Hi,
My Grandmother Violet Maude Boyes (sister of Nona) searched her whole life as well for her mother 'Warrell' and my mother. Another daughter of Warrell, my Aunty Dolly (Dorothy) also searched her whole life and obviously Aunty Nona as well. I grew up with all the stories and I suspect she never made it to Sydney.
The letter Aunty Dolly put in the paper asking Irene Warrell to contact her was because someone had thought they saw her in Murwillumbah and the gossip traveled to Aunty Dolly. I spent some time with Aunty Dolly as a child.
Sarah Irene Warrell (went by the name Warrell) Pinkstone, was my great grandmother and she was born in Warrell Creek, NSW. (near Macksville and Nambucca Heads ).
It's quite the mystery because she wrote a farewell letter, which I read about 40 years ago - saying she's was leaving because of the untrue gossip (was it really her who wrote the letter?) we may never know. It did say that if anyone wanted to contact her to put it into the Sydney paper on the first of the month and she would read it. I met her sister in law (supposedly her best friend) when I was young with my mother and grandmother. Her sister in law refused to discuss her other than Warrell first asked the taxi diver to take her to the train station and then asked the taxi driver to take her back to her children (that she couldn't leave her babies)... and then we were told our visit was over because she didn't want to talk about her anymore ...hmm... but Warrell was never seen again so how could she know that she asked the taxi to take her back? As horrible as it seems, I truly suspect my great grandmother was murdered, quite possibly very close to her home. We need to look into cold cases with the police in the area where they lived. The children were sent to grow up in the convent after she disappeared.
Jo-Anne
