Owen Cummins

Owen Stephen Cummins (13 September 1874 – 25 August 1953) was an Australian stockman, drover and horse breeder who is thought to be one of the possible inspirations for the poem A Man from Snowy River by Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson.

As a drover he worked in the Snowy Mountains and the Riverina districts of New South Wales before, around the turn of the century, moving to the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory he worked of Victoria River Downs and Wave Hill Stations. Cummins is sometimes known as "The Territory's own man from Snowy River". This is supported by Albert Lalga, a Mudburra man, who made similar statements.

There are, however, other accounts saying that he saved a number of people during the Blackfellows Knob Massacre of 1895 (nearby Victoria River Downs Station) and that the report by Bill Wongiari, that he was "a good man" was supported by the elders who were listening. This was, however, short-lived as a lack of water forced him to give it up and he took up land at Frog Valley which was relinquished in 1928.

From around 1932 he was employed at Wave Hill and was in charge of the station stallions and often rode the boundaries between Wave Hill and Victoria River Downs stations.

Cummins died in his camp near the site of the original Wave Hill homestead on 25 August 1953 and is buried at the Wave Hill Cemetery. His name is commemorated on a water tank along the Murranji Track, at the Murranji Bore, and there is a monument to him at Kalkarindji. This monument calls him "The Territory's Own Man from Snowy River". for the poem "A Man from Snowy River" by Banjo Paterson as, although Cummins was only 16, at the time of publication (April 1890) he was very well known in the Snowy River regions.

Despite this Banjo Paterson did state, on numerous occasions, that there was no particular individual who inspired the poem.