Year-long wait for Ballarat teen Donny Govan who vanished in bush

THE family of missing teen Donny Govan has spent the past year alive, but not living, waiting to hear from him.

Donny Govan

THE family of missing teen Donny Govan has spent the past year alive, but not living.

Long-term plans have been put on hold as the Ballarat family waits to hear from their brother and son who went missing one year ago today.

The polite but mischievous 16-year-old was doted on by his siblings, especially his four older sisters who always looked out him.

But this family now faces the prospect of life without their Donny, a decade after their eldest brother and son died tragically.

One year ago sister Rachael O'Keane, 26, decided to take her younger brother camping for the weekend with friends.

The siblings had endured another cold winter in the Victorian town of Ballarat and decided to escape to the banks of the Murray River for the weekend.

It was a modest trip but Donny's first real holiday.

"It started off as we had planned, we were relaxing and having fun, the boys were kicking the footy and it was great," Rachael said.

But as one or two drinks turned into three or four, an argument broke out and in a heated exchange Donny disappeared into dense bush.

At first his sister and friends thought he would return, but as the hours passed, the group became worried and phoned police.

An extensive search failed to find any trace of the teen.

"I wish I had never taken him on that trip," Rachael said. "None of this would have happened."

Four days after Donny went missing, sister Katrina gave birth to her first child.

This week the baby will celebrate her first birthday, a tiny ray hope for a family plagued by tragedy.

Buoyed by a possible sighting of their brother the morning after he disappeared, his family launched a social media campaign, but they have been inundated by trolls and misinformation.