A Buffalo policeman tried to persuade Margaret to leave Tullaree after Jeanne’s death but the old lady refused.
“A person has but one life and I am living and enjoying mine,’ she reportedly said. “It is the way I want to live. Whether other people agree with it or not doesn’t matter.’
Ms Clement continued to live alone in the decaying home without gas, electricity or even proper tank water.
When her sister died, neighbour Esme Livingstone befriended the eccentric woman.
Her husband was Stanley Livingstone, a former Footscray and Melbourne footballer.
Esme and Ms Clement would visit together and take shopping trips. Ms Clement even stayed overnight with the Livingstones.
Esme and Stanley Livingstone.
In a will made in 1925, Ms Clement had bequeathed Tullaree to her nephew Clement Carnaghan and three nieces.
It was not long before Ms Clement had disinherited her nephew.
And, in a move which shocked Ms Clement’s family, Mr Livingstone took over the mortgage on Tullaree in 1951 for $25,000 and convinced the ageing woman to waive the caveat for $6000.
In exchange, he was to build her a small cottage on the property.
The cottage was being built when Ms Clement, 71, disappeared during a particularly wet and wild period. She was last seen alive on May 21, 1952 — a week after her dog had been found with its throat slit.
In the days after the disappearance, Mr Carnaghan told The Herald he believed his aunt had been murdered. The Livingstones similarly told The Sun that they believed their neighbour had been killed or was being held captive.
Her walking stick was found at the dilapidated mansion and her bed had not been slept in.
Police, volunteers and blacktrackers searched through waist-high swamp-water looking for Ms Clement.
They found nothing and the speculation continued.
Searchers faced an uphill battle trying to find clues in the difficult conditions at Tullaree. Picture: The Sun, May 27, 1952.
There were stories that stolen gold buried on the property before Ms Clement bought it was behind her disappearance.
Mr Carnaghan went to court to contest his aunt’s will, claiming that she was not of a sound mental state and was under undue from the Livingstones. The claim was rejected.
Then in 1978 skeletal remains were discovered 4km from Tullaree at Venus Bay.
Eight months later, a couple found a 1940s-style handbag, a decaying lace shawl and coins predating Ms Clement’s disappearance.
A coronial inquiry was announced.
Det-Sen-Sgt Bill Townsend, who headed the investigation from 1978, told former Herald Sun reporter Russell Robinson in 2007 that he believed Mr Livingstone, who raised the alarm about the missing pauper, murdered Margaret Clement in a fit of rage. Mr Livingstone was renowned for his feats of strength.
“He had everything to gain from her being off the scene. He wanted her house,” Sen-Sgt Townsend said.
“Just look at the type of man he was — rough and very violent.”
Four people who came forward independently and told of separate conversations with Esme Livingstone in which she told of her suspicion that her husband had killed Margaret Clement.
In a statement to coroner Kevin Mason, Yarra Glen woman Jean Sharp said she had become friends with Mrs Livingstone in 1971.
“One day Esme came to see me. I could see she had been drinking, and she said something similar to: `Stan’s going to get rid of me and I don’t know what to do’,” Ms Sharp said.
“She said that at Tullaree, Stan used to leave her and sleep with the old lady and this had upset Esme greatly.
“She said that Stan had been standing over the old lady, until she would sign some document.
“Esme said she finally signed under threats of being shot, and then suddenly disappeared.
“Esme said Stan paid two men from Melbourne the sum of $1000 to get rid of her body. She did not indicate how Margaret Clement was actually killed, but it seemed to point at Stan, having got the property, now wanted her out of the way.”
Mrs Sharp said Mr Livingstone was prone to violent outbursts and “would not hesitate in beating Esme”.
“I have seen him holding her arm up her back and pulling her hair.
“Another time I saw him holding her on the floor by his foot on her head.”
Esme Livingstone told the coroner she could not recall discussing her husband’s violence with any of the witnesses.
Under oath, Stanley Livingstone admitted having “slapped” his wife, but denied killing Ms Clement.
Coroner Mr Mason was not convinced by the Livingstones.
``I think they were, in their answers, in a number of ways, far from frank with the court,” Mr Mason said, according to Shears.
Reservist Les Vick holds the bones found at Tarwin Lower, the bones were believed to belong to Margaret Clement.
But expert opinion was divided on the bones.
Dental forensic scientist Gerald Dalitz believed they were from an elderly Aboriginal woman.
Dr Dalitz has since passed away but University of Melbourne chair of forensic odontology professor John Clement said he certain he was correct.
Professor Clement said Dr Dalitz had shown him photos of the bones.
“The photos he showed me were clearly someone who had enormous amounts of tooth wear that you never see in a European person,” Prof Clement said.
“I have looked at a lot of bones and Gerry was right in my opinion.”
He said the person had died before European settlement.
“(The bones belonged to) someone who had lived in a stone age was and had stone age wear on their teeth.”
Professor John Clement with an image of the remains. Picture: David Geraghty
Mr Mason at inquest returned an open finding, unable to positively identify the bones.
Mr Livingstone died a millionaire in 1993. He had drained the swamp at Tullaree and returned it to profitability, selling it for $250,000 in 1964 — 10 times what he paid for it. He went on to own most of Curtis Island, near Gladstone. He died of a heart attack.
His wife died a year after her husband.
And with them died possibly the last chance to solve the mystery of the Lady of the Swamp.
In the eyes of former Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner and ex-homicide squad head Paul Delianis, what happened to Ms Clement is no mystery.
During the inquest he said he strongly suggested that Mr Livingstone was behind Ms Clement’s disappearance.
“I’m quite convinced that he was the culprit. He had the motive to do it — he wanted to take over the property. There was a lot of argument and legal cases going on involving Ms Clement,” Mr Delianis said.
“We obviously didn’t have concrete evidence because we would have charged him.”
And, Mr Delianis claims, Ms Livingstone knew, but did not reveal the truth.
Stanley Livingstone