DNA appeal for relatives of five 1948 NSW missing fishermen

News.com.au

a day ago

NSW police believe five families could hold the key to the 80-year-old mystery of two fishing boats lost at the sea on the same day after being hit by ferocious weather.
Despite extensive searches of the NSW coastline in the days and weeks following the separate catastrophes on May 15, 1948, neither the 'Joyce' nor 'Syd' vessels or anyone on board either of them, has ever been seen again.
The Joyce departed from Woy Woy carrying seven work colleagues from the Nielsen Slipper Factory.
Missing are Norman Eric Lester, 21, Brian Morris Parsons, 56, Robert Hayes, 30, Peter Proudfoot, 24, Berty Cyril law, 37, Norman John Tolley, 25 and Arthur Bowyer, 41.
The 'Syd' was carrying four people – three men and a boy - when it set off from Patonga.
Missing are Hugh Murray, 41, Cecil Aubrey Murray, 43, Neville Walters, 35, and Brian Murray, 14.
Police investigating the disappearances hoped they'd had a breakthrough in May 2020, when a human jawbone was found on Umina Beach.
Detectives have since discovered the jawbone belonged to Henry Coleman, who died aged 17 following an accidental drowning in August 1980.
But police remain hopeful DNA will one day bring closure to all the families who lost someone that day.
To date, six relatives of the fisherman have provided their DNA to police, and now – seventy-seven years on – police are appealing for the relatives of Neville Walters, Norman Eric Lester, Brian Morris Parsons, Robert Hayes and Peter Proudfoot to come forward and provide a DNA sample.
Missing Persons Registry Manager, Detective Inspector Paul Fenwick, said DNA samples collected could assist in identifying the remains of those lost at sea.
'There are currently 352 unidentified bodies and human remains located in different areas throughout New South Wales,' detective Fenwick said as Missing Persons Week commences.
'DNA samples from the families of these missing fishermen will be compared against those remains and stored securely for future reference.
'Even after all these years, we continue to recover remains along the coastline. That DNA will continue to be tested against these discoveries.
'This is not just about solving a case. It's about recognising the lives lost and giving families the answers after nearly 80 years.
'We're appealing to anyone who may be related to these men – even distantly – to come forward and provide a DNA sample.'
Marine Area Commander, Superintendent Joseph McNulty, said any evidence recovered from the sea is a chance to come full circle.
'When remains are found along our coastline, having DNA from family members on file gives us a chance to connect the past with the present – and possibly bring someone home,' Det Supt McNulty said.
'While the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the 'Joyce' and the 'Syd' remain unknown, we know the ocean can conceal evidence for many years.
'When remains are recovered, having DNA from family members already on file allows us to act quickly and accurately in identifying them. It's a vital step in helping police bring closure to long-standing cases.'
In 2006 Bruce Richards told Newscorp how he was just 16 when he joined the search for the Joyce.
He was an apprentice shoemaker at the Nielsen factory.
'I remember every single one of them,' Mr Richards said of the missing men.
The men had all worked together at the factory which was in the original Bayview Hotel in Railway St built in 1907 and later converted into a factory.
'I remember the day they had got together in the making­ room and arranged the fishing trip and where they would meet,' Mr Richards said.
'Their disappearance was a tragic day for the Woy Woy township which was very small then.'
The town people rallied to raise money for a monument to honour the memory of the missing fishermen, originally erected outside the factory in Railway St and later moved to the Koolewong waterfront where it was neglected and vandalised. Today the restored­ monument is at Point Clare Cemetery.
Mr Bowyer's son Arthur Bowyer Jnr told news.com.au this week answers to the mystery he wanted for his daughter.
'I was only a kid so I didn't understand what was going on,' he said.
'My dad got a job at the slipper factory at Woy Woy because there was a drought on and we had to move from our sheep property out near Bourke,' he said.
'I remember my mother crying a lot when my father disappeared, but when you're a kid you just don't understand.
'I've gotten too far in life but for my daughter, answers would mean a lot.'
Missing Persons Week is an annual national campaign that runs until Sunday.