The race to be crowned the next Man from Snowy River takes place at Corryong this month. Photo: The Man From Snowy River Festival/Facebook.
Banjo Paterson never named him.
The rider in The Man from Snowy River was just a lad from the mountain runs. He came down from the high country, did what no one else could, and rode back up.
The question he left behind has never been answered.
For 31 years, Corryong has been trying.
Each April, the town in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains transforms into something far bigger than its population suggests – a living, breathing tribute to the mythology of the Australian high country.
From humble beginnings on the banks of Nariel Creek in 1995, the Man From Snowy River Bush Festival has grown into the most successful event of its kind in Australia, drawing close to 20,000 visitors annually.
In 2026, the festival returns from 16–19 April, promising four days of horsemanship, heritage and hard-edged competition alongside live music, bush poetry, a street parade, campdraft, working dog championships and two nights of bull riding, saddle bronc and barrel racing.
This year carries extra weight: the Mount Lawson bushfire in January tore through 105,000 hectares of the Upper Murray, forcing evacuations, cutting power and threatening homes and livestock.
The festival is as much a celebration of recovery as of tradition.
After Thursday evening’s official opening, Friday’s re-enactment of Paterson’s poem sees riders racing down Thowgla Valley, recreating the legendary chase.
Meanwhile markets, music and bush poetry will fill the streets, while the Wrangler Xtreme Broncs and working dog championships showcase skills that remain at the heart of high-country life.
Yet amid all the spectacle, the Stockman’s Challenge remains the festival’s spine, with the bush telegraph buzzing as everyone keeps score: who’s in, who’s out, who’s climbing the leaderboard?
The challenge is a reckoning with skills that built this country – skills quietly disappearing.
Competitors shoe their own horses, pack loads, ride bareback, navigate obstacle courses, crack whips and work cattle, all under time pressure and the sharp eyes of judges who know mastery when they see it.
Each year, nearly 90 riders contest the Stockman’s Challenge, where every gallop, catch, and buck jump counts.
Rivalries unfold across the festival’s categories: the Open Challenge crowns the ultimate Man from Snowy River, while the Ladies and Striplings (juniors) events each produce their own champions, the latter hinting at the next generation ready to stake their claim.
It won’t be any different this year.
While competitors come from across the country, the riders who have defined the challenge’s history mostly hail from nearby.
Paterson’s poem was inspired by Jack Riley, who worked Tom Groggin Station on the Upper Murray – about 75 kilometres from Corryong – for more than 30 years.
Tooma, a mere 30 clicks away, has produced more open champions than anywhere else, including David Mitchell, John Mitchell, Scott Bandy and Travis Bandy.
Perhaps Paterson’s rider never really left the high country.
David Mitchell claimed his third open title at the 30th anniversary event in 2025, edging fellow Tooma competitor Daryl Baines by just 13 points in a final that went all the way to the buckjump. His brother John, a three-time consecutive champion from 2016 to 2018, finished third while posting the highest score in the stock saddle buck jump.
Between them, the Mitchell brothers have answered the festival’s defining question six times.
Scott Bandy has five open titles spanning two decades, and his son Travis added another in 2023.
The high country doesn’t have it all its own way.
Morgan Webb of Cootamundra is a five-time open champion and the youngest ever winner, claiming the title first at 19. He finished fifth in 2025, 121 points behind David Mitchell, and will be back.
Emma Webb (née O’Shea) has won nine titles, including eight consecutive from 2014 to 2022 and her 2025 victory, topping the ladies’ wild horse catch with a perfect 90-pointscore.
Young’s Christy Davidson (née Connor) has five ladies’ titles and her husband Kieran Davidson took the open crown in 2019.
These showdowns stretch far beyond Corryong – from the King of the Ranges at Murrurundi to the Battle on the Bidgee at Gundagai – yet only here is the full measure of high-country horsemanship tested, with the ultimate title on the line.
Paterson left his rider nameless because it was never about fame or individuality; it was about the qualities that define a true high-country horseman – grit, skill, resourcefulness and horsemanship – that can’t be taught in an arena.
Each year at Corryong, this high-country horsemanship acts as a living tribute to the knowledge, intuition, and experience that shaped Australia’s mountain stockmen for generations – and for one weekend, at least, the legend actually has a name.
Tickets for the 2026 Man From Snowy River Bush Festival are available through Humanitix. Children under 13 are free.
