In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, nine-year-old Lennie Gwyther rode his pony from his home town of Leongatha in rural Victoria, to Sydney via Canberra, to witness the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Lennie’s 1,000-kilometre solo journey captured the imagination of the nation, and his determination and courage provided hope to many at a difficult time in Australia’s history.

Lennie dreamed of being on the spot for the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The ride came about when Lennie’s father, Leo Tennyson Gwyther, a decorated World War One hero with chronic war injuries, broke his leg on the Gwyther farm in South Leongatha. While he was in hospital, Lennie completed the ploughing and saved the crops. A thankful Leo asked how he could reward Lennie, and all he wanted was to see the majestic bridge in Sydney he had read about. Lennie mapped the route himself. 

Lennie and Ginger Mick followed bush tracks and barely formed dirt roads east to Cann River then north to Canberra. Horse and boy survived a deranged tramp jumping out at them a few days into their ride, a bushfire near Traralgon, heavy rain and fogs.

In Canberra, where sheep grazed in front of (now Old) Parliament House, Lennie shook prime minister Joseph Lyons’ hand, and took tea in the members’ refreshment rooms. Arriving In Sydney’s Martin Place, Lennie and Ginger Mick were mobbed by the public and the press. Lennie met the Lord Mayor at Sydney Town Hall, visited Circular Quay and Bondi Beach and rode an elephant at Taronga Zoo.

On March 19, Lennie and Ginger Mick took part in the Sydney Harbour Bridge opening pageant, crossing the bridge among indigenous groups, war veterans, schoolchildren and bridge workers and saluting the Governor-General and the New South Wales Premier.

On March 21, at a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Lennie met his idol, Donald Bradman, who gave him a signed cricket bat.

Lennie convinced his father that he should ride Ginger Mick home. Back in Leongatha on June 10, a huge crowd turned out in the main street. More than 800 people attended a civic reception.

Ginger Mick lived to the age of 27 on the Gwyther farm. Lennie went on to marry, have a daughter and settle in the Melbourne suburb of Hampton. He worked as an experimental engineer at General Motors’ Holden plant at Fishermans Bend, and also was a keen fisherman, astronomer, ice skater, and sailor. At the time of his death, aged 70 in 1992, he was building a  yacht, which he planned to sail to Tasmania and New Zealand.

https://www.monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/adventure/display/111959-lennie-gwyther