Walwa author Janice Newnham sheds light on Upper Murray tragedy in White Lies: Where There Is Smoke

The veterinarian had left the outer reaches of Sydney to rent an old farmhouse at Walwa.

The property on Shelley Road was only partially furnished but filled with echoes of the past.

In Newnham's own words there were: "Too many echoes!"

"At times, my kelpie refused to enter the room on the south-east corner of the house; he often startled and stared intently at nothing in particular," she said.

"He stuck with me like a shadow! I felt like my hackles were standing up when I went into the room - I couldn't go into it at night at all - I had a feeling objects had moved around the house when I wasn't looking."

Newnham raised her concerns with a neighbour Verd Brindley who shared the story of Dickie and Elizabeth White, who built the house and met tragic ends.

Newnham trawled the Trove website, sifted through the Public Records Office of Victoria archives and spoke to residents, accumulating vast research material.

Having lived in the house for only eight months, Newnham said the story always stayed with her as she settled in the valley and started a family of her own.

Then on December 30, 2019, the Black Summer Bushfires stormed through the Upper Murray and razed that "haunted" house, levelling folklore and history with it.

Newnham, who was the last tenant in the house, said the timing was a profound echo of the past.

In January 1939, the Black Friday Bushfires, a disaster of similar magnitude and impact on people, property and community, ripped through the Upper Murray.

The aftermath led to the demise of Elizabeth White nee Brennan, in a car accident and later, her husband by suicide.

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Post-Summer Bushfire Crisis, Newnham looked on the story with fresh eyes.

Her second book, White Lies: Where There Is Smoke, was her interpretation of the Walwa Tragedy, as the newspaper journalists of the day dubbed it.

It was based on historical facts but re-imagined with dialogue and descriptions.

Newnham said Dickie was a World War I veteran who had tried to out-run a traumatic past and re-invent himself but he was hounded to death by gossip.

"I believe Dickie suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; he was in the Navy on a ship that had seen the most action of the entire Australian fleet," she said.

"I think it was unfathomable that he would have tried to kill his wife.

"Police couldn't pin it on him and the crime scene was contaminated by the time detectives arrived three weeks later. The second coronial hearing had an open finding and berated police on the investigation."

Former Walwa resident Len Johnson (Love Letters From The War) mentored Newnham for the book.

Now living on a Walwa cattle farm, Newnham can see the accident site from her home: "I have my own thoughts on what happened but it's up to the reader to decide."

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