Call for a memorial at Glenelg’s Colley Reserve to remember lost and missing children

An online campaign is calling for a memorial in Glenelg for South Australia’s missing children, close to the site of the 1966 Beaumont children’s disappearance.

An online campaign for a memorial for SA’s lost and missing children — like Jane, Grant and Arnna Beaumont — is gaining momentum.

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An online campaign is calling for a memorial in Glenelg to “lost and missing children”, close to the site of the 1966 Beaumont children’s disappearance.

Queensland nurse and former Mitcham resident Rupert Godwin, 57, is behind the push for a monument in Colley Reserve, where Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont were last seen.

As a child in Adelaide at the time, he was moved by the Beaumont case — and by that of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon, who disappeared from Adelaide Oval in 1973.

“For people of that era, it changed their existence,” the former Blackwood High student said.

“As has been said many times, there was a real loss of innocence in Adelaide during that time — those abductions changed forever how parents looked after their children.”

Mr Godwin, a father of three, has set up a Facebook page — It’s Time for a Memorial for Lost and Missing Children — and has been involved with the Leave A Light On group in preparing a proposal for Holdfast Bay Council.

Suzie Ratcliffe at Adelaide Oval in 2016 during her first visit to the site where her older sister, Joanne, was abducted from Adelaide Oval in 1973. Picture: Matt Turner.

Founded by Suzie Ratcliffe, the sister of Joanne, Leave a Light On supports and campaigns on behalf of people with missing family members or friends.

“The responses through the Facebook site have been overwhelmingly positive,” Mr Godwin said. “People have been saying that yes, we do need to have this sort of memorial.”

He said Suzie Ratcliffe had endorsed the idea, while saying family members preferred a “more general” memorial to be created, rather than one focusing on the high-profile cases.

“There have since been other disappearances of children and minors in South Australia,” the Facebook page reads.

“We are proposing a memorial to all those lost and still missing, both in South Australia, and nationally — a place where all visitors can come and lay symbols in memory of children lost and missing in Australia and beyond.”

Plans are still at a concept stage, but Mr Godwin’s vision is for a “significant” work, similar to the Children’s Peace Monument in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

“I’d like to see something warm and child-friendly — and having a light burning at all times as a key feature,” he said.

A Holdfast Bay Council spokesman said the memorial plan would be addressed.

“We’re aware Mr Godwin has indicated he’ll be putting a proposal to council,” he said. “We look forward to receiving it so it can be formally considered.”