A NSW man and a woman in New Zealand have been arrested for the murder of a two-year-old girl more than 30 years ago.

Police arrested a 70-year-old man in the NSW central tablelands on Tuesday and applied for the extradition of a 59-year-old woman who was arrested in New Zealand.

The Homicide Squad commander, Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, praised the efforts of investigators during the past two years.

“These allegations were only brought to the attention of NSW Police in October 2019, and it is due to the tenacity and dedication of our officers that two individuals have now been charged,” he said on Wednesday.

“The level of violence allegedly used upon this child is abhorrent and left a father without his daughter or knowledge of her death for 34 years.”

Police established Strike Force Bertrand after receiving information about the alleged murder of the toddler near Oberon in 1987.

Detectives were told that the child was fatally assaulted by a woman known to her, in or about July 1987, at a rural property at Porters Retreat.

The woman was then allegedly helped by a man in disposing of the child’s remains.

Detectives were granted an arrest warrant for a woman, who now lives in New Zealand.

The woman was arrested at a home at Palmerston North City on Tuesday and extradition proceedings are underway.

Cold–case detectives raided a property at Porters Retreat, about 42km south of Oberon, and charged a man with being an accessory after the fact to murder and misconduct with regard to corpses.

He was refused bail to appear in Bathurst Local Court on Wednesday.