Wonnangatta Murders - The Wonnangatta Station

The Wonnangatta Station

The Wonnangatta Station was a cattle station located in a remote valley of the Wonnangatta River. According to writer Harry Stephenson, while it operated, the station was “the most isolated homestead in Victoria.” Access at the time of the murders was by foot or horse only. The nearest population centres were the goldfields towns of Talbotville, about 20 miles (32 km) away, Grant and Dargo to the south-east, and the larger town of Mansfield, about 80 miles (130 km) away over the Great Dividing Range. The station had been established in the 1860s by a North American, Oliver Smith, who came across the valley while prospecting for gold. Smith’s common law wife Ellen or “Nancy” and her son Harry joined him and a homestead was built near the junction of the Wonnangatta River and Conglomerate Creek. Some time later Ellen died in childbirth, and soon after Smith sold out to William Bryce before eventually returning to the United States. The Bryce family then occupied the station while Ellen’s son Harry Smith moved down the valley and established himself at Eaglevale. The Bryce family remained a presence at Wonnangatta until Mrs Bryce died in 1914 at the age of 78. Ten Bryce children were brought up at Wonnangatta. As the children grew up they moved away and after Mrs Bryce’s death the property was sold to Mansfield owners in 1916, who installed a manager to run the station.