Stringybark Creek is a small creek in the Wombat Ranges, Victoria, Australia.[1] It is famous for the place where three policemen were murdered on the 26th of October 1878. The policemen, Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Thomas Lonigan, and Constable Michael Scanlan were searching the forest for the Kelly brothers, Ned and Dan Kelly. They were wanted for the attempted murder of another policeman, Constable Fitzpatrick.
The creek is in the Toombullup State Forest, 50km from Benalla and 36km from Mansfield.[2] The area has been developed for visitors and includes picnic area, camping, toilets and walking tracks.[2] A memorial stone was put in place in 2001. It is near the remains of the hut. A tree near the site of two of the murders (Lonigan and Scanlan), the Police/ Kelly Tree, was scarped by a farmer in the 1930s. He carved the names of the three murdered police into it as a memorial. It has had a small copy of Ned Kelly's helmet attached to it. This caused great upset to the families of the murdered policemen. The other murder site (Kennedy's) is approximately 400–500 metres north west. It is across the Stringybark Creek Road.[3]
- ^ "Tolmie a little bit of history". tolmietimes.com. 2011. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Stringybark Creek". Benalla Rural City. 2011. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
- ^ "Mansfield local history". Mansfield Jamieson Historical Societies. 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2011.