- When 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe was abducted from a bus stop, his parents Denise and Bruce were devastated
- Setting up The Daniel Morcombe Foundation, they helped keep other children safe as they searched tirelessly for Daniel
- When Daniel’s killer Brett Peter Cowan was caught and convicted, working with the foundation helped ease Denise and Bruce’s pain
- In celebration of 20 years protecting Aussie children, The Daniel Morcombe Foundation has released a documentary, Don’t Waste It!
- Reflecting on their work, Denise knows Daniel would be proud
Here Denise Morcombe, 64, from the Sunshine Coast, Qld, tells her story in her own words.
Driving under the underpass with my husband, Bruce, then 45, it seemed impossible that just over a year ago this was the last place our 13-year-old son Daniel had been seen.
Our beautiful boy had gone missing while waiting for a bus here on the Nambour Connection Road, near our home in Palmwoods on the Sunshine Coast, Qld.
Daniel was a quiet, shy boy, who loved animals and his family, especially his twin, Bradley, and older brother, Dean, then 16.
‘It was the last time Daniel was ever seen…’
He was just 12 days away from his 14th birthday when he’d left the house on December 7, 2003. That day, Bruce and I were heading to Brisbane.
With both of his brothers busy, Daniel got dressed in a red T-shirt and shorts, and left just after 1pm to catch a bus to the shopping mall, the Sunshine Plaza, to buy Christmas presents for the family and get a haircut.
He waited beneath the underpass for around half an hour, but the bus, which had broken down, never showed. When the replacement came along shortly after, Daniel tried to flag it down, but the bus drove past him. It was 2.10pm and the very last time Daniel was ever seen.
When Bruce and I returned home around mid-afternoon we figured Daniel would be home shortly on the last bus. But he never showed.
He’d caught the bus alone several times, so it was out of character for our dependable boy not to contact us if he ran into any trouble.
Bruce drove to the bus stop, but there was no sign of Daniel. We drove to the shopping centre, and called the bus depot to track Daniel down, but we kept hitting dead ends.
At 7pm we reported our son missing to the police.
‘Bruce and I made a vow – not to rest until we found Daniel.’
From that moment we spent every waking minute searching desperately for Daniel, as the police and an army of wonderful community volunteers helped.
As Daniel’s birthday passed, shared with his brother Bradley, I clung to the hope of Daniel’s return.
In our darkest hours, Bruce and I made a vow – not to rest until we found Daniel.
Agonising sleepless weeks and then months passed. In March 2004 Bruce placed a symbolic door under the underpass, and tied a red ribbon around it to keep Daniel present in people’s minds, and to encourage people to come forward with information.
Where is Daniel? Who took him? Help find the key to unlock this horror of a crime, he’d written on the door in black marker.
Incredibly, people all over the Sunshine Coast followed suit, hanging ribbons out the front of their homes and on their car aerials.
Witnesses came forward. Several people said they’d seen Daniel at the bus stop. A man with brown hair was spotted nearby.
Many also reported seeing a blue car on the side of the road.
When a year passed without any information, we knew we couldn’t give up hope.
‘It helped to dull the pain of being without Daniel.’
‘Let’s not waste our pain,’ I told Bruce, despite the horror of losing our son.
Determined to help keep other children safe, we launched The Daniel Morcombe Foundation in May 2005. It was our mission to educate children on personal safety, including how to keep themselves safe from strangers, and also to help young victims of crime.
A red T-shirt became our symbol for child safety – like the one Daniel had been wearing.
Soon the old pineapple packing shed on our property was full of T-shirts, which we encouraged people to wear during our first Day and Walk for Daniel that November.
We were so moved when 90 people turned up in red.
We also began speaking to children in schools about Daniel’s story. We talked about unsafe situations, and how to react and report them.
It helped to dull the pain of being without Daniel.
With every year, the Day for Daniel in October grew bigger.
I kept Daniel’s room exactly as it was the day he disappeared, desperately hoping he’d still come home.
When we moved house in 2007, packing Daniel’s things was terribly hard.
Detectives had caught his confession on tape during an elaborate undercover sting.
During a coronial inquest into Daniel’s abduction in October 2010, I saw serial predator Brett Peter Cowan.
Turning to Bruce I said, ‘That’s him.’
I just knew in my heart he was responsible.
Then in August 2011, nearly eight agonising years after Daniel went missing, we finally learned the truth of what happened to our son.
The man responsible was Cowan. A convicted paedophile, he had killed our boy and disposed of his body in the Glass House Mountains.
Detectives had caught his confession on tape during an elaborate undercover sting.
When we received the call later that month that police had found Daniel’s remains in the Glass House Mountains it was horrific, but in some ways a relief.
In December 2012, 2000 people attended Daniel’s funeral at the church attached to his school.
Staring at Daniel’s white coffin was excruciating, but we were grateful we finally had the opportunity to lay our boy to rest.
Fifteen months later, in March 2014, Brett Peter Cowan, then 44, appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court where he was found guilty of murder, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years.
There was an outpouring of love from the community, as people sent back their red ribbons – some were framed, and came with lovely letters.
To know people had kept them for years was so moving.
‘The foundation helped us heal’
The foundation helped us heal and every year it gained more support to help keep Australian children safe.
We set up Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson to help kids discuss consent and to identify grooming and how to report it.
When Bruce and I were out and about, people of all ages approached us.
‘Thank you for your work,’ they said.
Some aged in their 80s explained they were victims of abuse and thanked us for enabling kids to talk about it.
We realised how much our work meant to so many, and it spurred us on to keep going.
This May marks 20 years since the foundation was established.
To mark the occasion, we’re launching a film Don’t Waste It!, a powerful 30-minute documentary that tells Daniel’s story, the foundation’s journey, and the ongoing fight to keep children safe.
WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY BELOW:
We’re thrilled that Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has pledged to implement Daniel’s Law, and create a register in Queensland of dangerous sex offenders out in the community.
Despite going through every parent’s worst nightmare in losing our son, we’re a stronger family than ever now.
Daniel’s brothers Bradley and Dean, both now in their mid-30s, are proud parents themselves.
Being grandparents to our three incredible grandchildren brings us much joy and comfort.
Amazingly, our youngest grandchild was born on Day for Daniel.
And sometimes from the back, I see glimpses of Daniel in our grandson. Their mannerisms are uncannily similar.
I like to think Daniel’s smiling down on us all.
The foundation is his legacy and we hope it will live on forever, keeping Australia’s children safe from harm.
For more information visit danielmorcombe.com.au
Safer Bedrooms
How to keep your kids safe:
- Set up a family technology agreement for smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs and gaming devices such as PlayStations.
- Install parental controls on devices.
- Disable chat features in games and keep privacy settings on.
- Educate young people about online grooming.
- Encourage open regular non-judgemental conversations.
- Share kids’ online world.
- Follow your child’s social media accounts, know the apps they use and play online games with them.
- Recognise the warning signs – excessive time online, sexualised search results or language, child receives unexplained gifts, or is often secretive about social media and displays mood changes (hyperactive, secretive, hostile, withdrawn).
- Collect evidence – before blocking anyone, or deleting any material take screenshots noting times and dates
- Report online grooming to your local police or via the Report Abuse buttons on the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation site or ThinkUKnow
- Get some professional support. A young person could talk to a school counsellor, psychologist or chaplain. Or try organisations such as Kids Helpline or Headspace
- Reach out to Parent Line to support yourself
