[For an incredibly detailed description of the logistics surrounding the longest torch relay in Olympic history at that time, refer to The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne, 1958, pages 206-222, available online]

The Torch first reached Victoria via Albury-Wodonga at 1:37AM and headed to Wangaratta and Shepparton before making its way toward the Goldfields, but the weather conditions meant last minute detours from the original planned route through Byrneside, Stanhope and Corop. Heavy late Spring rains had hit the district and led to waterways being swelled and roadways being blocked.

Instead of running the full mile, several Torch bearers had to be carried through floodwaters on the Midland Highway in an army truck, detouring the run through Tatura, Rushworth and Colbinabbin. Near the junction of the Northern and Midland Highways, cars were parked bumper-to-bumper for eight miles, and the same occurred at Goornong, where a banner proclaiming ‘Welcome to Goornong’ was strung over the main road 11.

Further drama occurred as the Torch passed through Goornong, and one perhaps indicative of the contradictory Australian climate. As Melbourne runner Jack Murray approached the township, he waved the 1.8kg aluminium Torch to the cheering crowd, sending sparks from the flame into the roadside and starting a grass fire. Murray helped to stamp out the flames before completing his leg in under five minutes.

From Goornong, the nine runners successfully made up the 18 minutes lost through detours by running the distance of eight miles in 35 minutes and 37 seconds. Geoff Lockwood covered a mile in 4:40; a 1954 Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) representative, Geoff Warren, clocked 4:44 along with Doug Henderson and Murray, who both helped in the effort. The way was cleared where traffic threatened to impede the catch up efforts by police escort and a convoy of trucks that had been on the journey all the way from Cairns.

Picnics, afternoon teas, cheering and traffic jams featured across the district, with thousands lining even relatively remote country roads to cheer on the bearers, often waiting more than two hours to see the rapid procession. Several school buses deliberately ignored schedules so that the students on board could watch the Torch go past.

A ‘festival of sport’ was also taking place to entertain the crowds as they awaited the arrival of the Torch in the city centre, with several basketball matches and gymnastic displays were conducted at the YMCA in Mundy Street, where the Torch was due to pass from McCrae Street before it turned into Lyttleton Terrace 12.

The first local runner was EJ Wilson from Kamarooka North, followed by the Shotton brothers from Warragamba (Diggorra West) and well-known Rochester footballer, N Featherby. The first Bendigo runners were YMCA Harrier members and brothers, Malcolm, Murdoch and Graham Macdonald (pictured below, Bendigo Advertiser). One of two ‘flying milk-ohs’, Harold Pilgrim, was the first in his family to carry a Torch; his brother John took it through the city of Geelong the following morning 13. But the man who carried the flame from Lake Weeroona to its final sweep to the Town Hall was Jack Davey.

Davey, a talented runner who had represented Australia at the 1954 British Empire Games, had narrowly missed a place on the 1956 Olympic Team after damaging his knee in a car accident. A member of the YMCA Harriers, he had won a five-mile cross-country race in Bendigo and it encouraged him to take his pursuit more seriously. Three years later, he made the Victorian team and returned from a Melbourne meet with an Australian record. He was selected for the Empire Games after a win at the Australasian Championships in Adelaide and at the main event in Vancouver, finished fourth over six miles after leading to the five mile mark.