“Hello, I’m Suzie Ratcliffe and my sister was kidnapped 42 years ago from the Adelaide Oval,” one family member introduced herself.

Ms Ratcliffe was the first to stand up from her chair at the end of the table in one of the hotel’s back rooms.

Her sister Joanne Ratcliffe, 11, and Kirste Gordon, 4, were snatched in 1973.

Daryl Floyd was next: “My name is Daryl Floyd and my brother was abducted in 1975.”

His brother Terry Floyd was 12 when he disappeared from the side of a highway at Avoca 40 years ago this year. 

We moved down the table to Peter and Sheila MacDiarmid, whose daughter Sarah MacDiarmid, 22, disappeared in 1990 from Kananook train station.

There was also Lyn Ireland, who came in the name of her sister Maureen Braddy, who along with boyfriend Allan Whyte, went missing in 1968 in Bendigo.

“Missed is one word, but murdered is the other,” Ms Ireland said. 

Then there were the relatives of missing persons whose cases are lesser known.

People like Andrew Williams, whose brother Matty Williams, 37, was missing for six days before he was found dead beside his car in Blackwood in December last year. His cause of death is unresolved.

Zee Meyer’s husband Warren Meyer disappeared on Easter Sunday, 2008, while walking in the Yarra Ranges. The disappearance of the father of two has just become a homicide probe.

“This is probably the most unique group of people that you will find in the country,” Mrs Meyer said as an aside before the formal introductions began.

“And we don’t have two heads; we’re normal people.”

Normal people with a horrible commonality.

“I look at all you beautiful people ... you know exactly what I’m talking about and we have to make sure changes are here for the families of people that go missing in the future,” Mrs Meyer told the group.

These relatives of 14 missing people, led by the tireless Mr Floyd, called for the establishment of a police liaison officer to become the central contact for families.

Currently, families find themselves chasing police officers for information on their cases.

They call stations and find their investigator has moved units or even retired, taking crucial information with them.

“Part of the breakdown is you don’t know where your file sits. Is it a missing persons file? Is it a homicide? Or is it a cold case?” Mr Floyd said.

When Maureen Braddy and Allan Whyte’s inquest finished in December, their families were at a loss as to where to go.

“We left the inquest and nobody told us what happens next. We’re ordinary people and we have to find out what to do,” one of Maureen’s six relatives told the group.

Mr Floyd said a liaison officer within the force could not only help families navigate through the system, but provide updates on their cases, even if there were none.

“It doesn’t matter if there is no update,” Mr Floyd said.

“The way families feel is if you don’t have contact, they aren’t cared about.” 

Mr Floyd, sitting alongside Ms Ratcliffe, tells her that his brother Terry would have been 52 on Saturday.

She tells him he could have had a few beers last night for his brother.

Mr Floyd agreed.

“I would’ve preferred to have been having a beer with him instead of being involved in all of this,” he said. 

• A picture of Daryl Floyd that appeared in The Courier on Saturday was incorrectly captioned as Charlie Bezzina.