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Mansfield and District Local History
Prior to European settlement, the area is thought to have been occupied by the Youngillim or Wuywurrung Aborigines. Explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell passed through the area. In the late 1830s the Hunter and Watson Pastoral Company leased vast amounts of the Mansfield Valley and their employees were probably the first Europeans in the area. The first run was established in 1839. The run was subdivided into seven smaller stations in 1842. The father of Dame Nellie Melba established a lime quarry on one of these allotments.
Mansfield began in 1846 as a designated stock route camp. The town site was surveyed and lots sold in 1851. The breadth of the main street was to enable bullock teams to do U-turns. The settlement was named after early European settler Edward Mansfield and developed as a commercial centre for the many small gold-mining settlements established to the south in the 1850s.
After the initial rush, Mansfield settled down to become a service centre to a grazing, farming and timber-getting community. One of the timber-getters who worked in the area for two or three years, following his release from prison in 1874, was Ned Kelly, Australia's most notorious bushranger and perhaps its best-known figure.
In 1878, after an incident at the Kelly home, the 22-year-old Ned and his younger brother Dan, went into hiding in the Wombat Ranges just to the north-east of Mansfield. Two police parties (one from Mansfield and the other from Benalla) headed into the mountains to capture them.
At Stringybark Creek (near Tolmie) on October 25, the two brothers, with two visiting companions (Steve Hart and Joe Byrne), surprised Constables Lonigan and McIntyre at their camp. Lonigan had previously had a run-in with Ned at Benalla. Ned called for them to bail up. The unarmed McIntyre complied, but Lonigan jumped behind a log. When he raised his head to fire he was shot by Kelly and died almost immediately.
Two other police officers from the party were out searching for the brothers. McIntyre was advised that if he instructed his colleagues to surrender when they returned, they would be allowed to return to Mansfield, after donating their horses and guns.
As Constable Scanlan and Sergeant Kennedy rode into camp, McIntyre complied, but his actions were taken as a jest. Kelly then appeared, demanding their compliance. Kennedy leapt from his horse, firing. After getting off one shot, Scanlan was killed by Kelly before he could dismount. As Kennedy ran from tree to tree for cover he was shot in the armpit. A second bullet pierced him close to his heart then Kelly, who had fired both shots, advanced and shot him directly through the heart which, he said, was to prevent further suffering before an inevitable death.
The Kelly Gang is outlawed. McIntyre escaped during the fracas to spread the news. All four police officers were of Irish descent (like the Kellys) and all were considered outstanding members of the force. The news shocked the country and caused considerable concern. As a consequence, the gang members were outlawed with 500-pound rewards offered for each man, alive or dead.
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| Historic Mansfield Cinema - finally closed in May, 2007 |
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| Mansfield Cemetery entrance |
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| Old graves, Mansfield Cemetery |
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| Copies of this fascinating book by local Mansfield authors Keith Leydon and Michael Ray are available for purchase from Keith Leydon - click here |
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