But three years ago, her family was contacted by a woman in Fiji who claimed to be their missing child.
Now her family is on an international mission to find her and, maybe, bring her home to Australia.
Alimah Bowia was eight years old when she disappeared from a beach on Thursday Island.
The family did not know what happened and nothing was heard from their missing child for over 50 years.
Her cousin, Milton Savage, says her disappearance was a complete shock for the family and the island's community.
"For our culture here, our family we have this trust, kids can go down and walk on the beach, everyone will know where everyone is ... How can a child have been taken away from our doorstep?"
But in 2014, Mr Savage was contacted by a Fijian woman who claimed she was his long-lost cousin, Alimah.
At the time, she was living under the name of Flosy Ganier and was in a Brisbane prison awaiting deportation back to Fiji.
She was deported to Fiji by Australian officials, but Flosy Ganier still says she was the girl who was kidnapped from Thursday Island.
"Two men approached Aunty Margaret Bowia with boxes of food or something in the box and they ask us kids if we want some lollies and they gave us some lollies and he picked me and said if I want more ... so I followed him. And when I followed him, went into the boat and they locked me up in one room."
She says she was abused on the boat and taken to Fiji, where she was prostituted and eventually sold to a Fijian man who became her husband.
She says on her husband's death bed five years ago, he wrote a letter stating that she was actually Alimah Bowia.
She has also signed a statutory declaration detailing her story, offering details of the day she was abducted and her life on Thursday Island.
Since being deported to Fiji in 2014, Ms Ganier has made attempts to get a passport in Alimah's name and return to Australia.
However her requests have been denied by the Australian High Commission in Fiji.
Three years have passed since Flosy Ganier first made contact with her family, so Milton Savage and his friend, Charles Passi, travelled to Fiji to meet her.
Mr Passi says if she is Alimah, she has to be returned to her family.
"It's something that needs to be done. We need to get her back to her country, join her back with her people and complete not only her wish but the wish of her family to have her back again."
But when the pair met her, they became unsure about whether she really was their relative.
"When I first met up with Alimah in Fiji I couldn't get that connection, couldn't get that connection, and it was hard for me to relate to her."
The family has done DNA tests, which originally gave them hope, but DNA expert, Associate Professor Peter Gunn, says the test they took cannot claim to be a definitive answer.
"You can use DNA testing to tell if people might be half-sisters, and the DNA testing will give you some weight as to the strength of that phrase 'might be'. You can never prove absolutely that they are or that they are not half-sisters but you can get some evidence which really helps you make that decision."
Alimah's sister, Norah, has been sending money to Fiji to support Alimah, but Mr Savage said the family has to be careful.
"This is where I said to Charles, wow we have to be really careful, like we don't want to be harbouring international fraud."
Professor Gunn says the only way to prove Flosy Ganier is Alimah Bowia is to have a mitochondrial DNA test.
But until that happens, Flosy Ganier remains in Fiji.
Mr Passi was interviewed by Australian Immigration officials about Alimah, and he and Mr Savage continue to investigate whether Alimah may have been taken to Fiji.
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