Bruce Morcombe
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Bruce David Morcombe (born 1959) is an Australian child safety advocate. 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 Daniel James Morcombe (19 December 1989 – 7 December 2003) was an Australian boy who was abducted from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on 7 December 2003 when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, Brett Peter Cowan (born 18 September 1969), ...
in December 2003.


Life

During his childhood, Morcombe's parents owned a Brisbane fruit shop in the inner west suburb of Rosalie. 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. In 1970 Morcombe's family relocated to Melbourne, and in 1977 he commenced working for the Board of Works. Morcombe met Melbourne-born bank worker Denise Beavis on 15 February 1980 in
Lorne, Victoria Lorne is a town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the Louttit Bay and Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road. At the had a population of 1,114. History Prior to British settlement, Lor ...
. The pair were married on 3 September 1983. 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 Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...
. After accepting a redundancy package from the Board of Works in February 1992, the Morcombe's purchased a
Jim's Mowing Jim's Mowing is a lawn care service Franchising, franchise which was founded in 1982 by Jim Penman. Penman initially launched it as a part-time gardening business while he was completing his PhD in history. He remains CEO of the group and active ...
franchise in Boronia. The couple later accepted an opportunity to swap the Boronia franchise with a regional franchiser territory based in and around Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Initially living at
Mountain Creek Mountain Creek is a ski resort in Vernon Township, New Jersey, Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. It is located on New Jersey Route 94 in the New York Metropolitan Area, from the George Wash ...
where their children attending nearby Mountain Creek State School, the family eventually settled at Palmwoods.


Murder of son

Morcombe's son Daniel was abducted from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast on 7 December 2003. 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. Following the arrest of
Brett Peter Cowan Brett Peter Cowan (born 18 September 1969) is an Australian murderer and serial child rapist. He was convicted of the murder of Daniel Morcombe, a 13-year-old boy who disappeared from the Sunshine Coast on 7 December 2003. His abduction led to ...
on 13 August 2011, some of Daniel Morcombe's remains were found at a search site at the Glasshouse Mountains on 21 August 2011. His funeral was held on 7 December 2012 at
Siena Catholic College Siena Catholic College, Queensland, Australia is a co-educational Catholic day college situated at Sippy Downs on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Opened in 1997, it caters for students in Years 7–12 and has an enrolment of approximately 1000 s ...
. Cowan's trial commenced on 10 February 2014, where he entered a plea of not guilty and refused to give evidence. Cowan was found guilty on 13 March 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Cowan appealed against his sentence but it was dismissed by the Queensland Court of Appeal on 21 May 2015. The
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...
dismissed a subsequent appeal on 11 March 2016.


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. 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. Morcombe has openly advocated for a publicly accessible
sex offender registry A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. Sex offender registration is usual ...
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. In 2019, he described the proposal as comparable to crocodile signage found in
Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...
, 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." 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 Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person, who at the age of 3 disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, Lagos, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007. ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...
, who disappeared from Portugal in 2007. 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. 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. 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. In December 2021, Morcombe called on Queensland premier
Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...
to instigate an independent review of forensic evidence from the investigation of the murder of Shandee Blackburn. In 2021, Morcombe appeared on the "Families of Missing Persons" edition of ''
You Can't Ask That ''You Can't Ask That'' is an Australian TV series created by ABC (Australian TV network), ABC Television that first went to air in August 2016. its seventh season is on air in Australia. The series took a rest in 2023, but is expected to retu ...
'' on ABC TV which first aired on 26 May 2021. Morcombe was angered by the release of '' The Stranger'' in 2022, a film directed by Thomas M. Wright and starring
Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is known for his portrayal of Will McGill on the first two seasons of the Australian drama series'' The Secret Life of Us'' (2001–02), and for playing Owen Lars in t ...
and
Sean Harris Sean Harris (born 1 June 1966) is an English actor. He played Ian Curtis in '' 24 Hour Party People'' (2002), Micheletto Corella in '' The Borgias'' (2011–2013), Fifield in ''Prometheus'' (2012), Solomon Lane in '' Mission: Impossible – R ...
, which is based on the undercover police investigation which led to the arrest of Brett Peter Cowan. 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.


Honours

In late 2011, Morcombe and his wife Denise were jointly named as Queensland
Australians of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...
, and as a result were nominated to become 2012 Australians of the Year, but lost to
Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...
. Morcombe was awarded a
Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...
in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of his service to the community relating to safety awareness programs for children. 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. In 2020, he was named as a Queensland Great.


See also

* Denise Morcombe


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morcombe, Bruce 1959 births Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Queensland Greats Australian activists Australian human rights activists