New opera to be based on Beaumont children disappearance Arna, Grant Beaumont and Jane Beaumont disappeared from Glenelg in 1966 and have never been found. An opera based on the Beaumont children is being developed to premiere for the 50th anniversary of their disappearance in 2016. Adelaide ensemble SINGular Productions and State Opera Company have received a $100,000 major commission grant from Arts SA to create the work, called Innocence Lost. The opera is being adapted from Adelaide author Stephen Orr's novel Time's Long Ruin, a fictionalised account of the three siblings' disappearance as seen through the eyes of a neighbouring child, and the impact it had on a society which previously considered itself safe. SINGular Productions co-founder Adam Goodburn, who has written the libretto, said the story would speak to South Australian audiences in particular. "It is set in a time of Adelaide's history when doors were left unlocked and kids went to the beach alone," Mr Goodburn said. I was really keen on finding something which was an Australian story that people could access easily ... with the idea that we might draw an audience that may not normally come and see an opera. Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse will write the music. Nine-year-old Jane Beaumont, her sister Arnna, 7, and brother Grant, 4, failed to return from a trip to Glenelg beach on Australia Day, 1966. No trace of them has ever been found and the case remains unsolved. Like Orr's novel, the opera changes the children's names, their personalities and the setting to Semaphore Beach. "One of the concerns I had when I was initially working on the piece was that people might draw too close a comparison to the true story," Mr Goodburn said. There are lots of other aspects that are fictional as well. Performance workshops will be held in 2014 and 2015 with the aim of presenting the finished opera to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the children's disappearance.