Around here he's everywhere.

Known as King of the Upper Murray, his story has helped shape much of the region as it's now known.

He owned 40 miles of property along the Murray River, then known as the Hume, totalling about 100,000 acres which were the making of places like Corryong, Talmalmo, Burrowye and Tintaldra and, of course, Walwa.

"And according to my brother he saw him the other night," John Blackburn said.

"Grandie is supposed to haunt the place still, at least that's what they tell us."

John and Jeannie live at the historic homestead, built by Grandie in 1848.

Only two families have owned the property, Jeannie said, the second being when her father bought it in 1935.

But Grandie's influence lives on.

"He was here a long time and he employed a lot of people whose families now have farms here," Jeannie said.

Jeannie recently put together a photographic history of Walwa, with some of the images dating back to the turn of the 20th century when the town was bustling.

Complementing this, in the town's hall hangs a tapestry depicting the town through the seasons as it was nearly 20 years ago.

"I wanted to show what the town was like and how it's gone down," Jeannie said.

"At one stage there were 300 people living in the town back when there was mining in the 1940s and 1950s."

Down at Grandie's grave at the back of the Blackburns' property, three fig trees have sprouted up.

The glory days may have gone, but there's still life in Walwa.