How many people go missing in Australia every year?
Consumed by “paranoia”, tormented by a sense of “failure” and with a face that exudes “eternal sadness”, Bruce Morcombe struggles with the loss of his son Daniel.
On International Missing Children’s Day on May 25, Mr Morcombe shares his experience as a parent whose child has vanished without a trace.
“The world is a different place for those who are constantly looking,” Mr Morcombe said.
“You are looking and nothing will stop you from finding the answer.
“It sounds bizarre but that is the place you are forced to be in.”
Final moments
Daniel, 13 years old at the time, was playing with his brothers, picking passionfruit on their Sunshine Coast property.
Little did the Morcombe family know this would be the last memory they would have of Daniel alive.
With his parents at a work function on December 7, 2003, Daniel took a bus to the local shops to buy his parents a Christmas gift and get a hair cut.
As would be revealed eight years later, Daniel was waiting for the bus to return home, when Brett Peter Cowan lured him into his car. Cowan was convicted of his murder.
As a parent, you feel like a failure.
– Bruce Morcombe
“As a parent, you feel like a failure,” Mr Morcombe said.
“You don’t want to go down that path of saying, well, I’ve got two kids, but by the way one is missing.
“You think to yourself, what have I done?”
An uncomfortable statistic
Tragically, the Morcombe family’s experience is not isolated.
Australia has 38,000 reported missing people annually with two-thirds of those under 18 years of age.
In 2022 alone, 17,000 missing children reports were made to police, and of those about 2,500 had been missing for more than three months.
Desperate measures and lingering questions
Faced with the news of his son’s disappearance, Mr Morcombe said he went into a state of “paranoia”.
He would drive around on his own investigation, taking photos of number plates and when a visitor came to their house, he’d keep the glass they’d used for fingerprints, just in case.
“Your suspicions are heightened,” Mr Morcombe said.
“You’re on edge – everybody is a suspect.”
The bittersweet solace of closure
Having answers, even in the face of tragedy, was better than only having questions, he said.
“The day that we found out that Daniel was deceased was a better day for us than not knowing where he was,” Mr Morcombe said.
“When someone’s missing, you have nowhere to go, you don’t know if they’re dead or alive.
“So, although it is terrible knowing we’ll never see our little boy again, at least now we have a place to go see his grave and lay flowers.”
You wear a facial expression marked with eternal sadness.
– Bruce Morcombe
A day to reflect
Mr Morcombe said May 25 is a sad yet important day.
“We go to these events every year and even without knowing the people you can tell by the look in their eyes who the parents of missing children are,” Mr Morcombe said.
“You wear a facial expression marked with eternal sadness.”
This year, the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre, in partnership with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, has released online resources to encourage parents to talk to their children about safe behaviour.
- Ensure your child knows their full name, home address and telephone number.
- Keep a copy of their contact information in their backpack or clothing in case they get lost.
- Keep social media account settings private and only share photos of your children with people you know and trust.
- Remove ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ you don’t know.
- Talk to your children about the dangers of sharing on social media.
- Ask questions about image use if an organisation (such as an after school care service) wishes to take photos of your child.
- Dress your child in bright clothing when visiting a crowded place and agree on a meeting spot in case they get lost.
- Keep a good quality, recent photo of your child.
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at [email protected]
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at [email protected]