Career
He is believed by some historians to be the inspiration for the poem "The Manitoba from Snowy River" by Banjo Paterson. McKeahnie was reputed to have been a fearless rider and stockman. He was known to have chased a well-bred horse through the very rugged country between Yaouk and the headwaters of the Snowy River north west of Adaminaby at the age of 17.
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. According to Monaro district folklore, Paterson had told somebody at the Bredbo Hotel that the poem was based on McKeahnie"s ride.
McKeahnie died at the age of 27 at the Bredbo Hotel after a horse riding accident and was buried at Adaminaby cemetery. He had never married and had no known children.
