Bruce Morcombe reflects on 20 years of Daniel Morcombe Foundation as he visits Townsville

The parents of Daniel Morcombe have dedicated the last two decades of their lives to helping children stay safe, turning the heartbreaking story of their son’s abduction and murder into positive change.

Bruce Morcombe and LNP candidate for Mundingburra Janelle Poole with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation truck.

For the past twenty years the parents of Daniel Morcombe, the 13-year-old who’s heartbreaking story captured the nation when he went missing in 2003, have dedicated their lives to helping children stay safe.

Daniel’s father, Bruce Morcombe was in Townsville recently to collect the Daniel Morcombe Foundation red truck, which was used at the recent Townsville Show and NTI Supercars Townsville 500 events.

“It’s a great partnership that we have had for over a decade up here, between the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Queensland Police Service,” Mr Morcombe said.

Bruce Morcombe and LNP candidate for Mundingburra Janelle Poole with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation truck.

The promotional truck, which is used for distributing kid’s ID bracelets and giving parents valuable child safety information, will be driven by Mr Morcombe back to the Sunshine Coast.

Over the past years the truck has travelled as far up as Cairns, all the way down to Melbourne, Canberra and parts of NSW.

Mr Morcombe said over the past 20 years, the Townsville community has been a strong supporter of the foundation through various events.

Using their personal story of loss, the Morcombe’s have been aiming to educate as many parents, carers, grandparents and children as possible across Australia.

“By having our information truck at events and having great resources online on our website, we ask that people spend a bit of time learning about how to keep kids safe.”

With the rise of social media and online gaming, Mr Morcombe said it was important for parents to be aware of digital danger.

“We are seeing the age getting younger and younger in which children are interacting with the internet,” he said.

Bruce Morcombe and LNP candidate for Mundingburra Janelle Poole with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation truck.

“It’s less than ten years since you’ve been able to essentially have a computer in your hands, it used to be a desktop or laptop. Now kids can take phones and tablets anywhere, they can be in the back of the car or in their rooms playing games and talking to people that could be dangerous.”

Over the last 20 years Mr Morcombe said the interactions he has had with the public have been “overwhelming”.

“You are thrust into the public arena and we have tried to use Daniel’s very tragic story in a positive way,” he said.

“The media profile that people try so hard to achieve was sitting there in our laps and we thought we just can’t let this fall on the floor. We need to do something with it and the foundation has grown from there.”

One encounter that has stuck with Mr Morcombe came from a traffic light stop in Babinda, north of Innisfail.

“I was in a car and we had a big trailer with our branding on it. We passed a truck and then we were at the lights with the truck behind us.

“The door opened and the fella got out and I was thinking oh no, did I cut him off or something?

“He came up to the drivers door, didn’t say a word just looked at me and I looked at him and he gave me ten bucks and turned around and went back into this truck, and I’ve never forgotten that. That was probably his lunch money and he gave it to me because of the kindness of his heart.”

LNP candidate for Mundingburra Janelle Poole said the Morcombes work in honouring Daniel’s memory is ‘really important’.

“I’ve been an ambassador of the foundation for over ten years and I am very proud to be a part of it,” she said.

“It’s the perfect opportunity at the events the foundation visits where we get to talk to young people get that message of recognise, react and report across and teach kids how to keep themselves safe in person, as well as online now.”

Originally published as Bruce Morcombe reflects on 20 years of Daniel Morcombe Foundation as he visits Townsville