Daily Photo – Dusk In Northern Victoria
If you step off the track, it’s not hard to see why you might easily get disorientated and lost. There are many stories of people wandering off into the bush never to be seen again. One of the more famous is that of 10 year old Damian McKenzie. The story goes that in September of 1974, 10 year old Damian was attending a popular youth camp near Marysville in the State of Victoria where one of the activities was a walk to the popular Steavenson Falls, one of the state’s highest waterfalls, with a drop of at least 84 metres. The group, which included Damian, set off around 11:30am on Wednesday 4th September. Damian, a good natured and responsible young lad was said to have excitedly run ahead of the group up a track that eventually lead to the top of the falls. However, shortly after it was discovered that Damian was missing, two boys and an adult chaperone went to search for him. When there was no sign of him, the police were contacted. Over the preceding hours and days, the search party expanded to include the State Police, a trained Rescue squad, the Federation of Bush Walkers, Civil Defence, Australian Red Cross, Volunteers, 4wd and Helicopter patrols. In total upwards of 310 people were involved in the search across the landscape and into the rivers. All possibilities were considered: lost in the bush, drowned in the river, abducted, taken by natural predators, the possibility that he might have fallen down an old mineshaft was considered – even though they had mostly been filled in long ago. The search continued day after day with volunteers staying in the area for ten days after he went missing, yet no trace of Damian was found.
Fifty-one years later as the mystery had been labeled a ‘cold case’ and due to the fact that a coronial inquest was never conducted The Victorian Coroner re-examined the case in May 2026. On June 1, 2026 it was announced that the formal finding was that the definitive cause of death was exposure – legally ruling out any other long-standing theories. Among the evidence looked at was the fact that Damian went missing in an area surrounding Steavenson Falls consisting of incredibly dense, near-impenetrable scrub, steep slopes, and rugged bushland, wearing only jumper, jeans, and school shoes. Soon after the search commenced, the conditions turned nasty with freezing weather hitting the region including heavy mountain snow which heavily obscured tracks and disrupted search efforts. With no physical remains or items of clothing belonging to Damaian ever being recovered, he remains a missing person.
