35

The Massacre at Hope Forest

With seven children ranging in age from four to 19, the Bartholomew family lived a modest existence at their somewhat decrepit farmhouse at Hope Forest, south of Adelaide, in the early 1970s. A labourer employed by a firm specialising in earth moving, 40-year-old Clifford Cecil Bartholomew was forced to keep a close eye on his family’s meagre finances, and his wife Heather helped out in the local dairy when she could in order to bring in a few extra dollars to help them get by. Though the region was quiet, the Bartholomews preferred it to the relative hustle and bustle of Adelaide, and they made the most of what they had.

It was early in 1971 that the family took in a boarder, a Vietnam veteran in his early 20s who went by the name of Max. A short time later, over the Easter holiday break, Heather Bartholomew announced that she would journey to Sydney in order to visit her younger sister Winnis Keane. Keane was a resident at the married quarters at Holdsworthy army base outside of Sydney, New South Wales. Because the younger sibling’s husband was currently away on training, and Keane herself worked during the day, Max went along to keep Heather company. The situation had the added benefit that the veteran could be reunited with some of his old friends from the army.

Clifford Bartholomew stayed at home to care for the children while his wife and the boarder set off on Easter Monday on a coach bus for the long trip to Sydney. Even though the plan was only to be away for three weeks, Heather phoned Clifford a few times from Sydney, as well as penning correspondence to the children. But a short time before the mother and Max were due to make the trip home again, Heather phoned Clifford to say the pair would be delayed for a week as a result of a problem with their return-coach booking.

Wanting to surprise his stranded wife, Clifford spent his recently acquired income tax refund on purchasing a Holden ute, which he drove all the way to Sydney, meeting Heather and Max at the coach station to a decidedly chilly response. Heather protested about the run-down state of the early-model vehicle he had bought to chariot them home, and she seemed to sit close to the Vietnam veteran as the threesome made the arduous trip back to Hope Forest.

While they clicked over the distance slowly but surely, Heather told Clifford about the entertaining time she had spent with Max in the big city. Not much of a drinker, the mother told the story of getting drunk on rum mixed with Coca-Cola. She got so drunk, she said, that she had to be put to bed. Clifford could not have been comfortable listening to such a tale coming from his own wife’s mouth. He wondered if she was telling the whole story.

When they finally made it back home, Clifford took note that Heather greeted their children with far more affection than she had afforded him.

Indeed, her whole attitude towards him had changed, with Clifford even going as far as to note in his diary that their lovemaking that evening was not as romantic as it had been in the past. In contrast, the mother of seven was a ball of energy and laughter when she was around their boarder, Max, while she seemed barely interested when conversing with Clifford. But when the patriarch of the family questioned his wife about her demeanour and change of attitude towards him, she told him nothing was wrong and that he must just be imagining things. Clifford wasn’t placated, but he seemed to let the matter slide.

Meanwhile, things went from bad to worse for the large family, with ongoing heavy rain meaning that Clifford was stood down from his job until things cleared up in the summer. As his long-service payment started to dry up while the rains continued to pour down, Clifford grew despondent. He knew the money his firm had sorted him out with could not last forever. He also sensed that his wife was growing continuously closer to their younger boarder. Clifford even confided to his diary that he was sure the pair were engaging in sexual relations.

In an effort to ease the pressure on their family life, Clifford announced that he would take a break by himself at Port Lincoln for a couple of weeks. Heather told him to take as long as he wanted. Shortly before he went off alone he walked into his house to hear the unmistakable sound of his wife’s laughter. Heading into the loungeroom, he found Max on the floor with Heather sitting over him giggling. The best excuse May could muster up was that he was only ‘tickling her’. Clifford was infuriated but decided to take a laid-back approach to the situation. He called Max outside and told the boarder to ‘cut it out’.

Eager to regain his wife’s affection, the cuckolded Clifford spent more of his long-service payment on buying her a fancy watch. He also made an effort to be more helpful in the household duties, going as far as serving her breakfast in bed. Nothing, however, seemed to stir Heather beyond indifference to her husband.

Clifford’s time in Port Lincoln only served to make him more melancholy. He knew in his heart that he wanted his wife back, with things the way they were between them when they were first married, but he was becoming increasingly convinced her affections now lay with the younger army veteran and boarder. Clifford wrote a letter to his wife revealing his feelings and continuing devotion for her. The reply was short, emotionless and to the point, with Heather signing off, ‘Regards…’

Things were now on a fast downward spiral for Clifford. Returning to Hope Forest, an intense argument saw him threaten to kill himself and his children with a gun. Heather told Clifford she didn’t care what he did. She then decided to return to visit her sister in Sydney. Despite being desperately low on funds, Clifford gave his wife the money she needed to catch a plane northeast alone. But it wasn’t long before he intercepted a letter sent from Heather to Max. Clifford read the contents and his heart broke – the letter was full of affection from his wife to his boarder. Clifford was crushed.

Not knowing what else to do, he spoke to Max about the letter. The boarder realised matters were coming to a head, so he packed his suitcase and left the Bartholomew residence as fast as he could. Clifford, meanwhile, drove up to Sydney, stopping only for petrol when necessary. He wanted to find out from Heather once and for all what was going on between her and Max. When he arrived at the army base where she was staying with her sister, Heather was fast to explain that the whole letter was just a joke conjured up by the sisters while drinking. For whatever reason, Clifford seemed to accept the flimsy excuse, but the drive back to Hope Forest was even more icy than the previous one. The married couple barely spoke through the whole trip.

Once back at home, and with their boarder seemingly out of the picture, the difficulties between Clifford and Heather became more obvious, with Clifford openly asking if Heather had been unfaithful to him with Max. Heather was staunch in her denial, and before long her sister Winnis arrived to live with the couple. Having separated from her army husband, Winnis now had a new boyfriend in tow, as well as her two-year-old son. Clifford would go on to write in his diary of the pain it caused him to watch Winnis and her younger lover act playfully towards each other, gently touching each other with fondness in public when his own wife would not let him lay so much as a finger upon her.

The situation bubbled until that August when a fierce argument between the married couple saw Clifford vacate the family home and move into his stepmother’s house in the town of Meadows, around 15 kilometres away from Hope Forest. The parting was cold, with Heather offering respect to the father of her children, but adding that she had lost all physical affection for him. Clifford was gutted, but at least Heather invited him to spend Father’s Day with the family.

Early the next month, on 5 September 1971, Clifford arrived back at the house in his battered ute. He had come prepared, with lollies and soft-drink treats for the children, as well as a .22 calibre rifle, a gift for his eldest son, 19-year-old Neville.

In addition to the sweets and firearm, Clifford had brought along a bottle of rum for Heather and her sister to share, as well as beer for himself. But when he arrived only Neville was at the Hope Forest home – the women had taken the other children to visit friends. The situation angered Clifford, who saw it as yet another slight against him by a wife who clearly no longer loved him. But that was not the last blow for Clifford that Father’s Day. Neville soon admitted that Heather was moving to Adelaide with all the children. She intended to work as a waitress and live with Max. Clifford could not believe his ears and waves of anger rushed through his body.

He was still stewing when Heather, her sister and the children finally arrived back home. Only his youngest daughter, four-year-old Sarah-Jane, showed any affection for him, running into his arms for a hug. Clifford was incensed. After dinner he settled down to watch TV with Neville to drink the beer he had brought. He then visited his wife in her bedroom, where he begged her to reconsider the move. Heather told him it was all over. They would never get back together. Clifford could visit his children in the state’s capital, she added, but he was under no circumstances to ‘interfere’ in her ‘private life’.

Clifford was crushed. Shell-shocked, he made the drive back to Meadows but could not fall asleep that evening. His anger at the mother of his children grew. Even worse was the thought that he was being replaced by the man he had taken in as a boarder. Clifford decided he couldn’t stand for these actions. At 12.30am, Clifford decided he would kill his wife. In the ute he still had the rifle he had bought for Neville. It would be the perfect weapon, he reckoned.

A half hour-later he arrived at Hope Forest, where he loaded up the gun and located a rubber mallet and gloves in the shed. Sneaking into his old marital bedroom, he found Heather asleep with two of his children. Sarah-Jane was snoozing in a nearby cot. Clifford shone a torch in his wife’s face, then brought the rubber mallet swinging down upon her head as she woke up screaming for her sister Winnis to help her. Clifford struck her once again. He would later write in his diary about things reaching a ‘dead quiet’. He suddenly found himself alone in the kitchen, wondering what he was doing with a rifle in his hands. He poured a cup of coffee and took some painkillers before returning to check on his wife and children. The man had murdered his entire family.

He phoned his stepmother explaining that he intended to kill himself. When the police arrived at the tragic scene, they found Clifford alone and drunk in the kitchen. He had shot his seven children and wife to death, as well as Winnis Keane and her young son Daniel. He would later write in his diary that he ‘couldn’t stop himself’ and that his ‘mind was in a state of madness’ when he embarked on his killing spree.

Clifford Bartholomew pleaded guilty to all charges when he appeared in Adelaide’s Supreme Court in front of Justice Roma Mitchell, who sentenced him to death. That sentence was later commuted to hard labour for life, and Clifford was released on parole on 10 December 1979. The decision caused much public consternation but Clifford still insisted that he had only intended on harming his wife. He had been considered a model prisoner during his time as an inmate.