In 2015 a man by the name of David Smith contacted police and gave a statement that he was at Glenelg Beach on 26 January 1966. He bought lunch at Wenzel’s bakery and then sat on a bench nearby with an elderly couple. Nearby was a young man wearing bathers with three children, two girls aged about 10 and 6 and a younger boy. David had a brief conversation with the man about National Service and then a discussion with the oldest girl who told him that the man had given them money to buy lunch from the bakery. The man and children then got into a car which David described as a sports styled car, new, shiny with a chrome luggage rack. The car then drove off towards Anzac Highway. David’s attention was drawn to the car because it was high end.
He did not come forward immediately because just after Australia Day he went to Puckapunyal for National Service. He didn’t have access to newspapers or radio so he didn’t know that children had gone missing. When he returned to South Australia years later, the media had confused the dates/days. For years, years later, the media assumed that 26 January 1966 was a public holiday and reported that the children disappeared from Colley Reserve during the Bay Sheffield. In fact, the 1966 Bay Sheffield was held on the public holiday on Friday 28 January.
Other than taking David's statement at a police station, then receiving a written statement, police didn’t do anything further.
Later that year, I published a story in The Advertiser identifying a man that Andrew McIntyre said was involved in the disappearance of the children. That man was Anthony Munro. David immediately contacted me and identified Anthony Munro as the man he saw at the beach that day with the children.
David has made a number of statements to police, who have dismissed his story without explanation. David has given me permission to share his story on this page.
This is information I believe should be considered and investigated with vigour and to the same degree afforded to the Phipps claims.
You will no longer find the link to this Advertiser article, it was removed from News Corp files, without explanation. Courtesy Bryan Littlely

revised by Bryan Littley 

I have had an error of fact pointed out to me with regards to this post. The post, in general, explains that David Smith had been confused by the Bay Sheffield being on .... of course it was not.
It's my error in writing, not in what David claimed/said.
In the published article of almost three years prior to this post being written (that Tiser article now removed from web) I'd correctly written the comment re Bay Sheffield: that David only identified "Colley Reserve" as the place the bay sheffield was run and wasn't aware the place he saw the kids was also known as Colley Reserve.... hence his delay in coming forward with his info.

David is no longer with us to clarify sadly but I'm privileged to have all of his records which do a great deal of good to support his claims re Beaumont case and other matters around that time.