'Our last chance': Pop-up DNA centre draws hundreds searching for missing relatives

A world-first pop-up DNA collection centre has been inundated by the families of missing people wanting to volunteer their samples.

The NSW Police Missing Persons Registry is hoping familial DNA may help to identify more than 300 unidentified bones and bodies found in NSW since 1964.

Susan Boxsell was the first person through the doors on the centre in Coffs Harbour today.

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Her brother Ronald "Ronny" Pye went missing in Hervey Bay in 1967, never returning to his Arncliffe home in Sydney.

"This is my last opportunity to do what I can do," she said.

Missing Persons Registry boss Detective Inspector Glen Browne welcomed families at the door before guiding them through to a room where they were interviewed before providing a buccal swab.

"It is our last chance, probably the only chance we have left to link up long-term missing persons with unidentified remains," he said.

Father and son Craig and Peter Bradridge provided samples but also came with a lock of hair and the wisdom teeth of Rodney Bradridge.

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Rodney, a musician who had lived in Dee Why on Sydney's Northern Beaches, was due to meet his mother at the end of a camping trip at Mullumbimby in 1997.

He vanished without a trace, and police and his family fear he met with foul play.

His brother Craig said he felt mixed emotions being at the centre but was hopeful.

"Mixed feelings but at the same time closure would be beneficial to not knowing," he told 9News.

"To be able to pay our final respect would be fantastic."

His father Peter said it was hard to hope too much.

"You get to a stage where it's overwhelming," he said.

"You don't want to hope too much because you get your hopes up and then they are dashed again."

Malila Howell's daughter Rose went missing near Bellingen in 2003 after she was last seen hitchhiking. A coroner found it was likely she was killed by someone.

Ms Howell attended the pop-up centre and said she was comforted police were still looking at ways to find missing people.

"(Rose) went to Bellingen to give out birthday invitations and never came back," she said.

Police have likened the coastal area between Newcastle and Byron to the Bermuda triangle, with almost 200 unsolved missing persons cases — 50 per cent more than any other region in NSW.

The number of missing people made Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie the natural choice for the pilot program.

There are nearly 800 long-term missing person cases in NSW but many lack DNA samples from close relatives.

Detective Inspector Browne was adamant the swabs taken would be only used to help find missing people.

"There is no chance we can match their DNA against crime scenes, legally we can't," he said.

"The sole objective of this program is to try and get a match and try to bring closure to those families with long term missing family members."

Collection of familial DNA is the latest tool being used to help investigate missing people but won't provide all answers.

Police say there is still detective work required to put all the pieces together in identifying remains and understanding the circumstances behind their deaths.

Any relatives are welcome to attend the Coffs Harbour community centre on February 9 or to volunteer samples at the Historic Courthouse in Port Macquarie on February 10 and 11.