Still Missing, Still Loved: Canberra’s long-term missing teenagers honoured by ACT Policing
Posted on
This National Missing Persons Week, ACT Policing is honouring the memory of three of Canberra’s long-term missing teenagers with a campaign highlighting the lasting impact on families and communities.
Commissioning portraits of missing teenagers Megan Mulquiney, Amelia Hausia and Elizabeth Herfort, Still Missing, Still Loved was created to raise awareness about long-term missing persons cases.
The three portraits, created by a local artist, will be on display in Tuggeranong Arts Centre until Saturday 8 August.
Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services Dr Marisa Paterson says this year’s campaign is testament to the fact that the passing of time does not lessen the uncertainty and grief families feel when their loved one goes missing.
“As a community, we must remember that behind every one of these people are families and communities that are continually searching for answers,” she says.
“These portraits really encourage people to pause, reflect and remember these young women.”
Elizabeth, Megan and Amelia are just three of the 10 unresolved long-term missing persons cases still reviewed by ACT Policing’s Long-Term Missing Persons Coordination Team.
Reported missing in 1980, 1984, and 1992 respectively, the families of all three girls are still hopeful for answers.
Detective Sergeant Craig Marriott says that the National Missing Persons Week campaign is an opportunity to remind the public that the investigations all remain active and any information can play a crucial role in solving the cases.
“The passage of time is our greatest enemy. We do what we can to try and keep their memories alive,” he explains.
“We will take any piece of information and act on it, however small, however innocuous.”
He also says that the decay of information is the biggest challenge ACT Policing faces in these cases.
“People assume that the information they have is irrelevant and as time goes by, it’s easy for them to maintain that assumption…like I said, it may be the most innocuous piece of information that allows us to dig a little deeper and progress a line of inquiry that we haven’t considered before.”
The choice to commission artist Harriet Mitchell to paint the portraits was a simple one: ACT Policing wanted to do something to give back to the families.
“These portraits will be provided to the families at the end of National Missing Persons Week,” says Detective Sergeant Marriott.
“We haven’t received a lot of information about Megan, Amelia and Elizabeth in recent years so it’s a way of encouraging the community to reconsider these cases.”
Creating the portraits using the images featured on the ACT Policing Missing Persons webpage, Harriet also did her own research into local stories about each girl.
She says she wanted to paint something that focuses on warmth and hope while also acknowledging the darker aspects of their disappearances and hopes that the portraits evoke joy for the families upon reveal.
“I have a sister that’s the same age, so that was very confronting throughout the whole process…even if you don’t have a connection to a young woman – you just have basic human empathy,” she says.
“I wanted the portraits to tap into that.”
“They were young women with their whole lives ahead of them and they deserve to be remembered,” adds Minister Paterson.
If you have any information on a long-term missing person, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website. Information can be provided anonymously.
