The Man From Snowy River

"The Man From Snowy River" is a poem by Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson. It was first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, in April 1890.

The poem tells the story of a horseback pursuit to recapture the colt of a prizewinning racehorse that escaped from its paddock and is living wild with the "brumbies" (wild horses) of the mountain ranges. Eventually the brumbies descend a seemingly impassably steep slope, at which point the assembled riders give up the pursuit, except the young hero, who spurs his pony down the "terrible descent" to catch the mob.

The poem inspired two films, a 1920 silent version and a well-known 1982 version, The Man From Snowy River, with a cast including Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig (The Man), Kirk Douglas as Harrison, the owner of the property, Jack Thompson as Clancy of the Overflow, and Sigrid Thornton as Jessica Harrison, the daughter of the owner of the property. The story fleshes out the story to identify the young hero as a worker on a nearby squatter's property and includes a romance with Jessica (Sigrid Thornton).

A 1988 sequel, The Man From Snowy River II (Return to Snowy River), departed even further from the original poem. A television series extremely loosely based on the concept ("Snowy River: The McGregor Saga") was also produced in the 1990s. The television series concentrated on the adventures of Andrew Clarke as Matt McGregor (The Man), and his family.

The poem was also commemorated at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, when Steve Jefferys the lone rider who cracked the stockwhip and whose stockhorse Ammo reared to begin the ceremony. Steve Jefferys and Ammo were followed by another 120 stockhorses and their riders during The Man From Snowy River segment. The poem has also been commemorated at various Australian Royal Agricultural Shows, including the Sydney Royal Easter Show and the Brisbane Exhibition.

A very popular live stage musical production, The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular, which was also based on the play, toured Australian capital cities twice during 2002. The production was filmed at the Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, during its second run in October, 2002. The cast included Martin Crewes as Jim Ryan (The Man), Bud Tingwell as John Conroy, the owner of the property, Georgie Parker as Kate, John Conroy's daughter, Steve Bisley as Banjo Paterson, Lee Kernaghan as the Balladeer, and also Steve Jefferys as the Breaker.

The Snowy River is indeed a real river, with its headwaters in the highest section of the Great Dividing Range near the easternmost part of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Corryong, a small town on the western side of the range, claims stockman Jack Riley as the inspiration for the character, and like many other towns in the region uses the image of the character as part of the marketing to tourists.

There is a possibility that another exceptional and fearless rider, Charlie McKeahnie, who was born in 1868 might have been the inspiration for the poem, because of a dangerous riding feat in the Snowy River region in 1885, in which Charlie McKeahnie took part when he was only 17 years of age.

The historical context of the poem

The poem was written at a time in the 1880s and 1890s when Australia was developing a distinct identity as a nation. Though Australia was still a set of independent colonies under the final authority of Britain, and had not yet trod the path of nationhood, there was a distinct feeling that Australians needed to be united and become as one. Poems like "The Man from Snowy River" suggested to the many Australians at the time who read The Bulletin magazine of Sydney, that they shared a unique land and that the characters and heroes who inhabited this land had so much in common. Australians from all walks of life, be they from the country or the city, looked to the bush for their mythology and heroic characters. They saw in the Man from Snowy River a hero whose bravery, adaptability and risk-taking could epitomise a new nation in the south. This new nation emerged as The Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

External link

• The Man from Snowy River (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/213) at Project Gutenberg.