Musical about Gippsland's mysterious Ladies of the Swamp sells out in Tarwin Lower

The story of Margaret and Jeannie Clement, Gippsland’s so-called "Ladies Of The Swamp",  has fascinated locals for generations.

But maybe none more so than Tarwin Lower resident Patricia Freeman, who along with her five sisters has been touring a Lady of the Swamp Musical since 2018.

A quick recap - who were the Clement sisters?

Margaret and Jeannie Clement bought Tullaree, a 1,016-acre property in Buffalo (33 kilometres south of Leongatha) in 1907.

• Due to a large family inheritance, the sisters lived in style and travelled the world often, according to newspaper articles at the time.

• But over the years they were swindled, robbed, and taken advantage of by various employees and by the 1920s, debts had piled up and they were forced to mortgage the property.

With no money to pay employees, the swamp slowly reclaimed the Tullaree estate.

Tough life: According to one newspaper report, the women lived without running water, electricity or sewerage. There was no wood to light a fire, and they lived on cold, tinned baked beans and bread.

• Jeannie Clement, 72, died at the Tullaree homestead in 1950 of natural causes. It was the middle of a freezing winter and eight men were tasked with retrieving her body.

• In 1952 Margaret vanished. The day after her disappearance at least 100 people were searching for her. It was feared that she had fallen and drowned while wading through the swampy marshes, but the searchers failed to find any trace of her.

“For weeks police and neighbours searched the swamps round the homestead in search of her body. It was never found,” reads a newspaper report in the Argus.

Enter: The Lady of the Swamp Musical

The story has become such a well-known tale across Gippsland that on Saturday night, Patricia Freeman and two of her sisters performed The Lady of the Swamp Musical to a sold out crowd at Mechanic's Institute Memorial Hall in Tarwin Lower.

• Freeman, who created and wrote the musical for her sisters to perform, told the Monitor: “People go home singing the songs, it's amazing.”

Freeman and her five sisters are no strangers to live performances, working as professional singers in the 70s and performing on multiple international and Australian tours.

“We used to do Ernie Sigley, Mike Walsh, Issi Dye and the Penthouse Club every month, and then we went into original material. I much preferred that than all that show-bizz tarty stuff.”

Freeman and her sisters also performed on Countdown twice and featured on Rage for about three years.

A swampy story

Freeman discovered the story of Margaret and Jeannie Clement after she bought her land in Tarwin Lower in 1992.

“I went into the little general store in Tarwin and I bought the very last copy of a book called The Lady of the Swamp by Richard Shears.”

Freeman said she was attracted to the story because it was about sisterhood.

“I come from a big sister family. I didn't know it at the time, but I think that's what really pulled me in. It’s a female story and it’s about the alienation of rights, I don’t think they would’ve been robbed if they were men.”

They first performed the show at St Kilda Writer’s Week in October 2018 and received 4.5 stars for their act.

Sisters stick together

The show kicks off with “The Sisters Who Were Wronged”, which is a three part acapella harmony, then goes into the Irish classical sounding “Tullaree”, before a blues tune called “Easy Pickings”.

Freeman always performs the show with at least two of her sisters. 

They’ll be performing in Queenscliff in July and are looking at some Gippsland venues to host the musical in October or November.