Victoria earthquake: Locals at epicentre near Mansfield describe the moment it hit

The quake was so powerful it was felt across southeast Australia, so imagine what it was like out riding a horse near the epicentre.

Victorian High Country legend Charlie Lovick was out on his horse this morning when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit the area sending shakes across southeast Australia.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life,” said the Merrijig cattleman, who was Master of Horse for the film The Man from Snowy River.

“The horse shook that much, a lesser rider would have fallen off.

“I thought the horse was having a hissy fit and he thought I was having a hissy fit too.

“The other horses galloped around paddocks wondering what the hell was going on. Didn’t seem to affect the cattle at all, they didn’t worry.”

High country cattleman Charlie Lovick was on his horse when the 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit.

The earthquake – that was 10km deep – hit at about 9.15am with an epicentre near Woods Point, south of Mansfield, with reports of tremors felt across the state, as well as in Canberra, Sydney, Tasmania and South Australia.

Early reports suggested it was a 6.0-magnitude quake, but was later downgraded to 5.8, then again adjusted to a 5.9.

There was then a magnitude 4.0 earthquake at 9.33am.

Fortunately, Mr Lovick said the damage they’d noticed so far had just been “superficial”.

“TVs have fallen off walls and things like that,” he said. “We haven’t found any problems with buildings yet.”

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Nearby, cattle farmer James McCormack was in his parked car when the earthquake hit, but thought someone had rear-ended him.

“There was a hell of a rumble – then I felt like I got hit the car was shaking that much,” he said.

When he returned to the farm he found horses running around but was relieved to report no damage.

Over at Ian and Vera Finger’s Mansfield beef stud, Mrs Finger said it sounded like a freight train passing through as their yard shed shook.

They too escaped damage as far as they could tell so far.

“It was just the noise,” she said. “We have hundred year old stone buildings that from an outside look seem fine at the minute.”

The earthquake caused windows at the historic Kevington Hotel to crack.

At the historic Kevington Hotel, 47km south of Mansfield, the shaking did cause damage but the building remains structurally sound.

“There’s a lot of glasses broken and photos off the wall. There’s also some cracks in the windows,” owner Wayne Poole said.

Mr Poole wasn’t there at the time but said his son and partner “went through it” and were assessing the damage around the area.

“My son is trying to make contact with the A1 mine up there – he’s got friends that work there so we’re hoping it’s all good,” he said.

The animals at the Mansfield Zoo were also reportedly shaken up by the earthquake, but owner Bronwen Wilson said the place escaped with no major damage.

“Some of them were a bit startled and we checked all the enclosures after that, especially the lions, but they were all okay,” she said. “A couple of things fell down.”

Ms Wilson said they were lucky the impact wasn’t worse, or longer, given their proximity to the epicentre.

“Hopefully we won’t get any more because it was pretty close to us,” she said.

Originally published as Victoria earthquake: Locals at epicentre near Mansfield describe the moment it hit