Jane Macmanamin

Jane Macmanamin ( 1833 – 4 February 1862) lived in Ireland until she migrated to South Australia in 1855. She lived the remainder of her life in South Australia. Newspaper reports of the time almost all spell her surname (incorrectly) as "Macmenimen".

Early life At the age of 22 Jane, together with her sister Margaret, 21, migrated to South Australia. They sailed to the colony aboard the ship Velocity, and the passenger lists for that voyage show that prior to migration they had been living in County Tyrone. Both were initially employed by Leonard Lovegrove of Poltalloch Station on the shore of Lake Alexandrina where Jane worked for over two years. She later worked for William Carter, who was both Postmaster and Ferry Keeper at Wellington, on the lower Murray. Jane clearly regarded Carter as a trusted confidant, and she left her savings in his keeping. All who knew her praised Jane's frugality, and when she left his employ Jane entrusted £50 and some of her possessions with Carter for safe keeping.

Disappearance By early 1862, Margaret Macmanamin was working at Guichen Bay, in the south-east of the colony, and Jane had, for about two years, been working for Malachy Martin and his wife, Catherine, at the Traveller’s Rest at Salt Creek. This was a wayside inn on the main route to the South East of the Colony, about 66 miles (106 km) from Wellington, and about 52 miles (84 km) from the little settlement at Maria Creek which later grew into the town of Kingston. Jane's wage was eleven shillings per week, but food and accommodation were also provided. She therefore had little need for cash, and so rarely drew on the amount her employer owed her. At the inquest into her death Leonard Lovegrove testified that in December 1861 she had told him that Martin owed her nearly two years' wages — about £55. Lance Corporal William Rollison from the Wellington police station investigated the disappearance, and by late May went as far as placing an undercover police trooper at the Traveller’s Rest.

Murder On 29 May an Indigenous man, "Micky", told William Allen of Woods Wells (11 miles — about 18 kilometres — north of Salt Creek) that another, Itawanie, had found Jane's body hidden and partially buried in a wombat hole about half a mile (about 800 meters) north of Martin's house. Allen telegraphed the police at Strathalbyn, Rollison subsequently began a long and very thorough investigation into the murder, and it is largely through his reports to Police Headquarters that so much detail is known about the case. The inquest found that Malachy Martin should be tried for wilful murder.

Martin's trial date was set for 20 August 1862 and witnesses were subpoenaed.

William Wilsen One of the witnesses was a carpenter named William Wilsen. Apart from Jane and Martin, Wilsen had been the only person staying at the Traveller’s Rest at the time of Jane's disappearance, Martin's wife and children being away at the time. He was arrested as an accessory to the crime, the trial was postponed, and Wilsen was taken to Adelaide to stand trial with Martin on 2 and 3 December 1862. Of course Martin cannot be regarded as a reliable witness either, but his claim does suggest the possibility that Jane was making plans to leave well before Wilsen's alleged proposal. A much more reliable witness, William Carter, said that not long before her death Jane had told him her savings in the hands of Martin amounted to £70, and that she was considering taking all her savings and returning to Ireland. His remains were buried within the gaol. Wilsen was found guilty as an accessory after the fact and sentenced to four years hard labour. The newspaper reports indicate that Martin made only one statement from the gallows: he denied that Wilsen ever saw Jane's body at Salt Creek.