'WE'RE LIGHTING A CANDLE FOR WILLIAM'

It's been a decade since the little boy vanished without a trace

- Emma Babbington, Harry Mulholland

Alice Collins, who headed up the "Where's William?" campaign, can still remember the first time she saw pictures of the sweet little boy in a Spider-Man suit.

It was mid-September in 2014 and she was turning off her phone ahead of a flight to London when she saw images of the missing toddler across her social media feed.

Hoping there would be good news by the time she turned it back on, like so many other Australians she was heartbroken when it became clear over the coming days and weeks that William's shock disappearance wouldn't be quickly resolved.

Ten days later the Sydney executive, who runs a public relations company with her mother Clare, was contacted by a former colleague, who explained that she was a close friend of the missing boy's mum later to be revealed as his foster mother - and asking if they might be able to help.

"It was a horrible rainy day and I remember opening the front door and there was this broken woman standing before me," says Alice.

HEARTACHE & HOPE

"That afternoon was an incredibly emotional experience. In our work we speak to many people who have lost loved ones but this was the first time it was from the perspective of someone who had been a victim of crime and [from] the extreme heartache and desperation of William's mother."

Over the hours, the women talked about how best to mobilise resources to help bring William home.

Several months later, on June 26, William's fourth birthday, the official Where's William? campaign was launched to provide the community with more information, keep his disappearance in the public eye and hopefully encourage anyone with knowledge of what happened to come forward.

A few months later, keen to keep momentum going, the first Walk 4 William event took place on the one year anniversary of William's disappearance on September 12, 2014.