{"id":870272,"date":"2026-08-27T13:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870272\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:12:18","slug":"jacobus-john-bakkum-who-went-missing-from-high-country-pub-remembered-as-community-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870272\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacobus ‘John’ Bakkum who went missing from High Country pub remembered as community leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

An elderly man who was missing for two days after failing to return from dinner at a High Country pub with his wife has died.<\/p>\n

Jacobus ‘John’ Bakkum, 85, died in a Melbourne hospital on Thursday, two days after he was found trapped in his car which had crashed down an embankment in Mitta Mitta, around 85 kilometres from his home.<\/p>\n

Mr Bakkum had been declared missing on Sunday night after he failed to return from the short drive from the hotel to his Harrietville home. He had been having a meal with his wife, Mary, who walked home as part of their regular routine.<\/p>\n

It is believed he drove the wrong way along the Great Alpine Road before his vehicle was eventually spotted off the Omeo Highway by a passer-by just after 11am on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mr Bakkum has been remembered as an integral part of the Harrietville and Alpine communities.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Bakkums have enjoyed a deep connection with the Harrietville community since moving to the region in the 1970s. (Supplied: Trevor Castricum)<\/p>\n

“Since 1971, when he came to Harrietville, (John) has always been involved in the community,” Mr Bakkum’s nephew, Trevor Castricum said.<\/p>\n

He held several positions in the town, including serving as the local postmaster and running the town’s general store for many years.<\/p>\n

He also helped establish a local building company that has constructed homes, chalets and other public buildings in Harrietville and throughout Victoria’s High Country.<\/p>\n

“He’s always been an active member, (or) the president, secretary of everything from the school committee, hall committee, historical committee,” Mr Castricum \u00a0said.<\/p>\n

“He’s been the captain of the fire brigade, anything and everything in town.”<\/p>\n

The family has thanked police, paramedics, CFA crews, friends, and family who assisted the search for Mr Bakkum.<\/p>\n

They have said he was much loved, near and far, and will be deeply missed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jacobus “John” Bakkum was recently recognised by the Alpine Shire for his community work. (Supplied: Bakkum Family)<\/p>\n

Investigation ongoing<\/p>\n

Victoria Police said a high angle rescue was initiated to recover the 85-year-old on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

He was then taken to hospital with what at the time were deemed non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

Police said the investigation into the circumstances of the crash is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Anyone who witnessed the accident or has any footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An elderly man who was missing for two days after failing to return from dinner at a High…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,10851,438687,438686,181930,438685,5585,37631,44,63158],"class_list":["post-870272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dead","tag-embankment","tag-harrietville","tag-high-country","tag-jacobus-bakkum","tag-john","tag-missing-man","tag-news","tag-pub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}