Where ever we walk some sort of crime is likely to have been committed in past years, centuries, or millennia – that is, if the concept of crime is part of the culture.
In the past week, Tasmanian police have been hopeful for a breakthrough in the search for Lucille Butterworth, a young woman who has been missing for almost half a century, believed murdered. Reports indicate that police ‘have the best lead yet with credible new information leading them to the lonely gravelled roadside area 8.5km from the Granton turn-off on the Lyell Highway’. The location is next to the Derwent River.
Having seen the latest news media photos, I remember walking this section of the road on my jaunt from Granton to New Norfolk. It was the section where no road verge offered protection from the traffic and I needed to walk on the tarmac. No sign of human habitation. Only vehicles with their racing drivers charging along the highway. I had no clairvoyant moments that day – I never felt the presence of anyone interred in the land nearby. But I hope the scientific and systematic exploration of the area between the road and the Derwent River will bring answers to the many questions which the family have lived with for decades.
Lucille disappeared at a time in history preceding the invasion of mobile phones. By all accounts she waited for a public bus in Hobart’s northern suburbs but the bus never arrived so she accepted a ride with someone in a passing car. These days, a person in a similar situation would simply phone a friend or a relative for help.
Should a blog reader have more information about Lucille Butterworth’s disappearance please contact Tasmania Police.
Walking the Derwent River 
About two months back I noticed a large section of the blackberry bushes had been cut down on the area beside the river close to the Black Snake Inn.
A few days later I saw a large number of people on the land, so went over to question what was happening.
As I got closer it was obvious they were Police, all they would tell me it was part of ongoing investigations.
A few days later I read in local news and on TV about the case being re opened, and put two and two together and felt the two issues were connected.
So it was with sadness and some relief I heard of the action you describe above.
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Thanks for your thoughts on this very sad affair. Most days are incredibly beautiful when you are next to or passing along our Derwent River and so I always hope that anyone inspired with evil thoughts is disengaged from acting on these; however there are always a few who it seems can’t be uplifted by beauty (and in this case, the photos of Lucille show she was a beauty as well). Someone knows exactly what happened in this circumstance, what they did and perhaps even why. It would be wonderful if such a person could now find the courage to bring it all out in the open. I live in hope.
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Interestingly we lived up Box Hill Road at the time that Lucille disappeared and it’s a name and occasion never forgotten
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Your comment makes me realise how easy it is for all of us to find connections here in Tassie. I guess I am always on the look out for connections.
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