Australia's first stand-alone forensics laboratory focused on cold cases and enigmatic human remains

They are some of the most heartbreaking situations in Australia — the missing persons, the enigmatic skeletons, the human remains languishing in shipping containers and storage facilities in the farthest reaches of the nation.

Who are they and where did they come from?

It's a query that bothers DNA expert Jodie Ward, who has opened Australia's first stand-alone forensics laboratory in an effort to discover.

"There are Australian families who are obsessed with the fact that there are hundreds of unidentified human remains here in Australia … is their missing loved one on that list?" Dr Ward says.

"With the technologies available for forensic science, I don't believe we can leave any case as cold anymore, and we need to be throwing everything at them to attempt to get some answers.

"Our aim is to provide specialist forensic testing methodologies for identification, some of which are not yet available here in Australia, and make the playing field equal regarding who can access it," she says.

The laboratory, set up as a social enterprise model, will provide the police with an alternative for forensic testing outsourcing, to accelerate investigations.

It will also offer private investigators and families a channel through which to access evidence, beyond police investigations.

Martin Hodgson, a human rights campaigner, states the establishment of an independent forensics service was overdue.

"It's not solely criminal investigations — many people don't appreciate the number of First Nations people who were relocated to missions or killed, and their remains are in boxes in police stations or universities or buried in the wrong location," Mr Hodgson states.

"To have an independent agency that can assist us with verifying the identity of individuals could really be a game changer."

Hundreds of skeletons under investigation

The amount of sets of unidentified human remains in Australia is hard to estimate, as they are associated with a broad variety of situations.

Some are the remains of individuals who were killed in wars and natural catastrophes, and others are Indigenous Australians whose skeletons were stolen and sold by collectors.

Few are allocated to police to investigate, typically because they have been recently discovered or there are suspicious conditions.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed there are about 700 sets of remains currently under investigation by police forces across the country.

In 2020, the first concerted effort was made to harness new forensic technology to systematically test and catalogue the backlog of bones.

Jodie Ward collaborated with the AFP to develop the National DNA Program for Missing and Unidentified Persons, and it was able to test 99 of the unidentified remains forensically.

That matched 19 with long-term missing persons, closing cases for families who had endured years of not knowing.

But the program funding ran out in 2024 and Dr Ward is now collaborating with the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at Adelaide University to develop an independent forensics unit.

It puts Australia on par with nations such as the USA, where investigators of every description can order forensic work to help advance legal cases, clarify historical burial grounds, and restrict the identity of mystery remains