Renewed search for Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon who vanished from Adelaide Oval in 1973

A private team is set to reopen the search for two girls who vanished without a trace at Adelaide Oval, giving new hope of answers to one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries.

• Joanne’s sister speaks of abduction pain

The sister of missing person Joanne Ratcliffe says she hopes a new search in South Australia’s Mid North will resolve a 51-year-old cold case.

Joanne Ratcliffe, 11, and Kirste Gordon, four, disappeared from Adelaide Oval on August 25, 1973.

It’s always been believed they were abducted and murdered.

Now, a team of private investigators will conduct a two-day search at two mid-north sites between Jamestown and Orroroo on March 29-30.

Suzie Ratcliffe, sister of Joanne Ratcliffe. Picture: Tony Gough

They will start at a farm north of Yatina, then revisit a tunnel at nearby Pekina Reservoir.

The two sites were named in handwritten claims by convicted pedophile Mark Trevor Marshall, who accused his own grandfather, Stanley Arthur Hart, of taking the children.

Hart’s farmhouse has already been searched by police but this new investigation will look at multiple sites nearby, which search organiser Bryan Littlely said have never been investigated by police.

Mr Littlely, an investigative journalist, is confident that the search will find something at the sites, citing the claim made by Marshall of barrels being in the Pekina Reservoir tunnel, a claim which was corroborated by a private search in 2009.

“We are 100% confident that we will find the evidence to support Mark Marshall’s statement,” he told The Advertiser.

Mr Littlely said the 2009 search gathered samples from the barrels that allegedly contained blood and acid, and the new search would remove the barrels from the site and hand them over to police.

“There is going to be something at the end of this, something for police to look at properly.”

The search team includes a geologist and cadaver dogs, and will receive assistance from an excavator operator.

Suzie Ratcliffe, sister of Joanne, said the new search gave her “renewed hope” that the case could be resolved.

“We’ve always continued to hold on to hope, that there’ll be answers,” Ms Ratcliffe said.

“We’ll never have closure, because that doesn’t exist.

“Once you answer questions, there are a whole new set of questions that will come forward.”

Ms Ratcliffe, who was born 14 months after her sister disappeared, said even though she never met Joanne she grew up “knowing all about her”.

“I’ve lived the life of Jo.”

“She’s been a part of my life forever, and being able to bring them home just gives us the chance to finally put an end to the living nightmare that we’ve been through.”

In an interview with The Advertiser last November, Ms Ratcliffe described being born into a feeling of “ambiguous loss” after losing her sister under the most peculiar and mysterious circumstances.

“I would ask questions about Jo and my mum, dad, and my brother, they all tried to put a sincere front on and – not exactly sweep it under the carpet – but brave it out,” she said.

“They were always forthcoming with information if I asked for information but it wasn’t something we would just chat about around the kitchen table.”

The Advertiser understands SA Police will not be involved in the new search.

A SAPOL spokesperson told The Advertiser the disappearance remains an “active and ongoing” investigation.

It comes just weeks after a new search was undertaken for the remains of Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont at the site of the former Castalloy site in North Plympton.

The Beaumonts have been missing since January 26, 1966 after failing to return home from Glenelg beach that afternoon.

Originally published as Renewed search for Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon who vanished from Adelaide Oval in 1973