The Beaumont Children Disappearance

With the soft sand in-between your toes, the salty air sifting through your hair, and the sun shining on your shoulders, is there anything more relaxing than a day at the beach?

For the Beaumont family in 1966, the answer is a million times yes.

It was a warm summer morning in 1966 and people were flocking to the seaside to celebrate the one and only National Day of Australia. Families set up striped umbrellas and kids splashed in the waves in their bathing suits. Three such children by the names of Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont, were looking to do just that. Their father, Jim, was a traveling salesman and currently away on a business trip so Jane, the eldest of the three, had asked her mother if she could take the younger siblings to the water.

This was customary in 1960s Australia. The country was seen as a safe place to raise children; kids ran free, neighbors were loved. Jane was known to be quite responsible for her age, as well, so her mother, Nancy, agreed to the beach day, and the children began packing up their bags. Jane was sure to include her paperback copy of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. She folded three beach towels for herself and her siblings, helped dress Arnna and Grant in their swimming clothes, and the trio was off, with Nancy waving from the doorstep.