Missing kids campaign: Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon

When Suzie Ratcliffe was 4 years old, she clearly remembers her mum sitting her down and telling her why she’d never be able to play with her big sister.

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“I kept asking Mum and Dad who the little girl was with my brother in the photo on the mantelpiece,” recalls Suzie. “Mum told me it was my big sister, Joanne, so of course I wanted to know where she was and why I couldn’t play dolls with her.”

It was then that little Suzie learned the horrendous truth that had been torturing her parents and brother, David, who was 13 at the time.

Joanne Ratcliffe (pictured) was just 11-years-old when she went missing from Adelaide Oval in 1973. *(Credit: Supplied)*

“Mum said a nasty man had taken Joanne away before I was born,” Suzie tells New Idea.

Joanne was just 11 years old when she and Kirste Gordon, 4, went missing from Adelaide Oval after going to the toilet together during a football game in 1973.

Now 47 years on, the disappearance of the two youngsters has become one of the most mysterious missing persons cases in our country’s history.

It’s a story that makes you hug your kids a bit tighter and a nightmare that has shattered the Ratcliffe family.

Along with Joanne, then 4-year-old Kirste Gordon (pictured) also went missing in 1973 after the pair went to the bathroom together during the football game. *(Credit: Supplied)*

“I was born 14 months after Joanne went missing,” says Melbourne-based Suzie. “When I was little, I used to get up at night and talk to the picture of her on the mantelpiece and hear Mum and Dad crying behind the closed door.”

Suzie’s parents – Kathleen and Les – tried their best to hide their sadness from Suzie and David, but the pain didn’t fade.

As Suzie grew older, she became more interested in the details behind her sister’s disappearance and, in 2006 when she became a mum to daughter Tamara, she resolved to help long-suffering families going through the same.

“I understood then the bond between a mother and her daughter, and what Mum would have felt and had gone through losing Joanne,” explains Suzie.

Connecting with those with missing relatives, Suzie learned their greatest fear was that their loved one would be forgotten as time progressed.

Suzie and mum, Kathleen — Joanne’s younger sister Suzie (right) was 4-years-old when her mother Kathleen (left) sat her down and told her she’d never be able to play with her big sister. *(Credit: Supplied)*

“The police searches stop, there’s no new leads, the media attention fades away and then so does the person,” says Suzie. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

So her charity, Leave A Light On Inc, was born.

“Mum and Dad used to leave the porch light on every night, so if Joanne ever came home, she’d know we’d be waiting for her. It became a symbol of hope for our family,” she says.

Suzie still leaves the porch light on, but sadly her parents have since passed away. They died broken-hearted not knowing what happened to their little girl.

“Ambiguous grief is a grief like no other – there are no answers,” she admits. “But there is always hope and we can’t give up on that. If we do, there is nothing else to hold on to.”