Little Lost Girl

Ardwyn was the Welsh word for 'house on a hill'. It seemed a good name for our house, a home built on the crest

ing months, we painted and cleaned, we did the simple repairs needed and transformed the garden. When our friends and our children's friends visited, a

und the garden, but first we needed to work, save, and pay down o

r pas

o my mind. I told the librarian our family had bought an old house in Smith St, Balmain. I wanted to find out its history and particul

arly records here and there is also material with the Balmain Historical Association, the National Library

could look at old newspapers from that time and see what stories come up; they might explain some of what was happening then. Things such as whether there were any maj

portant people coming and going, the crowding and disease in Sydney docks and the early politics of Federation. I came across a series of stories about the bad blood between th

d. The girl's first name was Sophie. Both children had been at school and had left together, a couple hours after lunch, when school finished for the day. That was the last time they were seen. The previous day a wide

dren, who were close friends, had run away together and the p

Balmain on the day of the disappearance and had set sail in the mi

ors have something to do with the disappearance? The day after several sailors from the drinking party in Balmain on the day the children went missing were located and q

of Balmain had been thoroughly searched over the week, without trace, and there was nothing to suggest foul play. Both children were

n of boats that left the harbour on the day of the disappearance and on the nex

meeting, involving St Augustine's Catholic Church and St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Balmain, encouraging parishioners to att

lliams and that she, along with her friend, Mathew McNeil, had gone mis

blue green glass bottle, along with two