William Tyrrell: Kendall a 'broken community' after boy's disappearance almost six months ago
6 March 2015
Photo: The small New South Wales mid-north coastal town of Kendall is still devastated, almost six months after three-year-old William Tyrrell vanished.
The small community of Kendall on the New South Wales mid-north coast will never be the same after the disappearance of William Tyrrell almost six months ago.
Iona Bligh, a local resident, was emotional when she spoke about the unsolved mystery of three-year-old William.
"You've always got an emptiness, a sadness," she said.
"He doesn't leave our thoughts. His family doesn't leave our thoughts.
"Kendall is a beautiful place, it always will be, but we are a broken community, everybody feels it," Ms Bligh told 7.30.
When William Tyrrell disappeared from his grandmother's home on the outskirts of town almost six months ago, locals were among the first to join the search.
Police and hundreds of other volunteers combed nearby bushland.
Resident Karlee Butler was one of those desperate to help.
"From the start everyone became involved, it was hard not to be out there or be concerned about what was going on, worrying about a three-year-old boy that just vanished out of nowhere," she said.
At first it was thought that William had wandered off and got lost, but as day after day passed and the search uncovered nothing, more sinister possibilities began to emerge.
Michelle Roelandts expressed the fears of many in her community.
"Someone had to have taken him, that's all there is to it," she said.
"The SES, the police, the dog squad, they left nothing unturned, there wasn't a blade of grass standing in that area after 11 days of searching, there is no way they missed him."
Parents in the town, like Sian Ryan, said they were now holding their children much closer.
Sian's son Rylan was the same age as William Tyrrell.
"He used to be able to run out the front and we didn't really mind, but now we always keep an eye on him," she said.
"We don't know who it is, and they could strike again anytime, and that's a bit worrying."
M Bligh said the town had changed.
"This used to be a town where kids rode their bikes, and played in the street, parents didn't have to watch their kids, it was a typical country town, we live here for that reason, for the innocence of a country town, but it's no longer like that," she said.
Carers notice impact on children
At the local daycare centre, director Sooz Crowle had not only been speaking to anxious parents, but was also fielding questions from children who did not understand how William could still be missing.
"They can imagine as a three-year-old what it would be like to be without your mum and dad, a little person, essentially out there, who can't find his way home can be a little bit upsetting and quite confronting for some children," she said.
"They know what that would feel like, they have all been lost in a shopping mall."
Karlee Butler and Iona Bligh are among a group of local women who met during the initial search and set up an informal support and information network.
"You are constantly watching social media for something new, a new lead," Ms Butler said.
"Like anyone, you think of scenarios in your head and you hope that's wrong, but what if it's right?"
"I can't imagine what the family is going through, that's who I feel most for.
"I feel sick for that mother, what she's going through at the moment must be horrible."
This week police carried out yet another search.
More than 30 police officers spent three days in an area of dense bushland and murky waterways at Bonny Hills, about 20 kilometres from where William was last seen.
Police found no significant evidence, but said they still had many leads to investigate.
All those affected by this sad case, including the devastated people in the small town of Kendall, have no choice but to wait and hope.
"I hope the outcome is good, I really do," Ms Bligh said.
"Part of me says it is not going to be after so long, but ultimately I would love to see William back with his family and I would love to have closure for our town... because our town needs it."
www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-06/william-tyrrell-kendall-broken-community-after-disappearance/6286904
