There’s been a major development in the search for two girls abducted from Adelaide Oval more than half a century ago, with police now in possession of a piece of bone found during a dig for clues in South Australia’s mid-north.

Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon haven’t been seen since they were taken from Adelaide Oval in 1973.

Now, a bone fragment located in the small town of Yatina at a property formerly owned by Stanley Arthur Hart has been passed on to major crime detectives. 

Private investigators, who consider Hart a prime suspect in the 1973 abduction case, discovered the bone. 

They had the bone tested by a forensic anatomist, who says he’s 90 per cent certain it’s part of a small human pelvis which appears to be embedded with glass.

South Australia Police have previously ruled out Hart as a suspect, but today said: “Should the bone be identified as human remains, further investigations will be undertaken to determine whether it relates to the disappearance.”

Police also warned against drawing premature conclusions, adding: “The mere identification of the bone as human remains does not confirm that it is the remains of either Joanne or Kirste.”

Officers say they can’t give a timeline as to when the results of the testing will be known.