The Lonely Graves near Milllers Flat

Follow on down the road from Millers Flat on the true left of the Clutha River, and at 11 km you will come to the site of Horseshoe Bend Diggings. There is little sign of the village now, but the Lonely Graves just further on, are well known and the restored Horseshoe Bend suspension bridge can be accessed by a public walking track.

The story goes (a popular myth, not a fact) that late in 1864, William Rigney found a shivering dog beside the dead body of a good-looking young man. The police were notified but nobody came to claim the body. Rigney dug the grave and everyone at the diggings attended the funeral. The pine slab with these words burned on: “Somebody’s Darling Lies Buried Here” marks the grave. When Rigney died in 1912, he was buried alongside as he had wished. His stone was engraved:

“Here lies William Rigney, the man who buried Somebody’s Darling.”

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