- 5 days ago
The Mysterious Case that happened at the remote Wonnangatta Cattle Station in the Victorian Alps and shocked Australia in the first part of the 20th Century
The Crime Reel Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@TheCrimeReel
Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon as well as leave a like and a comment for more videos every week!
Brief Case is a True Crime Channel focusing on old or lost cases that have been forgotten to history. If you have any recommendations for future cases that you would like to bring to light, feel free to reach out to me to: briefcaseuk@gmail.com
Music by CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZB4l43iTw&t=105s
Music by Myuu -https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji
Music by Kevin Macleod - https://incompetech.com
The Crime Reel Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@TheCrimeReel
Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon as well as leave a like and a comment for more videos every week!
Brief Case is a True Crime Channel focusing on old or lost cases that have been forgotten to history. If you have any recommendations for future cases that you would like to bring to light, feel free to reach out to me to: briefcaseuk@gmail.com
Music by CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZB4l43iTw&t=105s
Music by Myuu -https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji
Music by Kevin Macleod - https://incompetech.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:08Today's case is being narrated by the brilliant channel, The Crime Reel. So please sit back,
00:15as The Crime Reel takes us to early 20th century Australia.
00:22James Barclay, also known as Jim, was born on the 18th of February 1869,
00:29in Hastings in the state of Victoria in Australia. The town is situated on the
00:35Mornington Peninsula about 45 miles southeast of Melbourne. He was the fourth
00:41child of James and Mary Barclay who had settled in Hastings in 1860. Jim had an
00:48older brother named John, two older sisters and a younger sister named Molly.
00:54His father, James Barclay Senior, had come to Australia from Scotland. People had been
01:00emigrating to Australia from Scotland since the early 1800s. Many were highland and lowland farmers
01:08who took their skills and either set up their own farms or worked on large homesteads owned by other
01:14landowners. The number of people coming to Australia from Scotland increased further in the middle of
01:20the 19th century when gold was first discovered at Ophir in New South Wales and then at Ballarat
01:28and Bendigo Creek in Victoria. During this time an estimated 90,000 Scottish people arrived in Australia.
01:38James Barclay Senior was a religious gentleman. The majority of Scottish settlers were Presbyterian,
01:44although some were Roman Catholic. His faith however did occasionally bring him into conflict with
01:51his children, especially his youngest son Jim. Mr. James Barclay Senior also owned a fishing vessel
01:58named Hero and in the year 1880 he purchased land in Barclay Crescent in Hastings where he built a house
02:06which he named Heroville. It stood until 1996. Jim attended school in Hastings but often found himself
02:15in trouble. He would fight other boys and once was apprehended by the local constable as he was
02:21involved in a minor case of arson but he learned to read and write and in 1883 left school with
02:29a
02:29certificate of sufficient education. He then worked with his father until the beginning of 1886 when at
02:37the age of 23 he ventured to the gold fields in search of his fortune. For the next 10 years
02:44he
02:44resided predominantly around Mansfield which is a small town in the foothills of the Victorian Alps.
02:51Here he engaged in gold prospecting and various rural tasks. He was known to be a very competent
02:58sheep shearer and landowners considered him to be an extremely hard worker. Eventually he was able
03:04to lease his own land in the Hauqua Valley where he reared and traded cattle and gained a reputation
03:10as a skilled bushman. In 1910 however Jim Barclay's life took a turn when on the 23rd of December he
03:19married a young lady named Miss Lizzie Cantieni, a 19 year old who had previously been living on his
03:26neighbor's farm. A pleasant couple named Mr and Mrs Fry. The ceremony was a very small affair and was
03:33not attended by any of the Barclay family, but this may have been for the best as Lizzie was already
03:39with
03:39child, something that did not go unnoticed by those who did attend the wedding. Two months later on the 22nd
03:47of February 1911 she gave birth to a son who the couple named James, although he was known as
03:54Young Jim. Mr Jim Barclay was a very proud husband and father, but his happiness abruptly ended when Lizzie
04:02caught a form of tuberculosis and on the 18th of September 1911 she died. With no family nearby, Jim relied
04:13on the
04:13support and assistance of his friends in Mansfield. Eventually, Young Jim was sent to live with his
04:20Aunt Molly and her husband, Mr Jack Campbell. They lived about a hundred miles away in Vermont, which
04:28in 1911 was a small town just outside the city of Melbourne. A year later in 1912, Jim Barclay visited
04:37the Wonongatta Valley, where he became acquainted with the Bryce family who owned the Wonongatta cattle
04:43station, an outpost in the rugged wilderness which nestled deep within the scenic Victorian Alps.
04:51The cattle station was reported to be the most remote in the state, with the nearest population
04:56centres being the Goldfield towns of Talbotville, which was about 20 miles away, Grant and Argo to the
05:04south east, and the larger town of Mansfield, which was an 80 mile journey. The station had been
05:10established in the 1860s by a man named Oliver Smith, a North American who came across the valley
05:17whilst prospecting for gold. His common-law wife named Ellen, or Nancy as she was known, and her son
05:26Harry joined him, and a homestead was built near the junction of the Wonongatta River and Conglomerate
05:32Creek. Some time later, Ellen died in childbirth, and soon after Mr. Smith sold the cattle station
05:40to a Mr. William Bryce and then returned to the United States. The Bryce family then occupied the
05:47station whilst Ellen's son Harry Smith moved down the valley and established himself at the Eagle Vale
05:54cattle station. The Bryce family remained a present at Wonongatta until Mrs. Bryce died in 1914 at the
06:03age of 78 and after 10 Bryce children had been raised there. As the children grew up, they moved away
06:11and
06:11after Mrs. Bryce's death, the property was sold to Mr. Arthur Phillips and his partner who also owned the
06:18Glenroy station near Mansfield. Mr. Phillips had previously employed Jim Barkley and asked him if
06:25he would manage the Wonongatta station. Mr. Phillips knew that Jim was a hard worker and had a good
06:31knowledge of the area. He also trusted him and believed that not only did he possess the physical
06:37capability to undertake such a role, but the mental toughness to be able to live and work in such a
06:44remote location. In April 1915, Jim Barkley assumed his role as the manager of the Wonongatta cattle station.
06:55Like much of Australia, this area had many open spaces. A lot of places felt like you were in the
07:02middle of nowhere and in 1916 the remote cattle station in Wonongatta was one such place. Running it
07:10was a lonely existence, but Jim got on with his daily tasks and made sure that everything ran as
07:16well as could be expected. He was a hardy and competent bushman and had simple tastes. Since his
07:24wife had died and his son had been sent to live with his aunt, Jim had become a solitary character.
07:30He
07:30would often go days, even weeks without seeing anyone. His closest neighbour was Mr. Harry Smith,
07:37the stepson of the founder of the Wonongatta cattle station, but he lived some miles away.
07:44In December 1917, Jim decided to hire a cook and a station hand. However, this was during the First
07:52World War, which meant there were not too many able-bodied men available to work as most young
07:58men were fighting in the war. He did manage to find help, however, and hired an Englishman named
08:05John Bamford. Mr. Bamford was 61 years old, but unfortunately he was not a particularly pleasant
08:13character. He was known to be bad-tempered and many people believed that he had strangled his wife.
08:19However, there was no evidence to ever prove if this was true or not. Jim had been warned of John
08:26Bamford by the shopkeeper in Talbotville and had been told to be very wary of him. Jim ignored his advice.
08:33Not long after Mr. John Bamford had commenced his employment, a man who had visited the Wonongatta
08:41cattle station said that the pair seemed to be getting on well. On the 20th of December 1917,
08:49John Bamford accompanied Jim into the town of Talbotville to vote. The vote was to determine
08:55whether or not Australia should have a military draft. Harry Smith was also in town,
09:00so the two men decided to spend the night in Talbotville. The next morning they made the long
09:06trek back to the Wonongatta cattle station.
09:12A week later, on the 28th of December, the Gould brothers were passing near the station.
09:18When they were about five miles away, they heard two men and a dog in the distance. They assumed that
09:25this was John and Jim moving cattle. When they reached the station, no one was home, so they left
09:31a note saying that they had stopped by. About a month later, on the 22nd of January 1918, Harry Smith,
09:40Jim's neighbour, came to the station to deliver some mail. This was always collected from the
09:46Talbotville post office, so often weeks passed until someone came for it. When Harry arrived at the
09:52cattle station, there was no one about, but there was the words HOME TONIGHT written across the door
09:58in big chalk letters. Harry was familiar with the cattle station having been raised there and he
10:05always liked to visit. He decided to stay and wait for John and Jim to come back. He looked around
10:12and
10:12noticed that the bedroom door was locked and that the crops had been cut, but everything looked in
10:18order. However, after two days, he gave up waiting and left. Harry Smith visited the Wonongata cattle
10:27station again on the 14th of February. There was a strange, eerie silence. The chalk writing was still
10:34on the door. The mail that he had brought on his last trip was unopened and in the same spot
10:40where he
10:41had left it. He decided to investigate further. He noticed that John's horse was missing. Jim Barkley's
10:48dog was there, but was very hungry and looked neglected. He gave the dog food and water and then
10:55searched the station. But apart from the place seemingly deserted, there was no sign that anything
11:01bad had happened there. He stayed the night and then after looking outside for a while, began his travels
11:08home in the morning, taking the dog with him. As he was slowly making his way back to his cattle
11:15station,
11:16he saw a man named William Riggle, who was on his way to the small town of Drago. Harry asked
11:22him if
11:23he would send a telegram to the Wonongata cattle station owners, telling them that something was wrong.
11:29On the 23rd of February, one of the owners, Mr. Arthur Phillips arrived at the station, along with one of
11:37his stockmen named Jack Ajeb. They were joined by Harry Smith the following day. Together they searched more
11:45extensively and after two days they made a grim discovery. The badly decomposed body of Jim Barkley. It had been
11:53partially buried next to the creek. The body could be identified as Jim due to the clothing, belt and tobacco
12:01case. The three men reburied the body and then set out to notify the police. It was an 80-mile
12:09trek to
12:10Mansfield. A detective named Alex McCarroll was sent to Wonongata, along with a police constable named Ryan, who
12:18knew the area well as he had grown up nearby. They were to stay at the station and try to
12:24find out what
12:25had happened to Jim Barkley. They soon found Jim's shotgun. It was in the bedroom and it appeared to
12:32have been shot quite recently. There was also drag marks from the bedroom to the outside of the house.
12:38Jim's razor, handgun and good suit were missing and, in addition to John Bamford's horse, his saddle had
12:45also disappeared. Strangely, 19 check stubs had been removed from Jim Barkley's checkbook. Why would
12:52someone have done that? The body had to be transported back to Mansfield so a post-mortem could be conducted.
13:00As detective Alex McCarroll, police constable Ryan and Harry Smith made their way towards Mansfield,
13:06they came across John Bamford's horse running free and without its saddle.
13:12The post-mortem was conducted by a government pathologist named Dr C. H. Mollison. He concluded
13:19that the cause of death was a shot from a shotgun in the back of the head. It was also
13:24determined that
13:25the poor unfortunate man had been dead for several weeks before his body had been discovered.
13:31It was concluded that he had been murdered by person or persons unknown.
13:36As the police tried to resolve the case, James Barclay was buried on the 9th of March,
13:421918 in the Tyab Cemetery in Hastings.
13:47The police believed that Mr. James Jim Barclay had been murdered by John Bamford.
13:53Local people had never trusted John Bamford and a shopkeeper in Talbotville, a gentleman named Mr.
13:59Albert Stout told officers that he had warned Jim Barclay about John Bamford's aggressive nature
14:06and unruly reputation. The whole state soon knew about the crime and the police were put on alert
14:12to apprehend the suspect. The public's interest was aroused even further when a £200 reward was
14:20offered for information that could lead to the arrest of the suspect. It did not take long for
14:26officers to arrest a man near Yarham, who claimed to be John Bamford. Unfortunately, it turned out
14:32that he was just a delusional vagrant named James Baker who thought he would be rewarded with cash
14:38for confessing. On the 18th of November of 1918, Harry Smith, along with a police constable and two
14:46other men, were searching the Howitt Plains area, looking for the suspect. During their search,
14:52they found a boot sticking up out of the ground. They started to dig and found that the boot was
14:58attached to a body. The body was identified to be the missing John Bamford. There was snow on the
15:05ground, so instead of taking the body to Mansfield, they transported it to the town of Drago where a
15:11post-mortem was conducted. It was discovered that he, the deceased, had been shot in the head from a
15:18distance of five yards or more. Again, the verdict was that death had been caused by an unknown assailant.
15:26It was now nine months since the body of Jim Barclay had been discovered and the Victorian
15:31public thought that as the John Bamford had been found dead by a gunshot to the head,
15:37that he would no longer be a suspect in the case. However, this isn't what happened. In fact,
15:43the police still believed that the dead man was the person responsible for killing Jim Barclay.
15:48They speculated that he might have shot Jim and then someone seeking revenge for this action shot
15:54John Bamford. The police naturally suspected Harry Smith, however there was no direct evidence linking
16:01him to the crime. Moreover, Harry was present during the search and discovery of both bodies,
16:07and the police theorized that he would not have left his friend Jim Barclay's body to remain
16:13undisturbed for three weeks. Despite the suspicions of the police, Harry Smith was never charged with
16:20any wrongdoing. Of course, as no arrest was forthcoming, speculation about who committed the murders
16:27started to grow. Apparently, in late 1917, Jim had written to his brother telling him that he was being
16:34threatened and that he feared for his life. At the same time, he had also purchased a handgun,
16:41which he always kept with him. It was said that he would go to bed with his door locked and
16:46also
16:46two loaded guns by his side. There was a suggestion that John Bamford committed the act in a fit of
16:53anger
16:54during an argument, but later felt remorseful. According to this theory, he then went to Howitt Hut
17:01and took his own life. However, this theory seemed unlikely as it contradicts the generally accepted
17:08view of John's temperament. Additionally, there was no evidence of a revolver found near the hut
17:14where John Bamford's body was found. It would also have been physically impossible for John to bury
17:21himself. Plus, of course, the post-mortem concluded that John Bamford was shot from a distance of five yards
17:27or more. Another theory is that the two men had returned from working away from the station in
17:34January 1918 and came across stock thieves who were trying to steal their cattle. The stock thieves then
17:41killed both men. They then moved John's body so as to make it look like he had committed the crime.
17:48However, the police report dismisses this theory, highlighting that the only missing livestock from
17:54Wonungatta was John's horse, which was later found wandering about on Mount Howitt. One author has a
18:02very interesting theory and names the alleged killers as Jack and Sid Beveridge. They were well-known cattle
18:09thieves from the Buckland area. According to the author, Sid reportedly confessed to his neighbour about
18:16his involvement in the crime during his old age. Interestingly, local folklore in the Buckland area
18:23includes a tale of Jack Beveridge courting a woman named Dolly Eccleston for 40 years and visiting her
18:31every Sunday night dressed in Jim Barkley's best suit. Remarkably, this suit was marked as missing
18:38during the original inquest. Another idea proposed is that James Jim Barkley, driven by his ambition to
18:45match his successful brother, engaged in cattle theft to attain wealth. It is suggested that his relentless
18:52pursuit of financial gain led to a confrontation where he crossed paths with someone whose own
18:58work and integrity was affected by his actions, ultimately resulting in his murder. However,
19:05considering the high esteem in which James Barkley was held by Arthur Phillips and others, it appears
19:11unlikely that this variation, implicating him as a cattle thief, holds very much credibility. Some have
19:18suggested that Jim Barkley's murder was the result of a jealous husband's rage, fuelled by Jim's
19:24reputation as a ladies' man. However, this theory has been discredited by others, who consider it not
19:30possible due to the remoteness of the Wonongatta cattle station. However, a lady has been mentioned in
19:38this regard, named Mrs Annie Klingspawn, who lived in the small town of Merryjig in North East Victoria,
19:45between Mount Buller and Mansfield. It is suggested that the lady's husband, Mr Robert Klingspawn, along with
19:53his brother-in-law, Mr Jack Ware, were the ones responsible for the crime. Others say that it was not
20:00his infatuation
20:01of Mrs Annie Klingspawn, that led to his death, but instead it was due to certain indiscretions he had
20:08with Mr Robert Klingspawn's sister. Apparently, Jim Barkley had agreed to marry her, but reneged on his
20:14promise leading to his death. However, Mr Robert Klingspawn and Mr Jack Ware were two very well-respected
20:23gentlemen, which makes these theories seem somewhat unlikely. There are many theories into what happened to
20:30Mr James Jim Barkley and Mr John Bamford, but the murders remain unsolved to this day.
20:37After completing his education, Jim Barkley's son, Jim Jr, joined Harry Smith at the Eagle Vale
20:44cattle station, where he worked for many years. Harry Smith passed away at around the age of 86 in 1945.
20:53In the late 1970s, an author named Wallace Mortimer interviewed Jim Barkley Jr for his book on the
21:02history of Wanangata Station. When asked about the murders, Jim Barkley Jr responded enigmatically,
21:09stating that it was all in the past and both the murderers had long since died. He believed that
21:15nothing could be gained by dwelling on the events and that it was best to forget them.
21:20In 1957, the Wanangata cattle station was tragically consumed by fire due to the inadvertent actions of
21:29bushwalkers. While remnants of the stockyards and an old cemetery have managed to survive,
21:35the station's once thriving homestead now exists only in memories and historical records.
21:42Today, the area encompassing Wanangata Station has become part of the magnificent Alpine National Park,
21:50accessible solely by means of a four-wheel drive vehicle, dirt bike, horseback or by foot.
21:57The region remains an alluring destination for adventure seekers and nature enthusiasts.
22:04Visitors can immerse themselves in the breathtaking landscapes, taking in the rugged beauty of the
22:10Australian wilderness and with the knowledge that it is an area where two men were murdered,
22:15and for which the culprit or culprits were never apprehended. And to this day, the Wanangata cattle
22:21murders, as they have become known, remain unsolved.
22:29I would like to thank The Crime Reel for narrating today's video. The Crime Reel is a true crime channel
22:36that has some amazing content. It'd be really good if you check out his channel and I have left a
22:41link
22:41below. As usual, please leave any comments or feedback you may have and I hope to see you all again
22:48in the next briefcase.
Comments