JENI BINDON made the long pilgrimage from Sydney to South Fremantle last week, hoping she would find clues to the whereabouts of her long lost son, Ashley.

Eleven years ago the talented 25-year-old actor had taken a sabbatical from work and was exploring Australia—inspired by the writings of ‘60s beatnik Jack Kerouac—when he disappeared.

He was last seen in Darwin, but the year before he’d visited a friend in Fremantle and he became a mainstay in the local arts and skateboarding scene.

“My son was really artistic and loved his time in Fremantle,” Ms Bindon says.

“He got really into skateboarding and made a short film about it while he was there.

“I know that scene is quite tight-knit, so hopefully someone might see the poster and remember him.

• Jeni Bindon beside a poster of her lost son in South Fremantle. Photo by Dale Neill

“I’m hoping they might have some small piece of information that could help solve the mystery about what happened to my son.”

Far from being troubled and down on his luck, Ashley was, says Ms Bindon, an arts graduate and successful actor, winning an AFI award and working with the Sydney Theatre Company.

He’d also dipped his toe into the world of directing and entered a short film into Tropfest Australia.

Ms Bindon says like most artistic types he was a bit of a deep-thinker and could be subdued, but there was no sign of an imminent implosion.

“He was just in his mid-20s, at a bit of a cross-roads, and told me that he fancied ‘a bit of an adventure’ and went travelling,” she says.

“My father was in the navy and told Ashley about his experience travelling on cargo ships. So I don’t know if that ties in with his last sighting in Darwin—who knows.”

After 11 years of devastating silence, Ms Bindon has not giving up hope of finding her son: last week she visited his friend’s house in South Fremantle and hung posters of Ashley around surrounding streets.

Ashley disappeared the same week his counter-culture idol, Hunter S Thompson, died.

“As a mother you never give up,” she says. “We were very close and I miss him terribly.”

If you have any information contact Ms Bindon at http://www.ashbindon.blogspot.com

by STEPHEN POLLOCK