 According to a letter by one of McKeahnie's sisters Lem McKeahnie, Banjo Paterson learnt of the tale in Sydney while in the presence of a friend of McKeahnie's, Mrs Jim Hassall.At the time Paterson wrote the poem, the Eucumbene River had been known as the Snowy River.The area around the upper Eucumbene and the adjacent upper Murrumbidgee was where Charlie McKeahnie had lived and worked.