While it took five days for authorities to publicly release details about the discovery of human leg bones south of Eden on June 18, the gossip wheels were spinning within minutes.
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“As soon as we heard about the bones, we all said 'I bet that’s Mrs Page',” Eden local of 65 years, Fritz Michelin, said.
His memory was jolted back to February 1950, when he was just a teenager.
At the time Mrs Phyllis Page, a widow from Sydney, was camping along the coast with her de facto, Lionel Thomas.
“Mrs Page stayed for a few weeks in a caravan at Narrabarba, south of Kiah,” Mr Michelin recalled.
“Then one day she went missing. She was never found.”
Mr Michelin’s story was reported to the police, and became part of the official investigation over the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, the Eden Magnet searched the newspaper archives for articles about Mrs Page, slowly piecing together the murder mystery.
In July, 1950, the Magnet and Voice newspaper reported an extensive, statewide search for Mrs Page, followed by the arrest of Lionel Thomas in Perth the same month.
“Admission of Murder Alleged,” was page 3 news in the September 8, 1950, edition of the Adelaide ‘Advertiser’, reporting that Mr Thomas, then aged 44, admitted shooting the 50-year-old Mrs Page and throwing her body into a river.
“My God, she was a good woman.
"I shouldn’t have done it,” Mr Thomas allegedly confessed to his arresting officer.
“We had a row.
"She was really too old for me.
"I don’t know what came over me.”
In August, 1950, the headlines in the Magnet and Voice read 'Police Dragging Kiah River for Body', followed by a December 1950 report in the ‘Courier-Mail’ concluding that “Lionel Charles Thomas ... was sentenced to death today for the murder of Mrs Phyllis Mary Page".
In a final twist, Mr Thomas retracted his confession, and committed suicide in his Long Bay Gaol cell.
“I again assert before God that I am innocent of the murder of Mrs Page,” his suicide note read.
Today, the disappearance of Mrs Page remains one of the area’s great unsolved mysteries.
The unearthing of the ancestral remains last week gave locals hope that the mystery might finally be solved.
But it was not meant to be.
“It would have been great if it had been Mrs Page, as it would have brought closure at last,” Mr Michelin said, decidedly crestfallen.
“It’s still emotionally disturbing for many of us.”
Private repatriation for bones
The Eden Magnet reported exclusively last week about human remains being unearthed at the Sapphire Sun Eco Village.
The bones were revealed to be from the leg of an Aboriginal man from pre-European times.
Members of the Eden Local Aboriginal Lands Council (ELALC) continued to work alongside archaeologists from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) over the weekend, but no further discoveries were made.
Repatriation of the ancestral remains are to be conducted in a private ceremony, at the discretion of the ELALC.
Excavation work on the beach-wall is scheduled to resume immediately.
A community day to help pay respects will be organised soon.
Click here to read the original article featured on the Eden Magnet site, 'Human bones unearthed on beachfront'.