IN Kendall, children ride their bikes and play in local parks with carefree innocence in a safe country town.
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On a Friday afternoons a group of around 30 children walk from school to the tennis courts for their weekly lessons and sports activities.
Local shopkeepers said they would say "G'Day" to the children every day they walked past.
Last Friday no one walked to tennis.
A tension has settled on the village since young William Tyrell disappeared on September 12. Parents and children are highly vigilant.
Children are being walked or driven to school or activities. A fortnight ago they would have walked or ridden a bike.
It's not only the parents operating at a heightened level of vigilance. Children are scared.
At a community briefing at Kendall Showground on Sunday September 21, children played, but didn't wander more than a few metres from their parents.
They came every few minutes to put a hand on their parents, a quick hug before going back to their friends.
When Camden Haven SES unit controller Paul Burg called for the meeting to begin, the children quickly sat in the centre, at the feet of detectives, local police, investigation specialists and emergency services to listen.
Police local area commander, Superintendent Paul Fehon, called the briefing to thank the Camden Haven community for the outpouring of support in the search and investigation to find William. Supt Fehon made clear from the outset he did not want to cause fear in the community, but awareness.
"There are a lot of unknowns baffling us at this stage. We have put a lot into this. We have come to the stage where we are going over the same ground and we're not finding anything," Supt Fehon said.
"You've heard the media that we've put out there in regard to whether young William was lost in the bush or whether young William succumbed to some other human intervention; of course I think that is the area that will be of most concern to you the community."
Close to 200 gathered for the briefing. There were few smiles, some tears and a tremendous sense of loss for little William's family.
Supt Fehon, who refers to the missing boy as "young William", said the support from the community had touched the hearts of William's family, police and emergency services.
"The SES, RFS, Surf Lifesaving volunteers and more importantly the township of Kendall rallied on that Friday afternoon," Supt Fehon said.
"On that weekend the greater community of the Camden Haven rallied out here to try and find young William.
"The tremendous effort of the people catering and the people who supplied all the food and drinks over the period has been astonishing. It did touch the hearts of the family in respect of how many people turned up and then to see how many people were supporting them throughout with donations of food, drinks or other resources.
"Thank you to all the volunteers that came and continue to come. You've kept all the people recharged out there over what has been quite a difficult period of searching."
After the meeting people gathered to talk to police, emergency services and other volunteers. Most wore a look of disbelief that a child could disappear without a trace, from Kendall.
Adam Graham and Cheryl Butler said while the formal search had ended, hope remained.
"None of us are giving up. Miracles happen and we're going to get one. We believe in the detectives that have trained for situations like this," Cheryl said.
Adam and his partner Kathy Pascoe helped in the search for several days.
"A lot of people have put their heart and soul into the search. It hit home to us. As a parent you think this could have been us, what if this was one of my kids?" Adam said.
"I sat in the bush until 3am hoping that a kid might cry out. I keep thinking what if this was my kid and I couldn't find them. I always tell my kids that dad will keep you safe, that dad will always find them, but what if we just can't.
"I went to school here and I know the bush pretty well so I thought I might be of some help. I keep rattling the whole thing over and over in my mind. When you think of the possibility that he might have been taken, you try and put yourself in the mind of someone to think like them and where they might be so you can find the little bloke, but how can you think like someone who would take a kid?"
Cheryl said the disappearance had changed Kendall.
"This is going to change everyone, change the town. Everyone is being more vigilant," she said.
"This takes the innocence away from a little town.
"There's not been a trace [of William]. We have to have faith in the detectives, they are the experts. Amateur speculation doesn't help."
If you have any information, please contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
