EXCEED March/April 2019 Vol 36 No:2 | Page 55

TRIP REPORTS The homestead was burnt down some years ago allegedly and heresy by some teenager scouts on a camp trip. At the western end of the camp area there is a poorly maintained walk track on the other side of the creek that meanders around a hill to then descend in the gouge proper. This is a very pleasant and cool area of pools and cascades that disappear under huge rock monoliths that have collapsed into the creek valley. My distance memories of this gorge were full of ferns of all descriptions. Unfortunately, large bush fires over the past decade or so has but all destroyed the many tree ferns of yesteryear. Lunch was at the fire pit at the western end of the huge camp area. Clearly the whole camp area has not been maintained by Parks Vic as the dead grass throughout was knee high. The trip home was back to the Slate mine. With Gordon and Neil coping well with Blue Square rated tracks I though we would attempt to go home via Mitchells Track west heading towards Jamieson. All I can say that track has deteriorated significantly since I last transversed it. It was slow and technical. Again the Disco recovery service wasn’t needed. As we got to the south end of Stymes Track I think the Paj drivers had had enough and it was now very hot in the low 40’s. The though of the swimming pool grew larger. I am sure some parts of the hot dry track were seemingly an oasis. Stage right and on our merry was back to Steiners and Mansfield. Back at camp the weather took a turn for the worst with a thunder storm and a brief shower. Vic.Emgency app stated that there was now a fire north of Steiners in the Dungeon Gully Creek area near Three Chain Track/Ashwin road. I wonder if those hot heads 4WD’s roaring past us were heading for this bush camping area. Maybe Karma! Saturday 26th January Hot yet again. I had to return to Melbourne for a wedding that evening so I left the others to enjoy Mansfield and its Aussie Day activities and markets Sunday 27th January I drove back early to be at Mansfield by 9:15am to start another day trip. Shortly afterwards Sujeevan who had also driven from Melbourne joined us for the day. This Trip was to Tolmie for morning tea and look at their Recreational reserve before exploring Stringyback Creek and Ned Kelly’s country, and finally onto Powers Lookout. I had prepared some history notes about these 2 bush rangers for the trip. The brief Ned Kelly story is that 4 Mansfield policemen had ridden out with tents and supplies to search for the Kelly Gang ( and possibly others) . Ned and his brother surprised two of the police at their camp (McIntyre and Lonigan) and held them up. McIntyre surrendered but Lonigan fired at Ned so Ned fired back and shot and killed Lonigan. When the other two members of the group returned some hours later, McIntyre was supposed to tell them to surrender and Ned had promised not to harm them. However, Scanlan fired a shot and was shot in return. Kennedy took cover behind a tree and fired shots but was also killed by Ned. McIntyre escaped on horseback and Ned let him go, wishing to keep his promise. It was these events, where Ned committed his first murder – which he claims were all in self-defence – that sealed his fate when he ultimately stood trial and was finally hanged. The Stringybark Creek Historic Reserve (SCR) area was recently upgraded in 2017, It has several Interpretative information boards in the historic area and at the different important spots along the easy walking paths. What new information that I came away with is that the Stringyback Creek camp site was where Ned’s was possibly gold prospecting and was not his main camp. He actually had cut out about 20 acres of bushland several hundred metres away to the north of the camp site. The farmlet was reportedly unknown to any neighbours or police. He had constructed a house etc. This property was where he had supposedly disappeared for about 20 months despite been claimed as a culprit in the Fitzpatrick Incident. Earlier in 1876 after he had got out of jail, allegedly he had joined his stepfather in stealing horses and was probably using this hidden farm area before moving the horses on. The area was a known “Black Pathway” for horse stealing and cattle duffing in north-east to and from NSW in the 1860s and 70s. Ned came down through the bush from his house to the camp site after hearing noises from the creek camp site only to find 2 of the police late Saturday afternoon. The rest is supposedly history We found the track that allegedly leads to Ned’s old home ruins that comes off Tatong Tolmie Road opposite Madhouse road intersection. As it was heavily over grown and a walking track only we abandoned that idea.