SID Breeden’s quest to find the girls featured in his father’s film at the Miss Busselton Sunshine Quest circa 1958 has resulted in success.
Mr Breeden said he had a great response from the article published in the Mail (dated May 18) and was able to locate the winner of the event which was held on January 25, 1959.
The winner Marie Hornibrook (now Rodda) thought she was 18 at the time and had entered the competition with another girl from Capel.
“I found out about Mr Breeden’s quest from my sister who lives in Busselton,” she said.
“I thought good lord talk about dragging up the past.”
The identify of seven of the fourteen photographs including a man, which Mr Breeden was told could be Alf Bussell or Bill Hughes, still remains a mystery.
Old newspaper clippings Mr Breeden received about the event helped identify the women but he was unable to identify one Busselton lass Barbara Dunnett.
The article revealed the entrants came from Busselton, Perth and several South West inland areas, that each entrant was over 17, unmarried and a resident of WA.
The article also mentioned there were 14 competitors but Mr Breeden could only count 13 girls in the film.
The five finalists in the quest were June Scott (Elgin), Heather McKenzie from Capel, Pat Gahan (Snowden) from Busselton, an unknown runner up and the winner Marie Hornibrook (Rodda).
Mr Breeden said he found out that Ms Scott was killed in a car accident in 1960 and Ms Gahan’s parents had built Restawhile on Caves Road which was the first motel in WA.
The winners were presented with their sash and prizes by Stewart Bovell who was yet to be knighted by the Queen at a ceremony in Canberra.
The other young women who were identified from the photographs included Joy Gill (Kerr), Margaret Burge (Dadley), Lorraine Torrent (Frisina) and Barbara Dunnett (Fairclough)..
The event was part of the Festival of Busselton which was organised by Rotary Club and the winner and runner up were driven around Churchill Park in open cars the following Monday.
Ms Hornibrook went on to the Miss Sunshine Quest finals at Cottesloe beach with other finalists from around WA and now lives in South Perth.
Mr Breeden would still like to identify the other women in the film and would like people to contact him if they can help by phoning 08 9341 3343 or emailing sid.breeden@bigpond.com.