Alfonso Bernard O'Reilly (3 September 1903 – 20 January 1975) was an Australian writer and

bushman Bushman or bushmen may refer to: * San people in Southern Africa * The ''Hermit'', a figure in the Carnival of Satriano, know also as "bushman" or "treeman". * Bushman (comics), a Marvel Comics supervillain * Bushman (reggae singer) (born 1973) ...

of Irish descent. He was born and raised in Hartley in the Blue Mountains, about north-west of Sydney and later moved to the

McPherson Range The McPherson Range is an extensive mountain range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, heading in an easterly direction from near Wallangarra, Queensland, Wallangarra to the Pacific Ocean coastline. It forms part of the Scenic Rim on the border ...

near Beaudesert in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

, Australia. He is part of the family that established the

O'Reilly's Guesthouse O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat is a tourist destination in the locality of O'Reilly, Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. It is situated in the heart of the Lamington National Park, two hours by road south of Brisbane and 90 minutes ...

in the

Lamington Plateau The Lamington National Park is a national park, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/ New South Wales border in Australia. From Southport on the Gold Coast the park is to the southwest and Brisbane is nor ...

. On 20 August 1931 Bernard O'Reilly married Viola Gwendoline King in Brisbane. They had a daughter, Rhelma.

Plane crash rescue

O'Reilly is best known for the discovery of the 1937 crash site in

Lamington National Park The Lamington National Park is a national park, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border in Australia. From Southport on the Gold Coast the park is to the southwest and Brisbane is north. ...

of a Stinson Model A airplane, the ''VH-UHH Brisbane'', and the organization of rescue crews that retrieved two survivors. Using his bushcraft and geographical knowledge, as well as inferring from the plane's filed flight plan, O'Reilly found the crash site. On the second day of his search he came upon two survivors and the wreckage of the aircraft in the extremely rugged and mountainous rainforest terrain. He then trekked through the same difficult terrain to get help and return the next day with rescuers. The rescue operation gained national headlines with reports broadcast live on the radio. At a ceremony in Sydney, O'Reilly was presented with a plaque and a cheque raised by public subscription. At the ceremony he paid tribute to the two survivors and one of the five victims, Jim Westray, who died from exposure after breaking his ankle and crawling several miles while trying to get help for the others. In years afterward, O'Reilly's nephew, Peter O'Reilly, organized bush tours recreating his uncle's "remarkable feat."

Published works

O'Reilly wrote three books on the theme of Australia's Great Dividing Range, which lies inland from its east coast and is where he lived: ''Green Mountains'' (1940, ), ''Cullenbenbong'' (1945, ), and ''Over the Hills'' (1963, ). The first part of ''Green Mountains'' is his own account of finding the aeroplane; the second part describes the O'Reilly family's early years in the Blue Mountains and their move to Lamington. This and ''Cullenbenong'' were the inspiration for Charles Chauvel's 1949 film ''

Sons of Matthew ''Sons of Matthew'' is a 1949 Australian film directed and produced and co-written by Charles Chauvel. The film was shot in 1947 on location in Queensland, Australia, and the studio sequences in Sydney. ''Sons of Matthew'' took 18 months to comp ...

''. In 1971 he published a collection of poems, ''Songs from the Hills'', . The Australian philosopher David Stove has written a short appreciation of O'Reilly's life and books. O'Reilly was played by Jack Thompson in the TV movie '' The Riddle of the Stinson'' (1987).

Later life

Bernard O'Reilly headstone, St Johns Catholic Church, Kerry

Bernard O'Reilly died on 20 January 1975 at Beaudesert. He is buried at St Johns Catholic Church in Kerry.

References

External links

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Bernard O'Reilly

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

Bernard O'Reilly

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1975 deaths 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian people of Irish descent Writers from Queensland 1903 births {{Australia-writer-stub