Sue MADDERN

Last seen: Tuesday, 9 August 2005
Year of birth: 1944
Height: 165cm
Build: Medium
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Grey
Complexion: Olive
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Feature:

Circumstances

Susan Maddern had been living on a farm in Western Creek after recently moving to Tasmania from Victoria. Susan was last seen along the Western Creek Road, Western Creek. It is believed that she wandered to bushland close by, and had become lost or disoriented.

Sunday, August 14, 2005. 9:00pm (AEST) - ABC News
No sign of missing Tas bushwalker

Searchers have found no sign of a bushwalker missing in rugged bushland in Tasmania's north.

Sixty-year-old Sue Maddern, who is said to be an experienced bushwalker, has been missing from her mobile home at Western Creek since Friday.

About 100 volunteers have been searching alongside police since then without success.

TASMANIAN police fear for the safety of a 60-year-old woman who has been missing for three nights in freezing conditions in the state's north.

Susan Maddern was last seen at her mobile home in the Western Creek area. She is believed to have taken a walk on Thursday evening and has not been seen since.
Search co-ordinator Detective-Sergeant Mike Gillies said night temperatures had since reached freezing point several times.

"Obviously the longer it goes on, the chances of finding her safe and well are diminished," he said.

"But we're still searching in the hope that she's found shelter and is waiting for searchers to arrive."

He said the area in which Ms Maddern was missing was a mixture of farmland and thick, sometimes impenetrable native scrub, making the search difficult.

Ms Maddern moved from Melbourne to Tasmania in March this year and was staying in her mobile home at her brother and sister's property.
She has a son and daughter in their 30s and three grandchildren. The family is in close contact with searchers.

Yesterday, 60 State Emergency Service volunteers and police searched the area, including 10 mounted officers.

Today, 50 search and rescue officers are continuing the search on foot.

The search will continue tonight and tomorrow, with no decision made on how long it will continue after that.

Ms Maddern is described as 165cm tall, of medium build, with greying shoulder-length hair. She is believed to be wearing a navy blue polar-fleece jacket and dark blue tracksuit pants.

Police believe the nights have been mild enough for Ms Maddern to survive, if she has become lost or injured.

The search will resume in the morning.

THE family of a woman missing in the state's North says the 60-year-old is a fit and competent bushwalker.

Susan Maddern was last seen at her mobile home in the Western Creek area, near Deloraine, on Tuesday.

She is believed to have taken a walk on Thursday evening and has not been seen again. The alarm was raised when Ms Maddern did not pick up her mail on Friday.

Her sister, Robyn McRae, said the situation was critical, especially with freezing conditions at the weekend.

"She is quite a strong, capable person so this gives us some hope for her survival," she told ABC-TV last night.

"I think something untoward must have happened and we are very anxious to see her."

Search co-ordinator Detective-Sergeant Mike Gillies said temperatures had fallen to freezing point several times over the weekend.

"Obviously the longer it goes on, the chances of finding her safe and well are diminished," he said.

Ms Maddern's family was overwhelmed with the response from volunteers who offered to search the area despite rain and low temperatures at the weekend.

About 60 State Emergency Service volunteers and police, including 10 mounted officers, searched the area over the weekend.

Other volunteers, including members of the Deloraine Ramblers Club, also combed the area for any sign of the missing woman.

Ms Maddern is described as 165cm tall, of medium build, with greying shoulder-length hair, and is believed to be wearing a navy blue polar-fleece jacket and dark blue tracksuit pants.

Police would like to speak with anyone who may have seen a woman fitting this description walking along Western Creek Road and Westrope Road at Western Creek between Wednesday and Friday of this week.

Monday, August 15, 2005. 7:17am (AEST)- ABC News
Police halt search for missing bushwalker

Tasmanian Police say they will not be searching today for a missing 60-year-old bushwalker.

Sue Madden has not been seen since last Friday.

Search and rescue volunteers spent the weekend looking unsuccessfully for the missing woman in rugged bush near Western Creek in the north of the state.

Constable Craig Verney from Police Rescue says the effort is being wound back and the searchers will be rested today.

He says the situation will be reassessed later tonight.

Search for woman scaled down

August 15, 2005 - The Daily Telegraph

THE search for a 60-year-old Tasmanian woman missing for at least four nights in freezing conditions has been scaled down.

Tasmania Police said today searchers had unsuccessfully followed all leads to find Susan Maddern, who was last seen at her mobile home in the Western Creek area, south-west of Launceston, on Tuesday.

Ms Maddern's brother, Laurie Goldsworthy, told The Examiner newspaper today he had last seen his sister on Tuesday night.

The most recent entry in her diary had been made at 11.15pm (AEST) on Thursday, he said.

More than 60 searchers and 10 mounted officers attempted to locate Ms Maddern throughout the weekend.

A police spokeswoman said today the search would not be resumed unless fresh information was received.

Ms Maddern moved from Melbourne to Tasmania in March this year and was staying in a mobile home on a property owned by her brother and sister.

She has a son and daughter in their 30s and three grandchildren.

Ms Maddern is described as 165cm tall, of medium build, with greying shoulder-length hair and is believed to be wearing a navy blue polar-fleece jacket and dark blue tracksuit pants.

AAP

Date published: Tuesday, August 16, 2005.
Author: LIBBY BINGHAM - The Advocate

Search to resume for missing woman
A SCALED-back search for a Melbourne grandmother, missing since Thursday in the Western Tiers south of Deloraine, was expected to resume at first light this morning.

While police hold fears for the safety of 60-year-old Susan Maddern, if she has taken shelter they believe she could still be found alive.

Police yesterday ruled out possible sightings of Ms Madden in the Western Creek Rd area after suspending the search to investigate the reports.

Today's search will target areas known to be of interest to Ms Maddern, a keen bushwaker, who has been living in a campervan at her brother Laurie Goldsworthy's Western Creek Rd property since March.

At the weekend, an extensive land and air search, involving 50 police, SES and volunteers, failed to find any trace of her.

Act. Insp. Peter McKenzie said police were confident the missing woman was not in the area so far searched.

"We had a large contingent of people who exhaustively line searched 12 square km around where she was living," he said.

"Others covered a large elevated area on horseback and an infra-red camera was used from the helicopter.

"We still believe we can find Ms Maddern alive if she has found shelter."

Insp. McKenzie said the nights were not bitterly cold, Ms Maddern was probably wearing a polar fleece and she was fit.

Ms Maddern was last seen by her brother's partner, Kristina Nicklason, on Tuesday but the lights in her campervan were seen on Wednesday night.

Police said Ms Maddern reportedly made an entry in her diary at 11.15p.m. on Thursday.

SES personnel were called away from the search for Ms Maddern on Sunday afternoon when a teenage boy went missing in snow at Ben Lomond and was found safe at 8.30p.m.

Weekend SES chief Sgt Mike Gillies said some of those searchers had been working since 5a.m.

Missing bushwalker's family to continue search

The family of a bushwalker missing in northern Tasmania is confident the 60-year-old woman is still alive.

Sue Maddern has been missing in the Western Creek area near Deloraine for a week.

Ms Maddern was reported missing by her family on Friday after she failed return from a bushwalk in the area.

More than 30 searchers looked for her again yesterday to no avail and police last night decided to suspend the seach until there is more information to act on.

While the decision has been accepted by her family, her brother Laurie Goldsworthy says they will continue to search by themselves.

"We're still following things up, we haven't given up yet, we need to find her one way or another," he said.

Mr Goldsworthy says he is grateful for the police and volunteers for their efforts, but he feels Ms Maddern is still alive.

Tiers search fruitless
By NICK CLARK - The Mercury
17aug05
POLICE and volunteers yesterday searched rough terrain at the foot of the Great Western Tiers for a bushwalker missing since last week.

Acting Sgt Russell Judges, of Deloraine, and another policeman walked the Western Creek track up into the Tiers and returned late yesterday without finding any trace of the missing woman.

Information was being evaluated as to whether to continue the search for Sue Maddern, said acting Sgt Judges.

Another group, which included Ms Maddern's brother Laurie Goldsworthy and search and rescue personnel, searched the bush area off Western Creek Rd.

Friends and family believe the track may hold the clues to the whereabouts of Ms Maddern, 60.

Kevin Knowles, of Western Creek, said Ms Maddern was a frequent walker on the track where she gathered specimens for use in painting.

He said she would collect invertebrates and examine them under a microscope before integrating them in paintings.

Ms Maddern's sister, Robin, said the paintings illustrated her affinity for the track.

"Her specialty was insects, which she painted in precise detail," she said.

"She had worked with entomologists who wanted her as an artist in residence at an upcoming conference."

She had done about 30 paintings with themes mostly involving flora and fauna.

"She has had a long history of coming here since Laurie [Goldsworthy, her brother] moved here in 1981," Ms Maddern's sister said.

She arrived from Victoria in March and was living in a mobile home on Mr Goldsworthy's property.

Mr Goldsworthy and police searched an area south of the Western Creek track in case she had not made it as far as the track itself.

The track is not far from the Mother Cummings peak, the scene of forestry protests several years ago.

The steep terrain and the moss-covered rocks make it a treacherous walk through thick bush.

Although the track is marked, a number of fallen trees could cause users to wander off the track.

Mr Knowles said a search had been conducted around the Goldsworthy property on Friday.

Ms Maddern's footprints had been found in snow, he said.

Her movements had been known until 11.15pm on Thursday.

She is described as 165cm tall, and of medium build with greying shoulder-length hair. She was believed to be wearing a navy blue polar fleece jacket and a dark blue pair of tracksuit pants.