Malachy Martin—born around 1831 in Ireland to Michael and Mary Martin—sailed to South Australia with his folks in March 1837. He grew up near Willunga and, by age 13, was already in trouble: charged with pilfering a ribbon and coin from a post office, though he was acquitted. Tragedy struck six days later—his mother drowned in a farm pond, an event ruled suicide during temporary insanity, and she was heavily pregnant.

As a young man, Malachy worked as a mail coach driver for his father between Adelaide and Kingston SE / Naracoorte, the main route to Melbourne. He settled at the Traveller’s Rest inn in Salt Creek, befriended William Robinson, and allegedly had an affair with Robinson’s wife Catherine. In June 1856, William's body was found with his throat cut; suspicion drifted toward Martin—but no charges followed. Martin fled to Sydney briefly, then returned and married Catherine in June 1858.

Over the next few years, whispers spread—travelers vanished around 1859, and an Aboriginal teen was allegedly killed and hidden in a water hole, weighted down in a bag; Martin lurked centrally in all those rumors.

In early February 1862, Jane Macmanamin, an Irish-born domestic servant, vanished from the Traveller’s Rest inn at Salt Creek, where she had worked faithfully for nearly two years under Catherine Martin and her husband, Malachy Martin. Jane had consistently written to her sister, Margaret, a loyal correspondent in Wellington. By April, Margaret hadn't heard a word from her, despite Jane’s known habit of regular communication—so she grew uneasy and penned a letter to the police in Adelaide expressing her concern.

Lance Corporal William Rollison, stationed at Wellington, took up the case. He even placed an undercover trooper at the inn to observe any odd behavior—a sign the police suspected foul play early on.

On 29 May 1862, an Aboriginal man known as “Micky”, while searching for an escaped prisoner, noticed a cluster of crows congregating around a wombat hole north of Malachy Martin’s house. Curious, he dug—only to find a piece of dress material stuck to the digging stick. He returned for help and, with another man, led officers to the hole, where Jane’s body was uncovered—wrapped in flour bags and half-buried with subtle cruelty.

Her remains were taken to Woods Wells for an inquest on 2 June. The coroner’s findings were bleak and specific: Dr. Gosse, summoned from Adelaide, determined Jane had died by strangulation, dismissing any theory that she had walked off on impulse. Interestingly, Martin’s home had also been searched—investigators recovered several of Jane’s personal items, items she surely would’ve taken if she’d intended to leave voluntarily.

The trial date was set for 20 August 1862, and preparations were made: witnesses subpoenaed, courtroom drama building.

One key figure in the trial was William Wilsen, a carpenter who had been staying at the inn at the time of Jane’s disappearance. Wilsen testified that Martin sent him away on a task at the exact time Jane went missing. Later, while drunk on the way to testifying, Wilsen revealed he had seen Jane’s corpse at the inn—raising suspicion about both himself and Martin. Wilsen even claimed he had proposed to Jane on 3 February 1862, and that she accepted—but kept it secret except from Martin, implying jealousy or fear of unpaid debts as motive. Martin, meanwhile, claimed Jane had simply promised not to leave while his wife was away.

Another dramatic detail: after the inquest, Wilsen offered to help search Martin’s property for any remaining items of Jane’s that Martin might have hidden or destroyed. In one search they even recovered Jane’s cloth boot and stays from another wombat hole.

Neither Martin nor Wilsen took the stand in their defense. The court found Martin guilty of wilful murder; he was sentenced to death. Wilsen, judged guilty of being an accessory after the fact, received four years of hard labor and was deported to Tasmania to serve it out.

On the somber night of 24 December 1862, Martin climbed the gallows at Adelaide Gaol and was executed by hanging. From the scaffold, he uttered a final, chilling denial: that Wilsen had never seen Jane’s body at Salt Creek. He was buried inside the gaol walls. Meanwhile, Jane’s remains were reburied at Woods Wells.