The Long and Winding Ride: Episode 4 – Wandiligong to Porepunkah: Gold River Country

The Long and Winding Ride

 

Episode 4 Wandiligong to Porepunkah: gold river country

 

Stage 4 Wandiligong to Porepunkah

 

Stage 4 is a welcome gentle ride after the more strenuous mountain stage over the range to Wandiligong in episode 3. The challenge of ascending and descending Mount Buffalo lies ahead in the next stage. We follow the course of Morses Creek Road and the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail from Wandiligong to Porepunkah. On the way we glide past the Mystic Flight Parasailing Park before reaching Bright where we make straight for Pioneer Park.

 

The Ovens and King League 

 

We are now in the territory of the Ovens and King League. Pausing our ride briefly, let’s look at a map showing the geographical spread of the league over the course of its 123 year history. Twenty nine football clubs have had an affiliation with the Ovens and King FA/FNL in that time. The easternmost affiliate was Bogong (1954-59); the westernmost Goorambat (2010 – ); the northernmost Rutherglen (1992-2003); and the southernmost Bonnie Doon (2010 – ). Currently there are 11 clubs in the league.

 

Towns/clubs historically affiliated with the Ovens and King FA/FNL

current clubs (blue)  former clubs (red pins)

 

Current (blue) and former (red) clubs in O&KFA/O&KFNL

(source: Ovens and King Football League, Wikipedia)

Bright

Located on Coronation Avenue, the Bright Football Club’s home ground at Pioneer Park is an idyllic place to play or watch a game of footy. Surrounded by blue-green hills, ringed by deciduous trees, and with an historical grandstand, the ground invites you in for a special day of country football and netball.

 

Pioneer Park Recreation Reserve

(Google maps)

 

The historic grandstand at Pioneer Park in Bright
(pic:author)

 

Men from Bright first played football in inter-town matches in 1890, later playing in the Ovens Valley Football Association, the Bright District Football Association (renamed the Myrtleford-Bright Football League in 1936), the Yackandandah League in 1952-53, (in no competition in 1954) and since 1955, in the Ovens and King League. The Mountain Men, as they are known, have won four premierships in the O&KFL – 1986, 1987, 1992 and 2004. Prior to joining the O&KFL Bright won eight flags in the Bright District FA and one in the Myrtleford-Bright FA.

 

 

Bright FC premiers 1923
(source: Alpine Shire Historical Photos and Events on Facebook)

 

One mountain man, Bill Lowen, reportedly walked from the Mount Buffalo Chalet down to below the snow line where he was picked up and taken to a game in 1960 in order to sit on the bench for the Seconds team. As Neil Barter (All Links in the Chain, page 83) commented, that is dedication to your club. Lowen’s commitment was repaid when he was awarded life membership of the Ovens and King League for his achievement of playing 300 senior games. In his long career Bill Lowen won the O&K Reserves best and fairest award on two occasions (1979,1980).

 

The Bright ‘Mountain Men’ today 

 

In 2024 Bright played off for the premiership, but were outclassed by Greta going down by 68 points. It was the same story for the Mountain Men in 2023 and 2019 – grand finalists but no silverware. 

The 2025 season commenced on March 29 with the grand final ‘replay’ between the Blues and the Mountain Men at Greta. Bright had the measure of Greta on this occasion, winning 12.14 (86) to 11.11 (77).

 

From Bright to the MCG and the SCG

The Reid brothers – Ben and Sam – are from Bright. Ben played junior football with the Bright Junior Football Club before launching his senior football career with Wangaratta Rovers and the Murray Bushrangers. Sam played junior football with Wangaratta Rovers before advancing to the Murray Bushrangers. Both were drafted to AFL clubs: Ben to Collingwood (in 2006), where he was a premiership player in 2010; and Sam (in 2009) to the Sydney Swans, where he was a premiership player in 2012. The AFL careers of the Reid brothers totalled in excess of 150 games each. Ben retired in 2020 while Sam’s 181 game career ended in 2024.

 

The football genes are strong in the Reid family – Ben and Sam’s father played for Footscray while their grandfather played for Footscray and Carlton. The Reid’s uncle, John Reid, played for Melbourne, Footscray and South Melbourne.

 

After retiring Ben returned to his Ovens River homeland as playing coach of Ovens and Murray League team Wangaratta. Ben coached the Magpies for three seasons, including 2022 when the club was sensationally stripped of its premiership due to salary cap breaches. He was recently appointed as a Development Coach with the Western Bulldogs for season 2025.

 

As we move through the series, note how many of the VFL players recruited from the Ovens and King region became premiership players – with Richmond, Melbourne, Carlton and North Melbourne the greatest beneficiaries of their talents.

Our next stop in Bright is at Jack’s Hole on the Ovens River. Here the riverscape and riparian vegetation have been rehabilitated to provide better opportunities for keen anglers hoping to land a trout, a redfin or maybe a perch … even a cod. Works at the site are designed to prevent erosion of the river banks by placing large boulders in strategic positions in the river to deflect the flow. This creates sanctuaries for fish and other wildlife, improving the health of the aquatic ecosystem. We are just in time as trout fishing in the river is prohibited between the King’s Birthday weekend and the first weekend in September every year. The reason for the closed season in the river is to protect breeding populations and to allow wild trout to spawn and repopulate the waterways.

 

Native fish of the Ovens River include golden perch (better known as yellowbelly), Murray cod, Murray spiny crayfish and the protected species of freshwater catfish, Macquarie perch and trout cod. Introduced species include brown trout, rainbow trout, redfin, tench and the noxious species of European carp and eastern gambusia.

 

The Ovens River at Jack’s Hole where light from the late afternoon sun catches the water’s surface and the river bank reflecting a warm golden glow. (pic: author)

 

Lunch stop

 

A fire pit beside the river at Jack’s Hole provides the perfect place to cook up a snag or two. While the sausages sizzle over the flames, pick a few flat river stones to skim across the surface of the stream and count how many bounces you can get. Wash the sanger down with a cold Bright lager and we are soon on our way to Porepunkah. 

 

The Murray to Mountains Rail Trail follows the Back Porepunkah Road passing the Bright Golf Course before approaching Porepunkah from the east, where we can stop at a cafe situated adjacent to the trail. Cyclists gather here for coffee, breakfast and lunch, and a chance to compare notes on the local rides. 

 

Porepunkah was the home of my maternal grandfather’s family. His folk had a small farm at One Mile Creek, situated where you head west towards Myrtleford. When I picture Porepunkah it is always circa 1962. I see an apple orchard, a blackberry bush-concealed creek, a railway line and my Great Grandfather standing with his walking stick under a big walnut tree. It invariably seemed to be autumn when we went ‘over’ to Porepunkah and Wandiligong, although I do remember on one summer visit looking down cautiously on the swiftly flowing waters of the Ovens River at the Porepunkah rapids. The railway line closed in 1983 and is now part of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail. It’s only a stone’s throw from the site of the old Raufers family home at ‘the one Mile’. Today, on the hillsides around One Mile Creek you will see several vineyards, established to provide grapes for the ever expanding cool climate wine industry. 

 

The Ovens and Buckland rivers meet at Porepunkah, the nearest settlement to Mount Buffalo. Porepunkah railway station was the disembarkation stop for passengers bound for Mount Buffalo, at which point they could catch the coach up to the Victorian Railways owned chalet. 

 

My great uncle, Ernie Chalwell, drove the horse drawn coach from Porepunkah,  laden with supplies for the Chalet, before the motor coach was introduced in 1925. Learn more about Ernie and his adventurous brother Fred, in episode 5.

 

The Porepunkah Football  Club was formed in the mid 1890s. Their most successful era was in the years immediately prior to World War I when they claimed five Bright Shire FA flags in seven years (1909, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915). In 1915 the season was curtailed to assist recruiting for the A.I.F. With Porepunkah well ahead at that stage they were awarded the premiership. Over the years Porepunkah had a great rivalry with Wandiligong in particular. The club folded in 1954.

 

Porepunkah Football Club 1949
source: Alpine Shire Historical Photos and Event on Facebook)

 

Next episode

In stage 5 we ascend Mount Buffalo before returning to the Ovens River at Ovens.

 

 

More from Peter Clark can be read Here.

 

 

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