Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon
The Sunday Mail's front page on the day after Ratcliffe and Gordon disappeared
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| Date | 25 August 1973 |
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| Duration | Missing for 43 years, 11 months and 30 days |
| Venue | Adelaide Oval |
| Location | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Type | abduction |
Joanne Ratcliffe (born 1962) and Kirste Gordon (born 1969) were two Australian girls who went missing while attending an Australian rules football match at the Adelaide Oval on 25 August 1973. Ratcliffe and Gordon's disappearance, and presumed abduction and murder, became one of South Australia's most well known crimes. The presumed murders are sometimes thought to be related to the Beaumont children disappearance in 1966.
Joanne's parents and Kirste's grandmother had allowed the two girls to leave their group to go to the toilet. They were seen several times in the 90 minutes after leaving the oval, apparently distressed and in the company of an unknown man, but they vanished after the last reported sighting. The police sketch of the man last seen with the two girls resembles that of the man last seen with the Beaumont children.
Witness reports led police to believe that they were abducted by a middle aged man. Police were following leads as late as 2014.
The case was mentioned in a Woman's Day 2011 article as part of a postscript on "Australian kidnapping mysteries involving children [that] tug at our heartstrings long after they faded from the news".
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