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From
his
early
days,
Jack
Riley
consolidated
a
reputation
as
a
fearless
and
dashing
rider
and
a
first-class
hand
among
stock.
It
was
a
lifestyle
that
Jack
Riley
relished
and,
as
the
years
passed, his love and knowledge of his high country environment grew.
In
the
Upper
Murray,
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
an
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.
In
the
late
1880s,
Andrew
Barton
'Banjo'
Paterson
,
a
Sydney
solicitor
and
aspiring
poet,
visited
brothers
Peter
and
Walter
Mitchell
at
Bringenbrong
Station
,
a
prominent
Upper
Murray
property.
The
Mitchell
men
escorted
Banjo
up
into
the
mountains
and,
while
passing
through
Tom
Groggin,
stayed
the
night
with
Jack
Riley
at his station hut.
Over
a
shared
bottle
of
whiskey
that
evening,
Jack
shared
some
of
his
experiences
as
a
stock
man
in
the
high
country.
It
is
believed
that
one
particular
story
about
an
exciting
horse
chase
through
many
hazards,
where
'the
wild
hop
scrub
grew
thickly
and
the
hidden
ground
was
full
of
wombat
holes,
and
any
slip
was
death'
,
that
gave
birth
to Banjo's now famous poem.
In
April
1890,
Banjo
Paterson
published
'The
Man
From
Snowy
River'
poem
in
Sydney's
newspaper,
The
Bulletin.
Though
at
the
time
when
Jack
and
Banjo
met
,
Jack
was
no
'stripling
on
a
small
and
weedy beast
',
the correlation to Jack's story and the poem is clear.
In
1895
Angus
and
Robertson
published
a
collection
of
Banjo's
work
in
the
now
famous
book,
'The
Man
From
Snowy
River
and
other
verses'.
The
book
became
an
instant
best
seller
and
is
still
in
print
to
the present day
.
Jack Riley meets Banjo Paterson
“The Man From Snowy River’ Country
of North-Eastern Victoria & Southern NSW