Vanishings haunt the Vic High Country: The infamous Wonnangatta Murders

Adventurous travellers, four-wheelers and campers heading to the High Country mountains may find a bit more than they bargained for.

This ‘Hidden Valley of the Alps’ is one of the most iconic destinations in the High Country, but it seems the mysteries that surround this verdant glen date back more than 100 years. Back in 1917-18, the infamous ‘Wonnangatta Murders’ took place. The story goes something like this ...

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In December 1917, Wonnangatta Station manager James Barclay hired John Bamford as a cook and odd-job man. Barclay was warned about Bamford, a wiry man with a violent temper who’d been suspected of strangling his wife.

Eight days later, the two men rode off to Talbotville to vote on whether conscription should be made mandatory to help the war effort (it was defeated). This was the last place and time the two were seen alive.

Around January 22, Barclay’s best friend Harry Smith (whose hut can still be seen at Eaglevale) took his mail to him to find the door closed and a note on the door, stating, ‘home tonight’.

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After a couple of nights camped there, Harry left, but after not hearing from his mate returned to the valley in the middle of February. The note was still on the door and Barclay’s dog was very hungry.

Returning with a couple of companions later that month, they stayed overnight and after a search they found Barclay’s body in Conglomerate Creek, badly decomposed and a severed head nearby.

Barclay had been shot in the back. The still-missing Bamford was suspected of the crime. A Melbourne detective was called in to investigate, but all he uncovered were unanswerable questions.

It wasn’t until the snows melted nine months later, in early November 1918, that Bamford’s body was found hidden under a pile of charred logs, 400m from Howitt Hut on the Howitt High Plains. He’d been shot with a single bullet to the head and is buried in an unmarked grave at Dargo. Neither murder has ever been solved.

Some say Bamford, in one of his angry moods, killed Barclay, and then a friend of Barclay’s killed Bamford. Harry Smith was a prime suspect of the latter murder, while others thought rustlers had killed them.Interestingly, Barclay had purchased a handgun just prior to his death and carried it loaded with him everywhere. So, maybe he was expecting trouble.

Maybe these latest disappearances will not be solved either. But perhaps a group of four-wheel drivers on a little used track will find something that will crack the cases wide open.

So as those Teddy Bears’ Picnic lyrics go: ‘If you go down in the woods today ... you’re sure of a big surprise.’