Wise words Rutan. The myth was probably perpetuated when people see the size of the bolts holding the wings on.
The C210 is not a docile beast. I remember after 50 hours on type thinking I was flying it well. Then after 500 hours on type realising how rough I was at 50. It's not hard to pole around the sky, but it's not easy to nail your desired airspeed to the knot. Which is probably why some operators demand more than bare CPL / 200 hours before flying a C210. On the surface it's an overgrown 172, but comes with some gotchas. (No inference here intended wrt the experience/ability of the pilot in this accident).
By a tragic coincidence (if media reports are true) the crash in Albany same on the same day is also being reported in ABC as a C210 and its wreckage is spread over several hectares.
In my my time belting around the NT and Arnhem Land in a 210, I usually stayed low late in the day in the buildup. Except for the escarpment there's not much to hit and except in really monsoonal trough times, the clouds are not normally on the ground. If they are, then you don't want to be anywhere near it anyway down low or up high.
Don't get suckered into the "Territory VFR" normalisation of deviance. A subject for another thread....