Steavenson Falls: Marysville’s beauty spot hides a deadly past

THE beauty of Steavenson Falls, near Marysville, belies a tragic past. More than four decades ago, two tragic incidents there claimed five young lives.

Damian McKenzie vanished while on a hike to the top of the falls.

STEAVENSON Falls is one of Victoria’s most beautiful spots. The falls, tucked into steep mountain ash country just outside Marysville, has been popular with sightseers, hikers and school groups for decades.

The cold waters of the Steavenson River tumble down a craggy granite bluff there, and at 122 metres high it’s one of the state’s tallest waterfalls.

The bush clinging to the steep valley around the falls is recovering well after the 2009 Black Saturday fires, although dead mountain ash trunks still poke through the understorey for now.

The falls are highly accessible, an easy walk of a few hundred metres from the car park, but there are many more physically challenging hikes to the top of the falls and the thick forest.

Works going on at Steavenson Falls after the Black Saturday fires.

HOW KRYSTAL SLIPPED THROUGH THE SYSTEM

There’s a short bridge over the river, metres from the base of the falls. As you stand there, watching the river tumble over the rocks and listening to the rushing water and the bellbirds, it’s easy to miss two small plaques nearby that hint at two tragedies that happened there many years ago.

A summer hike to the top of the falls ended in the deaths of four teenagers on January 9, 1968.

It was the day John Gorton was elected by the Liberals to replace Harold Holt as prime minister, but federal politics was the last thing on the minds of the seven teens who went to the falls to hike that day.

Bruce Fidge, 19, of Oakleigh; Jay Hutty, 18, of East Brighton; Peter Symons, 19, of Clayton, Dorothy McNally and Janine Clarke, both 15 and from Box Hill South; Donella Can, 17, of Euroa; and Margaret Weichalt, 16, of North Balwyn, had knocked around together while staying at a guesthouse in Marysville that week.

Bruce, Jay and Peter were students at Caulfield Grammar and had planned their Marysville trip for months. Janine and Dorothy were also school friends.

A dead tree crashed upon the teenagers.

The area is popular with hikers and school groups.

The scenic area belies a tragic past.

It was Jay’s idea to head to the falls that morning. Bruce parked his car at the base of the falls and the seven headed up.

Peter, Jay, Dorothy and Janine were slightly ahead of Bruce, Donella and Margaret. The seven had stopped to rest on the steep climb when disaster struck. They heard a sharp crack echo off the rocks and across the valley. Moments later, a dead tree crashed upon them.

Dorothy, Peter, Jay and Janine were killed.

Margaret, Donella and Bruce escaped with minor injuries.

Bruce told reporters: “They didn’t have any hope. There wasn’t even any time to run. All I could do was stand and watch, then it was all over.

“There was no time to do anything. It crashed directly onto the four in front, and then onto us.

AUSSIES LOST OVERSEAS

“We were flung all over the place. It was like a bomb had gone off.”

Bruce scrambled to his car and raised the alarm at the local police station, but there was nothing that could be done for the four dead teens.

It took several hours to extract their bodies from under the tonnes of fallen timber. Six years later, Steavenson Falls was the scene of what was then the largest search and rescue operation when 10-year-old Damian McKenzie vanished while on a hike to the top of the falls.

Damian, from Cobden in Victoria’s southwest, was visiting Marysville on a five-day trip with a youth group.

He was last seen running into the thick bush on a walk to the top of the falls with a party of about 40 people on Wednesday, September 4, 1974.

Missing boy Damian McKenzie flanked by his father Peter, and mother Marcia.

At the height of the search, 120 people, including police and volunteers, searched an 18sq km area of bush around the falls for any signs of Damian.

They walked the scrub in lines, marching less that two metres apart through the undergrowth.

The vegetation was so thick up there that police estimated that even using such a thorough method ensured that only 50 to 70 per cent of the search area was covered.

The hunt for Damian was a race against time.

Without shelter, and with the chill of winter still over the highlands, young Damian was always going to battle to survive.

There were small finds in different areas — markings believed to have been letters scratched into some dirt, a set of footprints and a balloon — but all were dismissed having no connection to Damian.

With paths, firebreaks and tracks throughout the area, police felt confident that if Damian found his way into the open, he could be found. He didn’t. Already-slim hopes faded on Saturday when heavy rain began to fall.

Victoria Police Commander Frank Holland led the search.

BILLS’ LEGACY OF CARE

In the cold, wet conditions, the tracks became impassable to all vehicles except two police four-wheel drives that were fitted with winches and chains.

Damian’s parents, Peter and Marsha, came to Marysville and stayed throughout the search.

On Saturday, Mr McKenzie collapsed under the enormous mental and physical strain.

By Sunday morning, even Victoria Police Commander Frank Holland, who was leading the search, said he believed that Damian was dead, saying the day’s search was “only a token”.

The search was abandoned that evening, leaving the McKenzies to head home without their little boy. No trace of him was ever found.

A park bench in a sunny spot near the falls bears a plaque dedicated to Damian’s memory.

A plaque for the four teens crushed by the fallen tree is attached to a low rock retaining wall on steps leading up to the base of the waterfall — two small, sad reminders of the tragedies that happened among such beauty.

@JDwritesalot