Snowy Valleys

Distinguished and Famous people from Snowy Valleys

📚 Miles Franklin

Miles Franklin was born at Old Talbingo Homestead in 1879, at her grandmother's home. Though she grew up mainly at Brindabella, childhood visits made Talbingo an important family refuge. Her affection endured: after her death in 1954, her ashes were scattered in nearby Jounama Creek. The novelist also left a major literary legacy through the Miles Franklin Award, first presented in 1957 to Patrick White for Voss. Talbingo even appeared in one of her pseudonyms: Mr and Mrs Ogniblat L'Artsau reversed the words Austral Talbingo. A writer who travelled and worked overseas still found room to smuggle her birthplace into a pen name.

🎖️ John Ryan VC

John Ryan was born in Tumut in 1890 and worked as a labourer before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915. Serving with the 55th Battalion, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions near Bellicourt in France on 30 September 1918. During the attack on the Hindenburg defences, he went forward under heavy fire and helped respond when a German counter-attack threatened the Australians' position. Tumut was his birthplace, schooling location and home at enlistment, giving the district a substantial connection with his early life. His recognition recalls an individual act within the much larger experience of the battalion's wartime service.

🤝 Aunty Violet Bulger

Aunty Violet Bulger was born at Brungle in 1900 and returned to live in the Tumut–Brungle district in the 1970s. Forcibly removed from her family as a child, she later learned midwifery from her mother and used it to assist women who faced restricted access to maternity hospitals. After her husband died, authorities forced her from the Yass reserve as a single mother. She rebuilt family life at Oak Hill and went on to raise grandchildren as well as her own children. Her standing as an elder grew from sustained practical care through circumstances that repeatedly made that care more difficult.