Oatley resident Cliff Crane's 25-year quest to prove the identity of A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson's The Man from Snowy River will be officially recognised in a biography of the famous bush poet.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last year, Mr Crane revealed the person who he believed was the inspiration for The Man From Snowy River wasn't actually a man but an 11 year-old boy called Edward Hall.
He announced his findings at The Banjo Paterson More Than A Poet Museum at Yeoval in February, 2020 to mark the 156th anniversary of the birthday of Banjo Paterson.
Now his research is to be included in a reprint of a biography, 'AB Paterson' by Clement Semmler.
"I am one of two people selected to have material included in the reprint of the 1965 biography of Paterson, to be launched in February 2022," Mr Crane said.
"They are including a summary of my research which arrived at contending that what set Paterson's mind to writing The Man from Snowy River arose from seeing, when he was only nine-years-old at Binalong, near Yass, a schoolmate killed at the end of a headlong ride down a timber-strewn hillside.
"The boy, Edward Hall was killed instantly when thrown from a young horse," he said.
"In 2019, I discovered a letter of Paterson's published in his Sydney Grammar School newsletter detailing in words very similar to The Man From Snowy River the death of a boy called Edward Hall who was killed while riding a horse.
"Paterson had said in his Grammar School newsletter that he left Binalong a few months after the boy was killed.
"I went and found the death notice of the boy dated November, 1873. Paterson left Binalong to come to school in Sydney in February, 1874.
"His account was published in the school newsletter in 1890, the same year as the Man from Snowy River was published."
Following this, Mr Crane was able to find the newspaper report of the death of the boy. Although Edward Hall was not named in the newspaper report it said that his father was a local policeman.
Edward Hall's death certificate shows that his father was a policeman and that Edward had been killed by a fall from a horse.
Mr Crane grew up in the Snowy Mountains foothills and feels a personal connection with Banjo Paterson.
Over the years he has travelled NSW doing presentations of Paterson's works and life and times to historical and Probus Clubs.
He has carried on his historical research, recently successfully identifying the identity of a recluse, only known as Clarrie, who lived in bushland at Oatley more than 80 years ago.
Mr Crane said that it is very satisfying that a summary of his research will be included in the reprinted biography.
The book will be launched at the ruins of the old Buckinbah homestead, where Paterson lived the first seven years of his life, situated on the outskirts of present-day Yeoval, which was originally called Buckinbah.
Mr Crane will give the keynote talk at the launch on a history of Buckinbah station and its owner/occupiers since 1840.
