For 40 years, Samantha Knight’s family has had no grave to visit. Waverley Cemetery near Clovelly is now being considered for a memorial to the nine-year-old whose remains have never been found.
A plaque at the cemetery’s Ivy Wall is among the options being examined following the 40th anniversary of Samantha’s disappearance.
The proposal has the support of her mother, Tess Knight, and former school friends, with Samantha’s family to be consulted as plans are considered.
A Place Where There Has Been No Grave
Samantha disappeared from Bondi after school on 19 August 1986, aged nine. Extensive searches followed, but her body was never recovered.
For her family, that has also meant four decades without a burial place or gravesite associated with Samantha.
The absence of those usual places and rituals is part of what The Missed Foundation describes as ambiguous loss.
Founding chief executive Loren O’Keefe has explained that families of long-term missing people can experience grief differently when there is no certainty, funeral, burial or grave to visit.
Some families in those circumstances find comfort in memorial plaques, which can provide a physical place connected to the person who remains missing.
That gives the proposed Waverley Cemetery plaque a different role from a conventional gravesite. If it proceeds, it could provide Samantha’s family and those who knew her with a dedicated place bearing her memory despite her remains never having been found.
Four Decades Since Samantha Disappeared
Samantha was last seen at about 4.15pm on 19 August 1986.
Her disappearance drew an extensive search and affected the wider Waverley community, where residents came together hoping the child would be found and returned safely to her family.
Michael Guider later pleaded guilty to Samantha’s manslaughter and was sentenced in 2002.
A judge found that Guider had taken Samantha to a location and given her sleeping medication, most probably intending to take indecent photographs. She stopped breathing and he disposed of her body.
Guider received a 17-year sentence, having already been jailed for sex offences against 13 children. Samantha’s remains were never recovered.
He died at Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick on 7 September 2024, aged 73.
Ivy Wall Among Memorial Options
The 40th anniversary has now renewed consideration of how Samantha can be remembered without a gravesite.
Waverley Council has committed to investigating a memorial in consultation with her family, with the Ivy Wall at Waverley Cemetery among the locations being considered.
No memorial has yet been finalised.
For Samantha’s family, the proposal could provide something that has been absent since 1986: a dedicated place to visit in her memory.
Published 25-August-2026
