Decades-long search to find any trace of three young children, who disappeared from an Adelaide beach in 1966, restarts

Fresh evidence is expected to be made public when a decades-long search to find any trace of three young children who disappeared restarts.

Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont vanished without a trace during an outing to an Adelaide beach on Australia Day in 1966, triggering multiple searches, some based on as little as a psychic’s vision.

The latest attempt to solve the enduring mystery will start on Saturday at the site of the former Castalloy foundry, where it is believed owner Harry Phipps kidnapped, murdered and buried the children 59 years ago.

Forensic archaeologist Maciej Henneberg, author Stuart Mullins, former South Australian detective Bill Hayes and independent MP Frank Pangallo will address a news conference at the North Plympton site.

Large earthmoving equipment will also start preliminary excavation work at the northern end of the government-owned site, which is about to be sold off for development, after new evidence was uncovered.

“This search will be the last opportunity to search the area where those closest to the case believe their bodies were buried before new industrial or residential developments are built on the site,” said Pangallo, who helped organise the dig.

The search will revisit two sites previously excavated along with a third never-before-searched location and is expected to take about a week to complete.

“While we are hopeful the new search will help solve the mystery, it’s also important to discount the site as the children’s burial ground if we can,” Pangallo said.

Jane, 9, Arnna, 7, and Grant, 4, vanished without a trace from Glenelg beach on January 26, 1966.

Their parents, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, told police the children left home with sixpence but a shopkeeper recalled Jane buying pasties and a meat pie with a one-pound note.

Phipps has long been the main person of interest in the children’s disappearance and presumed murder.

Shortly after his death in 2004, Phipps’ son, Haydn, was interviewed and revealed he had seen three children at the family house shortly after the disappearance.

He also told police he was violently abused by his father as a child.

The new search will be the third time the Castalloy site has been examined.

In 2013, police excavated an area after claims by two brothers that three days after the children disappeared, Phipps paid them to dig a “grave-sized” hole on the factory site.

At the request of Nancy Beaumont, police conducted a second dig in 2018, excavating to a depth of about 1.5 metres before abandoning the effort.