Episode Details

WANDA BEACH: PART ONE — INTO THE DUNES

On the morning of Monday 11 January 1965, fifteen-year-old best friends Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock caught the train south from West Ryde with Marianne's four younger siblings for a summer day at Cronulla. 

At around 1pm, after walking north along the beach, the group stopped and Marianne told the younger children she and Christine were going back south to collect the bags. Instead, both girls turned north, deeper into the dunes. When ten-year-old Peter called out that they were going the wrong way, Marianne laughed and kept walking.

The four younger children waited until 5pm but the girls never returned.

Part One of the Wanda Beach Murders tells the story of the day itself. The gale that emptied the beach, an unexplained absence, and what the four children saw on the beach that day.

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan J. Wanda: The Untold Story of the Wanda Beach Murders. New Holland Publishers, 2003.
• Sydney Morning Herald, January–April 1965. https://trove.nla.gov.au/ 
• St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, January 1965. https://trove.nla.gov.au/ 
• National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. "True Crime Mysteries: Wanda Beach and Beaumont Kids." https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/true-crime-mysteries-wanda-beach-and-beaumont-kids
• Australian Missing Persons Register. "Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt." http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/SharrockSchmidt.htm

Title Music: by Jesse Frank from Pixabay

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