Search for missing Beaumont children called off after failure to find human remains

The excavation was the latest effort to find the remains of the Beaumont children after they disappeared on Australia Day nearly 60 years ago.

A last ditch search effort to find the missing Beaumont children has been called off after the seven-day excavation failed to uncover any human remains.

Since their disappearance on Australia Day in 1966 at Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, authorities have yet to recover the bodies of Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont, who were nine, seven and four at the time of their disappearance.

Independent South Australian MLC Frank Pangallo, who helped organise the privately-funded operation, confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the search had come to an end.

“The team involved in the search for the Beaumonts at the Castalloy site in North Plympton. Thank you all,” he shared in a social media post.

“Seven days of hope drew a blank but the saga doesn’t end here.”

The excavation was the latest effort to find the remains of the Beaumont children – Jane, Arnna and Grant – after they were last seen at Glenelg Beach in 1966. Picture: Supplied

Since last Saturday, excavators have trawled through the former Castalloy factory in Adelaide’s western suburb of North Plympton, with the government-owned plot set to be sold to developers.

The site once belonged to the late businessman Harry Phippes, who was considered to be a person-of-interest by police.

Previous excavations of the area in 2013 and 2018 revealed no breakthroughs, however Mr Pangallo has criticised the search undertaken by police.

The third search at the site of the former Adelaide factory did not uncover any human remains. Picture: NewsWire/ Tim Joy

Although the most recent search, which resulted in the removal of nearly 10,000 tones of soil, was unsuccessful, Mr Pangallo said the team “gave this one hell of a shot”.

“I think we can walk away satisfied we’re not going to find the remains here,” he told reporters.

He added that he also received “some significant information” from “extremely credible people,” which had been passed onto the South Australia’s Major Crime detectives.

“People all want to achieve one thing and that is to see the matter resolved and solved and the remains found,” he said.

“The thing is this story hasn’t ended here, there’s a chapter that’s been closed at the Castalloy site … however, it continues and it will continue as long as people show an active interest in trying to get the answer of what happened on January 26, 1966.”

Originally published as Search for missing Beaumont children called off after failure to find human remains