Wonnangatta murders
Encyclopedia
The Wonnangatta murders occurred in late 1917 and in 1918, in the remote Wonnangatta Valley in East Gippsland
, Victoria
, Australia. The victims were Jim Barclay, the manager of Wonnangatta Station, and John Bamford, a cook and general hand. Barclay was a well-respected and much liked bushman, while Bamford was regarded with suspicion, and was known to be easily roused into violent tempers. The case has never been solved.
to the south-east, and the larger town of Mansfield
, about 80 miles (128.7 km) away over the Great Dividing Range
. The station had been established in the 1860s by a North American, Oliver Smith, who came across the valley while prospecting for gold. Smith’s common law wife Ellen or “Nancy” and her son Harry joined him and a homestead was built near the junction of the Wonnangatta River and Conglomerate Creek. Some time later Ellen died in childbirth, and soon after Smith sold out to William Bryce before eventually returning to the United States. The Bryce family then occupied the station while Ellen’s son Harry Smith moved down the valley and established himself at Eaglevale. The Bryce family remained a presence at Wonnangatta until Mrs Bryce died in 1914 at the age of 78. Ten Bryce children were brought up at Wonnangatta. As the children grew up they moved away and after Mrs Bryce’s death the property was sold to Mansfield owners in 1916, who installed a manager to run the station.
In December 1917 Barclay decided to employ a cook and station hand. English born John Bamford had lived at Black Snake Creek, 12 miles (19.3 km) from Talbotville, for twenty years. By 1917 he was aged in his late 50s and was variously described as “surly” having a “wicked temper” and being suspected of “having strangled his wife.” However, Keith Leydon and Michael Ray suggest there is no evidence of this. What Barclay thought of him is not known, but Talbotville storekeeper Albert Stout is known to have warned Barclay not to be “drawn into arguments with Bamford.” With the First World War raging and few men available for labour in the bush, it’s likely Barclay had few choices regarding employees. Alan King, a stockman, stayed at Wonnangatta in late December 1917 and recalled that Bamford seemed to be on good terms with Barclay.
Barclay and Bamford were last seen alive in late December 1917. They had been to Talbotville to cast their votes in the Reinforcement Referendum
, the second of the two conscription referendums in Australia during the First World War. It is not known how they voted, only that they agreed on the vote. They stayed the night with Albert Stout in Talbotville, before leaving for Wonnangatta at about 10 am on the morning of 21 December.
Harry Smith returned to the Wonnangatta homestead late in the afternoon on 14 February 1918. The homestead was still deserted and the mail still sitting where he had previously left it on the kitchen table. Smith was shocked to find Barclay’s favourite dog “Baron,” starving and neglected. He briefly searched the area again, stayed the night at the homestead and left for Dargo the next day to raise the alarm. There he telegraphed the owners, Arthur Phillips and Geoffrey Ritchie of Mansfield.
On 23 February 1918, Arthur Phillips and stockman Jack Jebb arrived at Eaglevale from Mansfield. With Harry Smith they returned to Wonnangatta. After a prolonged search they discovered a badly decomposed body near the Conglomerate Creek, about “420 paces” south east of the homestead. From the remaining pieces of clothing, a belt and a tobacco pouch, Smith identified it as Barclay. The body had been buried in a shallow grave, but dingo
s and foxes had apparently uncovered it. Newspaper reports that the skull was detached from the body at the time were incorrect, The skull was attached but protuding from the sand. The body was reburied. Phillips returned to Mansfield and contacted police. Shortly after, Detective Alex McKerral was dispatched from Melbourne, together with Constable Ryan, a native of the Mansfield district.
Several days later, the police party set out from Mansfield on the 80 miles (128.7 km) ride across the Great Dividing Range
to Wonnangatta, to collect Barclay’s remains and return them for a post-mortem at Mansfield hospital. Wallace Mortimer recounts the famous tale of the Police party finding strychnine
in the pepper container when they prepared a meal in the homestead on the night of their arrival.
Police found a shotgun in Barclay’s room that had recently been discharged although there were no bloodstains in the room. His bed was in “a state of disorder.” Bamford’s room was also in some disorder, and his horse, saddle and some belongings were missing.
On the return journey, on the Howitt high plains, the police party came across the horse that John Bamford had ridden to Talbotville for the vote, running wild without a saddle or bridle.
At the inquest that followed, McKerral said; “I am of the opinion that Barclay and Bamford had an argument over working matters and that Bamford loaded the gun and shot Barclay. He removed his working clothes, and dressed himself in Barclay’s suit, which is missing, saddled his horse and after dragging the deceased to the creek, rode the horse away.” The verdict of the inquest was murder by person or persons unknown, probably sometime between 21 December 1917 and 4 January 1918.
Jim Barclay’s body was handed to his extended family who lived on the Mornington Peninsula
, and he was buried at Tyabb Cemetery.
In early November 1918, Mounted Constable Hayes, together with local bushmen Harry Smith, William Hearne and Jim Fry, were searching the Mount Howitt
area when Hearne noticed a boot protruding from a pile of logs, near the Howitt Plains Hut. Under the pile they found Bamford’s body. As the route to Mansfield was still under snow, the body was taken 80 miles (128.7 km) to Dargo. The post-mortem found a bullet lodged in the skull, and again at the inquest, a verdict of murder by person or persons unknown was made. Bamford’s body was buried at Dargo cemetery.
Police suspicion naturally fell on Harry Smith, but there was no direct evidence. In addition, he would have had to carry out a complex deception about the discovery of Barclay’s body, and he was present at the discovery of Bamford's. It is also unlikely he would have knowingly allowed the body of his friend Jim Barclay to lie where the murderer left it and be disturbed by animals for three weeks. He was not charged. Writing in 1980, Harry Stephenson seems to favour the theory that Smith “might have had an answer to the mystery” and noted that older cattlemen were still reluctant to discuss the case.
A second theory was that the two men had been victims of stock thieves. Wallace Mortimer suggests Barclay and later Bamford were perhaps killed by horse thieves, and cites “old timers [who] are adamant in their belief such was the reason.” The Police report refutes this, pointing out that the only stock missing from Wonnangatta was Bamfords horse that had been recovered on Mount Howitt.
Wallace Mortimer dismissed any significance of the right shoe and a hat found placed near the crotch of Barclay's body. According to Mortimer, the idea that this implied a motive for the killing (Barclay, a ladies man, killed by a jealous husband) came from a novelist, "who had obviously done little or no research into the matter."
The Wonnangatta station homestead was accidentally burnt down by careless bushwalkers in 1957. Some stockyards and the old cemetery survive. Today the area is part of the Alpine National Park
, and is only accessible by 4 wheel drives, horse or on foot. The nearby mining towns of Talbotville and Grant have disappeared.
East Gippsland
East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114....
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia. The victims were Jim Barclay, the manager of Wonnangatta Station, and John Bamford, a cook and general hand. Barclay was a well-respected and much liked bushman, while Bamford was regarded with suspicion, and was known to be easily roused into violent tempers. The case has never been solved.
The Wonnangatta Station
The Wonnangatta Station was a cattle station located in a remote valley of the Wonnangatta River. According to writer Harry Stephenson, while it operated, the station was “the most isolated homestead in Victoria.” Access at the time of the murders was by foot or horse only. The nearest population centres were the goldfields towns of Talbotville, about 20 miles (32.2 km) away, Grant and DargoDargo, Victoria
Dargo is a town in Victoria, Australia, located east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington. At the 2006 census, Dargo and the surrounding area had a population of 144....
to the south-east, and the larger town of Mansfield
Mansfield, Victoria
Mansfield is a small town in the foothills of the Victorian part of the Australian Alps. It is approximately 180 km north-east of Melbourne...
, about 80 miles (128.7 km) away over the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
. The station had been established in the 1860s by a North American, Oliver Smith, who came across the valley while prospecting for gold. Smith’s common law wife Ellen or “Nancy” and her son Harry joined him and a homestead was built near the junction of the Wonnangatta River and Conglomerate Creek. Some time later Ellen died in childbirth, and soon after Smith sold out to William Bryce before eventually returning to the United States. The Bryce family then occupied the station while Ellen’s son Harry Smith moved down the valley and established himself at Eaglevale. The Bryce family remained a presence at Wonnangatta until Mrs Bryce died in 1914 at the age of 78. Ten Bryce children were brought up at Wonnangatta. As the children grew up they moved away and after Mrs Bryce’s death the property was sold to Mansfield owners in 1916, who installed a manager to run the station.
Barclay and Bamford
James ("Jim") Barclay was employed as the station manager in about 1916. He usually lived alone at the station. Aged in his late 40s, he had previously lost his wife to tuberculosis and left his newborn child James (also "Jim") to be cared for by relatives. Stephenson describes him as a “hardy and competent bushman…a contented man of simple tastes.” His nearest neighbour was Harry Smith, step son of the original owner, with whom he had a good relationship.In December 1917 Barclay decided to employ a cook and station hand. English born John Bamford had lived at Black Snake Creek, 12 miles (19.3 km) from Talbotville, for twenty years. By 1917 he was aged in his late 50s and was variously described as “surly” having a “wicked temper” and being suspected of “having strangled his wife.” However, Keith Leydon and Michael Ray suggest there is no evidence of this. What Barclay thought of him is not known, but Talbotville storekeeper Albert Stout is known to have warned Barclay not to be “drawn into arguments with Bamford.” With the First World War raging and few men available for labour in the bush, it’s likely Barclay had few choices regarding employees. Alan King, a stockman, stayed at Wonnangatta in late December 1917 and recalled that Bamford seemed to be on good terms with Barclay.
Barclay and Bamford were last seen alive in late December 1917. They had been to Talbotville to cast their votes in the Reinforcement Referendum
Conscription in Australia
Conscription in Australia, or mandatory military service also known as National Service, has a controversial history dating back to the first years of nationhood...
, the second of the two conscription referendums in Australia during the First World War. It is not known how they voted, only that they agreed on the vote. They stayed the night with Albert Stout in Talbotville, before leaving for Wonnangatta at about 10 am on the morning of 21 December.
The discovery of the murder of Barclay
On 22 January 1918, Harry Smith arrived at the station to deliver mail. He found Barclay and Bamford absent, although the words ‘Home tonight’ were chalked across the kitchen door. Smith stayed two nights, but no one came home, so he returned to Eaglevale on 24 January 1918.Harry Smith returned to the Wonnangatta homestead late in the afternoon on 14 February 1918. The homestead was still deserted and the mail still sitting where he had previously left it on the kitchen table. Smith was shocked to find Barclay’s favourite dog “Baron,” starving and neglected. He briefly searched the area again, stayed the night at the homestead and left for Dargo the next day to raise the alarm. There he telegraphed the owners, Arthur Phillips and Geoffrey Ritchie of Mansfield.
On 23 February 1918, Arthur Phillips and stockman Jack Jebb arrived at Eaglevale from Mansfield. With Harry Smith they returned to Wonnangatta. After a prolonged search they discovered a badly decomposed body near the Conglomerate Creek, about “420 paces” south east of the homestead. From the remaining pieces of clothing, a belt and a tobacco pouch, Smith identified it as Barclay. The body had been buried in a shallow grave, but dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
s and foxes had apparently uncovered it. Newspaper reports that the skull was detached from the body at the time were incorrect, The skull was attached but protuding from the sand. The body was reburied. Phillips returned to Mansfield and contacted police. Shortly after, Detective Alex McKerral was dispatched from Melbourne, together with Constable Ryan, a native of the Mansfield district.
Several days later, the police party set out from Mansfield on the 80 miles (128.7 km) ride across the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
to Wonnangatta, to collect Barclay’s remains and return them for a post-mortem at Mansfield hospital. Wallace Mortimer recounts the famous tale of the Police party finding strychnine
Strychnine
Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
in the pepper container when they prepared a meal in the homestead on the night of their arrival.
Police found a shotgun in Barclay’s room that had recently been discharged although there were no bloodstains in the room. His bed was in “a state of disorder.” Bamford’s room was also in some disorder, and his horse, saddle and some belongings were missing.
On the return journey, on the Howitt high plains, the police party came across the horse that John Bamford had ridden to Talbotville for the vote, running wild without a saddle or bridle.
The post-mortem
The post-mortem found that Barclay had been murdered by a shotgun blast in the back, and had been dead for several weeks by the time of discovery.At the inquest that followed, McKerral said; “I am of the opinion that Barclay and Bamford had an argument over working matters and that Bamford loaded the gun and shot Barclay. He removed his working clothes, and dressed himself in Barclay’s suit, which is missing, saddled his horse and after dragging the deceased to the creek, rode the horse away.” The verdict of the inquest was murder by person or persons unknown, probably sometime between 21 December 1917 and 4 January 1918.
Jim Barclay’s body was handed to his extended family who lived on the Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
, and he was buried at Tyabb Cemetery.
The discovery of Bamford’s body
Bamford was now the prime suspect, and a state wide search was begun. A reward of £200 was offered by the government for information regarding Barclay's murder. A man claiming to be Bamford, and claiming to have killed Barclay, was arrested near Yarram and charged. However, it was realised that this person was suffering from delusions. He was later identified as a vagrant known as James Baker.In early November 1918, Mounted Constable Hayes, together with local bushmen Harry Smith, William Hearne and Jim Fry, were searching the Mount Howitt
Mount Howitt
Mount Howitt is a mountain in Victoria, Australia, named for Alfred William Howitt. Located in the Wonangatta Moroka Unit of the Alpine National Park approximately 170 km Northeast of Melbourne....
area when Hearne noticed a boot protruding from a pile of logs, near the Howitt Plains Hut. Under the pile they found Bamford’s body. As the route to Mansfield was still under snow, the body was taken 80 miles (128.7 km) to Dargo. The post-mortem found a bullet lodged in the skull, and again at the inquest, a verdict of murder by person or persons unknown was made. Bamford’s body was buried at Dargo cemetery.
Theories
Up to this point it had been taken for granted that Barclay had been killed by Bamford. Speculation now followed the line “that Bamford shot Barclay and afterwards Bamford was shot by some friend of the manager, in revenge, in the good old wild west manner.”Police suspicion naturally fell on Harry Smith, but there was no direct evidence. In addition, he would have had to carry out a complex deception about the discovery of Barclay’s body, and he was present at the discovery of Bamford's. It is also unlikely he would have knowingly allowed the body of his friend Jim Barclay to lie where the murderer left it and be disturbed by animals for three weeks. He was not charged. Writing in 1980, Harry Stephenson seems to favour the theory that Smith “might have had an answer to the mystery” and noted that older cattlemen were still reluctant to discuss the case.
A second theory was that the two men had been victims of stock thieves. Wallace Mortimer suggests Barclay and later Bamford were perhaps killed by horse thieves, and cites “old timers [who] are adamant in their belief such was the reason.” The Police report refutes this, pointing out that the only stock missing from Wonnangatta was Bamfords horse that had been recovered on Mount Howitt.
Wallace Mortimer dismissed any significance of the right shoe and a hat found placed near the crotch of Barclay's body. According to Mortimer, the idea that this implied a motive for the killing (Barclay, a ladies man, killed by a jealous husband) came from a novelist, "who had obviously done little or no research into the matter."
Aftermath
After he finished his schooling, Jim Barclay's son Jim (junior) went to work for Harry Smith, for many years, at Eaglevale. Harry Smith died aged about 86 in 1945. Sometime in the late 1970s Mortimer interviewed Jim Barclay Junior for his history of Wonnangatta station. Barclay's enigmatic comment on the murders was; " It was all a long time ago and both the murderers are long since dead. I can't see that anything can be gained now, it's all best forgotten."The Wonnangatta station homestead was accidentally burnt down by careless bushwalkers in 1957. Some stockyards and the old cemetery survive. Today the area is part of the Alpine National Park
Alpine National Park
The Alpine National Park is a national park in Victoria , northeast of Melbourne. It covers much of the higher areas of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, including Victoria's highest point, Mount Bogong and the associated subalpine woodland and grassland of the Bogong High Plains...
, and is only accessible by 4 wheel drives, horse or on foot. The nearby mining towns of Talbotville and Grant have disappeared.