The mysterious disappearance of the three Beaumont children from Glenelg beach in 1966 will be the subject of a new opera to be staged in Adelaide in 2016. SINGular Productions, in partnership with State Opera of South Australia, will create a new Australian opera, Innocence Lost, adapted from the novel Time’s Long Ruin by Adelaide author, Stephen Orr.

The opera will be “loosely based” on the disappearance of the three children with the creators saying that the new work will be “a story about friendship, love and loss; a story about those left behind, and how they carry on: searching, the disappointments, the plans and dreams that are only ever put on hold.”

Jane Beaumont (aged 9), Arnna Beaumont (aged 7), and Grant Beaumont (aged 4) were three siblings collectively known as the Beaumont children who disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia on Australia Day,1966. Their case resulted in one of the largest police investigations in Australian criminal history and remains one of Australia’s most infamous cold cases. A trail of dead ends including fabricated letters supposedly from one of the children and a psychic investigation that made world headlines kept the media circus going for several years.

The significance of the case in Australian criminal history, and the fact that their disappearance has never been explained, has kept the story in the press on a regular basis ever since. Social commentators have come to view it as a crucial event in the evolution of Australian society, leading to a significant change in the way people supervised their children.

Adam Goodburn, one of the founding members of SINGular Productions agrees with that perspective saying, “Innocence Lost is a story that is speaks to the South Australian audience as well as to the nation. It is set in a time of Adelaide’s history when doors were left unlocked and kids went to the beach alone.”

Adelaide based composer, Anne Cawrse (some of whose music can be heard here), will compose the new work. “To have the opportunity to provide the musical landscape for such a profoundly moving and heartbreaking story is both a challenge and a privilege,” she says.

The State Opera of South Australia have also come on-board. Artistic Director, Timothy Sexton says, “State Opera is very keen to be involved in this project. I think that the work has the potential to be a very special one indeed. It’s a tragic, real and confronting story. Anne Cawrse’s music will bring the right colour and temperament to the story.”

The libretto has already been drafted and the music is currently being composed with the aim that the opera will premiere in 2016 – the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of the Beaumont children.