Festival each year and his legacy lives on through the Upper Murray.
Tomorrow will mark the day that Jack Riley was buried and we will remember him, The Man From Snowy River.
Photo: Sourced from Corryong Museum
