Sundown Murders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sundown Murders refer to the murder of Sally (Thyra) Bowman (43), her daughter Wendy Bowman (14), and family friend Thomas Whelan (22) on Sundown Station in northern South Australia in December 1957. The search for their killer was one of the biggest manhunts in South Australian history.

The group was travelling from Glen Helen station, via Alice Springs, both in the Northern Territory, to Adelaide in South Australia by car. Two other party members, H.N. "Pete" Bowman, Sally's husband, and their other daughter Marion had travelled to Alice Springs and flown from there to Adelaide.

The three travelling by car never arrived in Adelaide. A huge ground search was launched, bosses and workers from nearby properties joining in. Eight days later the vehicle was spotted by an RAAF aircrew under a clump of trees at the deserted Sundown Station. Reaching the car some hours later, Aboriginal trackers found the bodies. Thomas Whelan and Sally Bowman had been shot; Wendy Bowman had been shot and beaten.

A 24-year-old carpenter, Raymond John Bailey, was subsequently arrested in Mount Isa in Queensland. He was tried, convicted and executed in Adelaide Gaol.

[edit] Press coverage

The media picked up on the crime immediately and it received nationwide coverage. The Adelaide Advertiser offered a reward of 500 pounds for information leading to the conviction of the murderer. (Both Sally Bowman's husband, Pete, and the victim Thomas Whelan had worked for the paper's affiliate radio station 5AD, the latter as a technician.) Tabloids and broadsheets alike ran daily reports; even the august Sydney Morning Herald had regular stories.