THE LADY OF THE SWAMP

GRAHAM SEAL SHEDS LIGHT ON AN OLD MYSTERY IN HIS NEW BOOK

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Margaret Clement's disappearance was described by the Melbourne coroner in May 1952 as "one of the great unsolved mysteries". The coroner was speaking more than 40 years after the event, and the case remains as baffling as ever today.

Margaret was born into a wealthy family in 1881. The Clements were part of Melbourne society, travelling widely and enjoying a leisured lifestyle. With her sister, Jeanie - sometimes "Jenny" - Margaret purchased Tullaree, a Gippsland property at Tarwin Lower, Victoria, in 1907. Their purchase of the property was assisted by their brother, Peter. When he married and moved away in 1912, Margaret and Jeanie were left to run the station together.

It did not go well. Within 10 years, the sisters found themselves in difficult financial circumstances. It seems that poor management, an inability to live within their depleted means and a series of expensive legal cases led to Tullaree being heavily mortgaged, and they nearly lost it altogether. The property was surrounded by what was then known as Tullaree Swamp, but “drains silted, floodwaters backed up and spread over the pastures” and the area became “nothing but a desolate swamp haven for wildfowl, deer – and the two recluse sisters, living on their own in a world of memories”.

The two women were supported by relations and, as they aged, became increasingly isolated and eccentric. When Jeanie died in 1950, responders had to wade through the swamp waters to collect her body and take it for burial in the family vault. Margaret was left to carry on alone as best she could, but she put a brave face on her situation: