Bruce Morcombe

Bruce David Morcombe OAM (born 1959) is an Australian child safety advocate.

Bruce Morcombe

OAM
Born1959 (age 63–64)[1]
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia[1]
Occupationchild safety advocate
Known forco-founding the Daniel Morcombe Foundation
SpouseDenise Morcombe (m. 1983)[1]
Children3 (including Daniel Morcombe)[1]
AwardsSunshine Coast Region Citizen of the Year (2018)
Queensland Great (2020)

Morcombe is arguably best known as the co-founder of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, a non-profit organisation which he established with his wife Denise Morcombe in 2005 following the abduction and murder of their 13-year-old son Daniel Morcombe in December 2003.[2][3]

Life

During his childhood, Morcombe's parents owned a Brisbane fruit shop in the inner west suburb of Rosalie.[4]

At the age of eight, Morcombe and his older brother Perry discovered a body of a murdered woman in the grounds of Milton State School on 12 November 1967 after following a blood trail they had found outside the parents fruit shop.[4][5]

In 1970 Morcombe's family relocated to Melbourne, and in 1977 he commenced working for the Board of Works.[1]

Morcombe met Melbourne-born bank worker Denise Beavis on 15 February 1980 in Lorne, Victoria.[1] They pair were married on 3 September 1983.[1] Their first son was born on 4 October 1987. They then had twin boys who were born eight weeks premature on 19 December 1989, including Daniel.[1]

After accepting a redundancy package from the Board of Works in February 1992, the Morcombe's purchased a Jim's Mowing franchise in Boronia.[1][6]

The couple later accepted an opportunity to swap the Boronia franchise with a regional franchiser territory based in and around Sunshine Coast in Queensland.[1] Initially living at Mountain Creek where their children attending nearby Mountain Creek State School, the family eventually settled at Palmwoods.[1]

Murder of son
Main article: Murder of Daniel Morcombe

Morcombe's son Daniel was abducted from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast on 7 December 2003.[7] The circumstances surrounding his disappearance triggered a widespread search and lengthy police investigation, with Morcombe and his wife frequently appearing in the media appealing to the public for information.[8] Following the arrest of Brett Peter Cowan on 13 August 2011, some of Daniel Morcombe's remains were found at a search site at the Glasshouse Mountains on 21 August 2011.[7] His funeral was held on 7 December 2012 at Siena Catholic College.[9]

Cowan's trial commenced on 10 February 2014, where he entered a plea of not guilty and refused to give evidence.[10] Cowan was found guilty on 13 March 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment.[11][12] Cowan appealed against his sentence but it was dismissed by the Queenslandd Court of Appeal on 21 May 2015.[13] The High Court of Australia dismissed a subsequent appeal on 11 March 2016.[14]

Child safety advocacy

With his wife Denise, Morcombe established the Daniel Morcombe Foundation in May 2005 to educate children about how to stay safe in both a physical environment as well as online.[2][3] This has included launching educational resources such as Foundation Red and holding events such as the Walk for Daniel which was inaugurated on the Sunshine Coast in 2005 and the Day for Daniel, a national awareness and fundraising day held on the last Friday of each October when all Australians are asked to wear red, to reflect the red shirt Daniel Morcombe was wearing when he went missing.[2][3]

Morcombe has openly advocated for a publicly accessible sex offender registry to allow members of the public to know which suburbs convicted sex offenders are living. The proposal garnered the support of the Federal Government, but met with reluctance among state governments which caused frustration for Morcombe.[15] In 2019, he described the proposal as comparable to crocodile signage found in Far North Queensland, stating: "One similarity I use when we were coming up north is every creek crossing you see there are signs, in multiple languages, warning not to swim here, you’ll be eaten by a croc. We don’t go out shooting crocs or punching them, but we’ve got an awareness program that says ‘look out, these guys live in the area'. Isn’t that the same as a public sex offenders website? We are alerting the public to look out for these people. Predators need to be aware that we’re watching."[16]

Morcombe has occasionally commented on other high-profile missing persons cases involving children. He revealed in 2009 that he and his wife had been in contact with the family of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from Portugal in 2007.[17]

In 2015, he criticised the decision to stop the parents of William Tyrrell from speaking to the media to appeal for information relating to Tyrell's disappearance.[18]

Morcombe formally appealed to the Western Australian state coroner in 2016 for an inquest to be held into the unsolved 1997 murder of 11-year-old Gerard Ross.[19] Morcombe said his interest in the Ross murder came about when he learned that a person of interest who was investigated as part of his son's murder was also questioned in relation to Gerard Ross' murder.[19]

In December 2021, Morcombe called on Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to instigate an independent review of forensic evidence from the investigation of the murder of Shandee Blackburn.[20]

In 2021, Morcombe appeared on the "Families of Missing Persons" edition of You Can't Ask That on ABC TV which first aired on 26 May 2021.[21]

Morcombe was angered by the release of The Stranger in 2022, a film directed by Thomas M. Wright and starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, which is based on the undercover police investigation which led to the arrest of Brett Peter Cowan.[22] Describing the film as a "terrible tale that glorifies a horrific incident", Morcombe asked people not to see the movie and instead donate the money they would have used to buy a movie ticket to donate to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.[22]

Honours

In late 2011, Morcombe and his wife Denise were jointly named as Queensland Australians of the Year, and as a result were nominated to become 2012 Australians of the Year, but lost to Geoffrey Rush.[23][24]

Morcombe was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of his service to the community relating to safety awareness programs for children.[25]

Morcombe and his wife Denise were both named as the Sunshine Coast's Citizens of the Year at the local Australia Day awards in 2018.[26]

In 2020, he was named as a Queensland Great.[27]

See also

References
  1. Morcombe, Bruce; Morcombe, Denise (2013). Where is Daniel?. Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 9781743289495.
  2. Atfield, Cameron (5 May 2015). "The Daniel Morcombe Foundation racks up 10 years of service". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 12 July 2023. It's been 10 years since Denise and Bruce Morcombe turned their unimaginable grief into a national force for good.
  3. Boyd, Eden (5 May 2020). "Morcombe family's major milestone of keeping kids safe". Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved 12 July 2023. Today the pair are celebrating 15 years since the inception of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, a non-profit organisation committed to building a future where children are free from harm and abuse.
  4. O'Brien, John; Clarke, Chris (14 October 2018). "Daniel Morcombe's father Bruce involved in murder case as a child". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  5. "Woman found stabbed to death". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 November 1967. p. 4. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  6. Nowakowski, Lana (19 October 2018). "A love formula for success and a long career". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  7. "Timeline: the case of Daniel Morcombe". ABC News. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  8. "$1m Daniel Morcombe reward sparks police boost". ABC News. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  9. Atkinson, Bruce (7 December 2012). "Community farewells Daniel Morcombe". ABC News. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  10. Norton, Francene; Mellor, Leonie; Rawlins, Jason (10 February 2014). "Daniel Morcombe: Parents come face to face with alleged killer in Brisbane's Supreme Court". ABC News. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  11. Norton, Francene (13 March 2014). "Daniel Morcombe murder: Brett Peter Cowan guilty of killing Queensland teen". ABC News. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  12. "Daniel Morcombe's killer sentenced to life in prison". ABC News. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  13. "Daniel Morcombe's killer Brett Peter Cowan loses appeal against his conviction for murder". ABC News. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  14. Field, Donna (11 March 2016). "Brett Peter Cowan: Daniel Morcombe's killer has murder conviction appeal bid dismissed". ABC News. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  15. King, Madonna (5 December 2019). "'Do your job!': Why Bruce Morcombe fired off that angry tweet". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  16. Murray, Mark (25 June 2019). "Bruce Morcombe says public should be warned of child sex offenders just like crocodiles in Far North". Cairns Post. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  17. "'Keep searching' Morcombes tell McCanns". Brisbane Times. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  18. Bearup, Greg; Box, Dan (18 April 2015). "Daniel Morcombe's dad critical of gag on William's parents". The Australian. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  19. Campbell, Kate; Shorten, Kristin (22 May 2016). "Bruce Morcombe calls for inquest into unsolved 1997 murder of WA schoolboy Gerard Ross". The West Australian. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  20. McKenna, Michael; Peel, Charlie (1 December 2021). "Daniel's father Bruce Morcombe in plea to Annastacia Palaszczuk: Shandee Blackburn deserves justice too". The Australian. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  21. "Bruce Morcombe is the special guest in tonight's episode of You Can't Ask That". TV Blackbox. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  22. Burke, Kelly (15 July 2023). "Film based on Daniel Morcombe murder case is 'selfish cash grab', parents say". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  23. Kidd, Rob (18 November 2011). "Bruce and Denise Morcombe named Queensland's Australians of the Year". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  24. "Geoffrey Rush is Australian of the Year". The Courier-Mail. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2023. Mr Rush, 60, beat Queensland favourites Bruce and Denise Morcombe for the honour, announced at Parliament House in Canberra last night.
  25. "Award: 1148163". Australian Honours Search Facility. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  26. "Residents earn top honours at Australia Day awards". Sunshine Coast Daily. 23 January 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  27. "2020 Queensland Greats recipients: Bruce Morcombe OAM". Queensland Greats Awards. Queensland Government. 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
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