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The sad tale of Eloise Worledge hit a grim anniversary: She has been missing since 12 January 1976. That’s 50 years of her family not knowing what happened to her.
On the evening of 12 January, eight-year-old Eloise disappeared from her bedroom in the Beaumaris family home. She was the eldest of three; her siblings, Anna and Blake, were six and four years old at the time. Her parents, Lindsey and Patsy, discovered she was missing when they woke the next morning.
She has never been seen since.
Victoria Police launched a major investigation, which continued as a cold case for the past five decades. Tragically, the police case states that they believe that Eloise was murdered. However, her case remains open.
In 1976, authorities announced a $10,000 reward for information. However, in 2026, the police increased the reward to $1 million.
A few months after she first disappeared, in the 28 April issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, journalist Wendy Cross spoke with the Worledge family about Eloise’s disappearance.
Read on for that feature.
Eloise Worledge: Living on hope in a special hell
This little girl is still missing. In Melbourne, her family wait for each tomorrow to bring her home.
Every Tuesday, a young Melbourne mother goes through a special kind of hell.
Patsy Worledge relives the nightmare of Tuesday, January 13. On that day, this Beaumaris housewife woke to find that overnight, her eight-year-old daughter, Eloise, had vanished from their home in Stott Street.
The passing weeks have been agony. No trace has been found of the blonde, blue-eyed little girl. Ella, as Patsy and the family call her.
Despite a file-full of information, Melbourne police are baffled, but still determined to find Eloise.
What happened to Eloise Worledge?
The tragedy began at 7.30 am. Patsy Worledge. 33. and husband Lindsay, 35, were asleep. Two of their children, Annabelle, 6, and Blake, 4, woke them up. Their sister Eloise wasn’t in her bed. Eloise was gone, and the fly wire screen on her bedroom window had been cut.
Lindsay Worledge immediately telephoned the police. Some people might have forgotten the Australia-wide search that followed that call. Others, like the Beaumaris residents whose homes and memories were searched for a lead on the missing child, will never forget. So many of them have children a little like Eloise.
Patsy and Lindsay Worledge cannot forget. Although the daily routine is slowly returning to normal, their pleasant weatherboard house in its tree-shaded garden has an air of marking time … of wondering what the forensic experts have done with the bedclothes taken from Eloise’s bed, of wondering if they will see her in that bed ever again.
Patsy Worledge: “My main fear is that people will forget”
“Until I learn anything different, I’ll always believe that Ella is alive,” says Patsy, Eloise’s mother. “I think she’s a long way from here, being held in isolation on a boat, or in the bush.”
“I don’t believe she’s with only one person. Nor is she the type of child to wander the streets. People have asked how it would be possible to hold on to an intelligent eight-year-old child. They think she would speak out for herself, or try to get away, but we don’t know what sort of story she’s been told.”
“She’s quite self-sufficient and would be able to amuse herself with books and painting, if she was shut up somewhere. She has asthma, but it’s allergy asthma. Climate doesn’t really make any difference. It probably wouldn’t matter what state she is in. Apart from the asthma, she is very healthy. So, it’s possible that she wouldn’t have needed any medical attention during the time she has been missing.”
The only visible sign of strain on Patsy’s face can be seen in her eyes, which, though clear and blue, harbour an overwhelming anguish. For her family’s sake, she lives with her grief, but there are days when she can’t.
“Sometimes I can be driving, or doing something in the house and suddenly, without any warning, I start crying,” she admits. “Tuesdays are always bad days for me. I remember that terrible morning so well.”
Fortunately, she has many friends. After Eloise’s disappearance, they closed ranks around the family. They neither avoid talking about Eloise nor do they adopt attitudes of prolonged mourning.
“Life has to go on, you have to laugh and smile at things. At the same time, I believe we have to talk to people about what happened. It’s no good trying to bottle it up inside.”
“My main fear is that people will forget. If they do, Ella might never be found.”
The Worledge family never gives up hope
Lindsay Worledge, a lecturer in business studies at the Caulfield Institute of Technology, believes Eloise is being held captive by someone who took a fancy to her. He recalled The Collector, a book written by John Fowles, which tells the story of a man who, obsessed by a young girl, carefully abducts and keeps her in a specially prepared hideaway, like a specimen in his butterfly collection.
The Worledges are hoping that the mystery of Eloise’s disappearance will have a happy ending like that of Peggy Clements. Peggy, 4, disappeared from outside the Cobar RSL Hall, NSW, on November 2, 1975. Attempts to trace her initially drew blanks. Then, 10 weeks later and 3000 kilometres away, she was found on a station property near Marble Bar, VVA. She was in excellent health and being cared for by a couple. A man was later charged with her abduction.
The police investigation into Eloise Worledge’s disappearance
The police in Melbourne have been working on three theories about the disappearance of Eloise Worledge. Either she was abducted by someone who knew her well, such as a member of the Worledge family, or a close friend. Or she was taken on impulse by a prowler or by a sexual pervert.
Said Detective Chief Inspector Frank Lawrence of Melbourne police: “We have 1400 files on Eloise, and we add an average of two files a day, but so far we’ve been unable to find any information which would lead us to her whereabouts. We can only hope that people will go on giving us information and that sooner or later, the person or persons responsible for Eloise’s abduction will crack and make a mistake.”
“We follow up every lead we get, no matter how far-fetched it might seem. The case is such a puzzling one that the motivation behind it could well turn out to be something offbeat. Over the years, many children have disappeared without being found, but as far as I know, this is the only child who has disappeared from her own home.”
“People have been enormously helpful. Out of the 7000 homes we visited in Beaumaris, there was not one person who refused to cooperate. I am appealing to people all around Australia to give us any information which might help us to return this little girl to her family.”
The Victorian Government has offered a reward of $10,000 for information.
Eloise is officially described as 4ft 7in in height, with blue eyes, blonde shoulder-length hair, and fair complexion. When last seen, she was wearing yellow shortie pyjamas with musical motifs on the front
and the words “Rock and Roll.”
Words: Wendy Cross
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website.
This article originally appeared in the 28 April 1976 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, with thanks to Trove. Subscribe so you never miss an issue of The Weekly.
