Stansbury residents support fresh search for Beaumont children as Castalloy dig concludes

Locals in the Yorke Peninsula town want to put rumours the Beaumont children are buried there to rest after a media personality announced he was willing to personality fund a dig.

As the search to find the remains of the three missing Beaumont children wraps up in North Plympton, attention has shifted to a sleepy, seaside town on the Yorke Peninsula.

The third dig at the former Castalloy factory, organised by Independent MP Frank Pangallo, finished on Saturday after seven days without solving South Australia’s most infamous cold case.

Forensic archaeologist Professor Maciej Henneberg said cow bones, glass bottles and a piece of paper from around the same era as the Beaumonts’ disappearance was found during the excavation.

Objects found at the former Castalloy factory site in North Plympton in search of the Beaumont children’s remains. Picture: Emma Brasier

Jane, 9, Arnna, 7, and Grant, 4, Beaumont went missing from Glenelg Beach on January 26, 1966.

Focus will now turn to Stansbury, 200km from Adelaide, after media personality Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello announced on Wednesday that he and wife Samantha would personally fund a dig after learning about a long-circulated theory involving the McIntyre family.

Siblings Andrew McIntyre and Rachel Vaughan have long claimed their deceased father Allan ‘Max’ McIntyre and convicted pedophile Anthony Alan Munro are connected to the Beaumont case.

Andrew, 71, insists the children are buried in a filled well on his family’s Stansbury property.

Police have previously said there is no evidence linking Max and Alan to the high-profile disappearance.

Revisiting this theory has provoked the imagination of the “tight-knit community”.

Stansbury publican Rob Rankin, who owns The Dalrymple hotel, welcomes a new dig for the Beaumont children in the small town. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Dalrymple Hotel owner Rob Rankine said he believed locals would welcome a thorough investigation of the well located on the private property.

“The people here are simply fascinated by the possibility,” he told The Advertiser.

“The supposed link between Stansbury and the Beaumont children has really been the buzz of the town for the past week.

“I also think it would be a worthwhile pursuit just for the sake of closure.”

Blue Lime Cafe workers Sarah Davies and Kirsty Boin believe a new search would put speculation to rest. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Blue Lime Cafe manager Kirsty Boin said a search would help the town put a stop to endless speculations.

“I think if there is a possibility that the kids are buried in Stansbury – someone needs to do a dig out there,” Ms Boin said.

“If they find the children there, the mystery will be solved. If not, we can put that theory to bed and never revisit it again.

“Otherwise, we are just left wondering … there are already rumours going around that there are other things buried atop of the Beaumont children, like animal remains.”

Official records show the Stansbury property now belongs to Andrew’s half-brother and half-sister, Daniel and Simone McIntyre.

There is no suggestion the siblings are in any way involved with the disappearance of the Beaumont children.

The Advertiser understands Daniel, who works as an oyster farmer, still lives at the property, The front gate of the property was padlocked when The Advertiser visited on Saturday.

On Saturday, wrapping up the Castalloy dig, Mr Pangallo said he was disappointed the efforts had not “turned anything up”.

However, Mr Pangallo said more information had come forward over the past week he will need to “sift through”.

“I will pass on to South Australian police and see where it takes us,” he said.

The Castalloy site will now be turned over to Renewal SA and “sold off for development”.

Originally published as Stansbury residents support fresh search for Beaumont children as Castalloy dig concludes