Wonnangatta Murders: Murders of Jim Barclay and John Bamford

Government Gazette page 6

On December 14, 1917, James "Jim" Barclay hired a cook named John Bamford worked for the Wonnangatta Station he managed in a secluded valley in the Victorian Alps in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The two workers were last seen when they left Talbotville on December 21, 1917, after voting. They then returned to the Wonnangatta Station. 

On Jan. 22, 1918, Harry Smith, a good friend, and stepson of the original owner of Wonnangatta Station went to the station to drop off mail. He found that Jim and John were not there. Their bedroom doors were locked and "Home Tonight" was written on the kitchen door in chalk. 

Harry stayed for two nights and they never arrived. He left on the 24th thinking they were probably doing something. When he arrived back on Feb. 14th and the mail was still untouched and the chalk on the door was still there. The dog that Jim owned looked bad as he had been starved. The next day he arranged for a telegram to be sent to Arthur Philips the current owner.

They searched for the two lasting several days. They eventually found Jim's body in a shallow grave near Conglomerate Creek around 420 paces from the station. He had been dead for several weeks and it was found he was shot in the back possibly with his own shotgun. Food in the homestead was found to be covered in strychnine, but neither one (Johns body hadn't been found yet) was found to have been poisoned. 

Police initially thought John had killed Jim and ran off. John was known to have had a short temper. In November though they found John's body 20 miles away from the Station buried under some logs near Howitt Plains Hut on Mount Howitt. It was revealed he had been shot in the head. 

It's unknown what had happened to the two or even the motive as some of Jim's personal items had been stolen(including a handgun he recently purchased), but other valuable items were left behind. If Jim and John were killed by the same person or person's why did they take John so far away to be killed and Jim so close to the Station? Or did the murders start at the Howitt Plains Hut while they stayed there to fix some fencing? 

Some assume that John had killed Jim and Jim's friend killed him in retaliation. But there's no proof in this and why would they allow it to take so long for them to be rediscovered. Jim also wrote to a friend that he was in fear of his life of "three blokes". He had bought a handgun to protect himself. The crops he planned in mid-Jan. Were cut when Harry arrived on Jan 22nd and it's believed he may have been killed around that time. 

No one will really happen that night.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The Line Up

Harry's Hut

ABC