When Eric Hayward looks at the symbol of the lion and unicorn on the facade of Perth's grand, old Supreme Court building, he sees a mythical creature, a foreign icon, and an unfulfilled promise.
"It's like a symbol of our people, including my sister, having a real disconnect between what the system says justice is, and what we actually get," said Mr Hayward, a Noongar man and lawyer based in Perth.
This month marks five years since his sister, 34-year-old Rebecca Hayward, was last seen walking on a remote roadside north of Alice Springs in January 2017. She has never been found.
Mr Hayward has recently returned to Perth after two years living in Alice Springs where, frustrated with the official police investigation into her mysterious disappearance, he took the search for answers into his own hands.
"I had to find out, I had to go and walk on that country. I can still picture that red dirt and the landscape. Beautiful country — but not ours," he said.
"I spoke to the lead detective, I spoke to community members, I spoke to people in Alice Springs.
"And my understanding of it was that they gave up far too easy."
Mr Hayward says his sister was a warm, happy-go-lucky woman who loved to laugh and could strike up a conversation with anyone. She was an emerging artist and a talented netballer.
But he says racial discrimination makes the justice system dismissive of cases involving Aboriginal women like Rebecca.
"This is the experience that I've had talking to other Aboriginal people from around Australia, is that the police give up real quick."
According to the Australian Federal Police, Rebecca was last seen walking on the Stuart Highway, about 15km north of Alice Springs, on January 2, 2017.
She had arrived in Alice Springs the previous day and was staying with a family member.
Mr Hayward says his sister had moved to the Northern Territory for a fresh start.
"She was very unhappy. She had separated from her partner. She didn't have children in her care. Her life was falling apart," he said.
"It's very difficult for traumatised people to break away from the type of networks and people that they hang out with and change, and I think she went to Alice Springs because she wanted to change where she was heading in life."
Timeline of January 2, 2017
On the evening that she arrived in Alice Springs, Rebecca disappeared from the house where she was staying with family. She answered a phone call from her concerned father, also named Eric, and told him she was going for a walk.
It was the last time she would speak to family or friends, and the last phone call she made or received.
Mr Hayward says she would have looked very out of place, wearing a singlet, shorts and thongs as she walked in unfamiliar country.
Shortly after 8am the next day, some doctors travelling along the highway stopped and gave her water but she declined their offer to drive her home.
"A car full of men and an Aboriginal woman on her own? No, that's not safe so she didn't take that option," Mr Hayward said.
Although the Australian Federal Police put the last sighting of Rebecca around 8:30am, a 2020 coroner's report says one witness also saw her near the turn-off to Bond Springs Station. That location is about 5km from the turn-off to the Tanami Road, which leads to the community of Yuendumu. Another witness said they saw her before the turn-off around the same time.
Mr Hayward says the Tanami Road intersection is a busy area with traffic moving to and from nearby communities, including Yuendumu. He does not believe the questioning of communities in the area was extensive enough.
He says he was not able to enter the communities to ask questions himself because, as a Noongar man, it is not culturally appropriate and he would need to have trusted contacts and permissions.
While living in Alice Springs, Mr Hayward retraced Rebecca's footsteps along the red, dusty roadside where she was last seen.
"It's hard country out there. There's water if you know where to find it and the local people do. But for an outsider, it's a harsh place."
However, Mr Hayward says he had considered, but dismissed, the possibility that Rebecca could have died of natural causes in the harsh conditions, partly because her body had never been found.
Her death is suspicious: Hayward
He says he found water alongside the Stuart Highway that he thinks would have been enough to keep her alive.
Mr Hayward is sure Rebecca's death was suspicious.
He says living in Central Australia had taught him the importance of speaking up, and to keep pushing authorities.
In 2019 he called for a coroner's inquest into her death.
Her disappearance and presumed death were considered by the Northern Territory Coroner in a 2020 report. But the coroner concluded her death was likely due to environmental exposure and decided that an inquest would not be held.
"If that's what happened to my sister, OK, but where's the evidence of the body?" Mr Hayward said.
"At least I tried, I can say that I went over there and I walked on that land where she went missing. I talked to as many people as I could. But there's still no closure. And somebody knows something out there."
He knows his experience of frustration with an apparent lack of concern for the welfare of missing Aboriginal women and children is not rare.
A Senate Inquiry approved in November will investigate how police handle cases involving Aboriginal women and children, and the systemic causes of violence.
Mr Hayward hopes it will quantify the number of First Nations women who are missing or have been murdered and the impact of intergenerational trauma.
There is currently no national database to track the number of deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women.
"I'm going to keep fighting for my family and my mob. And we have to keep pursuing justice to the nth degree.
"If it's to our last breath, then that's what we're going to have to do — keep going because you have to be persistent with the system to get results."
NT Police say investigation was thorough
Northern Territory Police declined to be interviewed about the progress of the case but provided a statement that said the disappearance of Rebecca Hayward was thoroughly investigated with multiple land and air searches, including in the community of Yuendumu.
"Remote officers in Yuendumu were comprehensive in their questioning to community members, and in the years after her disappearance areas of interest were searched again," Michael White, Northern Territory Police Assistant Commissioner of Crime, Intelligence and Capability said.
"During the investigation, police worked with interstate agencies to exhaust all avenues and investigated all new reports and information received as to the alleged whereabouts of Ms Hayward."
He said large media campaigns, including Missing Persons Week, were used to seek public information on the first and second anniversaries of her disappearance.
"As with all missing person reports, Northern Territory Police placed considerable effort and resources into the search for Ms Hayward," the statement said.
The case is currently with the Northern Territory Police Cold Case Taskforce.
