Murder in the Silo

Murder in the Silo is a 1937 radio drama by Edmund Barclay. It was described as a psychological melodrama and was very popular at a time when Australian set radio dramas were relatively rare. Leslie Rees called it "one of the most effective of our shorter radio plays."

Barclay's script was published in a collection of one-act plays in 1937, Best Australian One-Act Plays.

The play was produced by BBC radio in 1938.

The play was produced again in Australia in 1939, 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1953. (It was usually presented on a double bill with another short play.)

Reception
The Bulletin called it "more than ordinarily good. It is a mystery-thriller, making the usual bald bid for the listener’s curiosity and subsequent undisguised attack on his feelings, but it also gives what appears to be an authentic glimpse of certain Australian types and an aspect of Australian rural life hitherto unportrayed."

Wireless Weekly called it "a well-constructed melodrama with an unusual setting."

The play's use of hearing the lead character's thoughts in the style of Eugene O'Neill was praised by Max Afford.

Premise
An old swagman explains why it is bad to ride in a wheat truck. A man operates the machines of a wheat- silo. A mate asks him for a job. The operator takes him up to the top and pushes him into the silo because of a woman. The narrator passes by and takes the dead man's swag. He meets the killer on a train. The sign of a man among the wheat and his victim’s swag, sends the murderer overboard with a hideous shriek.