Boy declared dead after 68 years silence

The younger sister of a Wellington boy who disappeared without a trace 68 years ago is relieved a "very, very tragic" family story has come to an end.

Nine-year-old Ronald "Ronnie" Alfred Oldham was last seen playing alone at the Miramar Wharf in Wellington on the evening of February 17, 1941.

Police believed Ronnie fell from the wharf, hit his head and drowned, but his body was never found.

This week, Ronnie was officially declared dead by Wellington Coroner Garry Evans.

Ronnie's sister Maureen Boyd said the decision had given her family much needed closure.

"I feel he has come up with the right decision, we can now move on," she told NZPA.

Mrs Boyd first appealed to the Coroner's Court in 1985 but the inquiry was never completed.

"I've tried twice unsuccessfully to have something done about this and twice I've had doors shut in my face," she said.

"The police virtually had not record of him."

Newspaper clippings detailing Ronnie's disappearance were the only physical evidence available to the court.

Mrs Boyd said her parents never gave up hope of finding Ronnie but "deep down they knew he wasn't coming back".

"You know, hope springs eternal.

"I was two days under one year (old) when he went missing ... my father apparently never lived to the fullest from that day and my mother just pushed herself into work -- that was their way of grieving."

Mrs Boyd said she "really had no feelings" about her brother because she had no memory of him but she had always felt a sense of loss.

"It's been a very, very sad thing all my young life, even after my parents' death I kept their family home ... had there been any contact the mail would automatically been transferred to me."

If Ronnie showed up now, aged 77, she would probably tell him to "p-off", she said.

"Well, if he hadn't had amnesia, at nearly 10 years of age he would have known his name and where he lived.

"I can't see him being alive, not in that day and age, the beginning of the war."

In his report Mr Evans said the "thunder of silence" was the investigation's most distinguishing feature.

"The court is satisfied on the evidence before it that Ronnie must be presumed to be dead."

"That's it, that door is closed, we get on with our lives," Mrs Boyd said.

- NZPA