Some anniversaries hit harder than others.
It's been 40 long years since Dorothy Mulquiney last saw her daughter Megan, and remembering her each year has become a kind of ritual.
But there was something extra emotional about the 40th anniversary of Megan's disappearance.
Mrs Mulquiney suddenly felt the weight of all the years that have passed, and few she may have left to wait.
"For some reason, this anniversary knocked the socks off me," she said.
"I thought, 'It's been nearly half my life we've been waiting'."
It was July 28, 1984, and Megan was just 17 when she finished her Saturday shift at Big W in the Woden Plaza and made her way to the bus interchange.
Her home, in Canberra's south, was just a few streets away. But Megan never made it onto the bus.
Her mother was instantly worried when Megan didn't come home, and called police later that afternoon.
But Megan had vanished without a trace. There have been no leads in the four decades since.
The only prime suspect in the case, serial rapist Paul Vincent Phillips, has been definitively ruled out, and there has been no new information relating to the case.
Phillips, a violent offender who lived in Canberra at the time of Megan's disappearance, had assaulted several young women, including a 17-year-old in the Woden Plaza car park just months after Megan disappeared.
He spent most of his adult life in prison, and died in 2018, having repeatedly insisting he had nothing to do with what happened to Megan.
Police reopened the case the same year, hoping in the wake of his death, someone might be willing to come forward with new information, but they have since been unable to link him in any way to Megan.
Detective Acting Inspector Adam Rhynehart said the investigation into Megan's disappearance remained open.
"While there have been no new developments in the last 12 months, police continue to follow up every lead that is provided," he said.
"Community assistance is paramount in long-term missing persons cases, and any information could be the missing piece to the puzzle, which is why weeks like National Missing Persons Week is so important as it gives police a chance to engage with the community about all of our long-term missing persons."
Dorothy Mulquiney, now 78, had always believed Megan had accepted a lift from someone she knew, and that it was too far-fetched to imagine her being taken in broad daylight.
But as the years went on, she said the main thing she worried about was she may never know the truth of what happened to Megan.
"I just hope I don't die before they find Megan's remains or find out what happened to her," she said.
And there are Megan's two younger siblings, Karen and Michael, to consider, too.
Mrs Mulquiney lives at the same address as when Megan disappeared, in a granny flat with her son in the house with his own family.
"Michael really feels it," she said.
"He and his mate had been going to meet Megan at the bus but it rained, and I told him not to go outside. He's always had the feeling that if they'd been there, it wouldn't have happened."
Mrs Mulquiney said she had made arrangements for what needed to be done for Megan if she were no longer around to get the news.
"I've been through everything. I wanted to have everything mapped out, but I would like to be the one who's there," she said.
Megan would be turning 58 in November.
Mrs Mulquiney said each time she heard of a person going missing in Australia, she felt for the family.
"People are being found now, that at least is good," she said. Megan disappeared in a time with no CCTV or mobile phones, and it would be almost impossible to disappear so completely without a trace nowadays.
"I'm glad families today have that luck," she said.
"I just hope my luck changes. And I just don't want people to forget her."
Police are calling for anyone with any information relating to Megan's disappearance to come forward.
"No matter how small you may think it is, it may just be the piece that provides Megan's family with the long-awaited answers they deserve," Detective Acting Inspector Rhynehart said.
