Searching for missing children

must be one of the most difficult and, all too often, heartbreaking things the members of the emergency services need to do.

While we were away a small boy disappeared from outside his grandparent's home in the north of the state. He was four. They searched for some days, called off the search and have now resumed it. They will be looking for a body now.

There are some strange things about this particular case. There is no suggestion of any sort of foul play. He is simply missing. According to the reports in the media his grandmother saw him playing in the dirt around five o'clock. When she went to call him in for his evening meal at five-thirty he was no longer there.  A tracker found one shoe print, just one, but there has been no other sign to suggest where he might have gone.

Why would a small boy wander off when he had been happily playing in the dirt? Why would he wander off at a time when he was likely beginning to feel hungry? Why was only shoe print found and not a print for the other foot? What happened to the other prints he must have made?

Hours and hours and many dollars have gone in to the search for him but nothing has come of it. Police say his family is cooperating fully and they have no reason to believe there has been any sort of interference. I cannot even begin to comprehend what they must be thinking and feeling.

The place where this little boy went missing is remote. It is harsh, hard country. It gets very hot in summer and even on days in autumn and spring. It gets very cold at night. The people who live out there are normally resilient, independent and often able to turn their hands to anything. Children are normally safe playing alone outside. Despite all the tales of snakes and spiders and other dangers most children, even those of four years of age, know something about all this and often know how to avoid harm. There is no evidence of dingoes being around and no cries were heard from the child. He has simply disappeared. 

Years ago there was a story in the paper about the brother of a former premier of this state. He had gone missing in a notorious location in the north. They had searched for him at the time, searched within a fairly confined area because he could not have gone far. They had never found him. All the years later they found his skeleton in a tree. There was evidence to suggest he had broken his leg but somehow managed to climb the tree. For some reason the trackers and the tracker dogs had not located him. It would have been an appalling ending to his life but the family at last knew and could lay his remains to rest. 

With the little boy they cannot yet do that. It is a reminder of how very hard the remote areas of this country can be.