Australia AUSTRALIA - 4YO AUGUST (GUS) Missing from rural family home in Outback, Yunta, South Australia, 27th Sept 2025

[SouthAussie]

How small is the town from which the police were called? Because even if everyone wanted to contact Josh promptly, if he lived two hours away (as I believe I've seen here), it makes sense to me that a very small police force might not have officers immediately available to spend the next 4-5 hours driving out of their jurisdiction to make that contact.

I believe their regional police headquarters is in Port Pirie. 17,000-ish people, and a 2-hour drive from Yunta.

With the Adelaide (state capital) police becoming involved before 11:30pm - which we know due to a police search helicopter being dispatched from Adelaide at 11:30pm.
Adelaide is about a 3½ hour drive to Yunta, and about a 2½ hour drive to the place where Josh lived.

imo

 

[Ellery84]

I was the person who said 1.30, but because I can't find a link, we should disregard this. I thought I heard it on the news.

However the DM states a friend of Josh's said he first heard of Gus disappearance when police woke him up in the early hours of the morning.

The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family

I believe their regional police headquarters is in Port Pirie. 17,000-ish people, and a 2-hour drive from Yunta.

They did not have the Port Pirie police station operational and open at the time when Gus was reported missing.

Google Search

Saturday opening hours are 9am - 3:30pm.

Afaik the cops came from Adelaide to Yunta.

It takes 3 hrs and 32 minutes to drive from Adelaide to Yunta, as you suggested @SouthAussie

Adelaide is 319 km away from Yunta.

Then Oak Park is some 20 minutes drive from Yunta (afaik).

What time were the emergency services called??

With the Adelaide (state capital) police becoming involved before 11:30pm - which we know due to a police search helicopter being dispatched for the property at 11:30pm.
Adelaide is about a 3½ hour drive to Yunta.

imo

 

[SouthAussie]

They did not have the Port Pirie police station operational and open at the time when Gus was reported missing.

Google Search

Saturday opening hours are 9am - 3:30pm.

Afaik the cops came from Adelaide to Yunta.

It takes 3 hrs and 32 minutes to drive from Adelaide to Yunta, as you suggested @SouthAussie

Adelaide is 319 km away from Yunta.

Then Oak Park is some 20 minutes drive from Yunta (afaik).

What time were the emergency services called??

Yes, the regional front-counter police service is limited. But the police arrived within an hour of being called (arrived at about 9:30pm).

I think there must be active regional patrols and/or on-call police, even when the front counter is closed. They would have some provision for out-of-hours crime, highway accidents and other emergencies.

imo

 

[Hexe]

How small is the town from which the police were called? Because even if everyone wanted to contact Josh promptly, if he lived two hours away (as I believe I've seen here), it makes sense to me that a very small police force might not have officers immediately available to spend the next 4-5 hours driving out of their jurisdiction to make that contact.

They could though call their colleagues that have jurisdiction in the place where Gus's dad lives and ask them to make that contact.

 

[Ellery84]

If Gus had a fatal accident while playing, I think there would be a small number of options available, if passing on the farm was important.

@Owlpellet Can you clarify what you mean by "if passing on the farm was important?"

Yes, the regional front-counter police service is limited. But the police arrived within an hour of being called (arrived at about 9:30pm).

I think there must be active regional patrols and/or on-call police, even when the front counter is closed. They would have some provision for out-of-hours crime, highway accidents and other emergencies.

imo

Oh that's not too bad. Possibly they have one or two police on call in case an emergency comes up?

Also it was Grand final night, so they may have had extra resources on call in case anything occurred on such an evening.

Imo

 

[Ellery84]

They could though call their colleagues that have jurisdiction in the place where Gus's dad lives and ask them to make that contact.

That would have been a good idea. But they didn't.

And maybe that was tactical.

 

[Hexe]

That would have been a good idea. But they didn't.

And maybe that was tactical.

What kind of tactic could it have been, considering Josh would not commit any crime by taking Gus? He is his father with full custody and rights. There was no reason to use any tactics on him.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

@Owlpellet Can you clarify what you mean by "if passing on the farm was important?"

I would imagine that it's about passing the farm down to future generations, ie to Jess and through her to her children (assuming Jess has no siblings). Ordinarily the assumption is for farms and land to be passed down but if situations become too stressed, eg prolonged drought, failure of the market for the product, failure of the direct line etc) then a decision might be made to sell up instead.

Even with Gus out of the picture Jess has another son (Ronnie) who would step up the line of succession, and it's entirely possible that she could have more children, with Josh or another man.

 

[Ellery84]

I would imagine that it's about passing the farm down to future generations, ie to Jess and through her to her children (assuming Jess has no siblings). Ordinarily the assumption is for farms and land to be passed down but if situations become too stressed, eg prolonged drought, failure of the market for the product, failure of the direct line etc) then a decision might be made to sell up instead.

Even with Gus out of the picture Jess has another son (Ronnie) who would step up the line of succession, and it's entirely possible that she could have more children, with Josh or another man.

Ok, thank you for explaining! That's all quite interesting.

It's the first time I've really heard someone talk about the importance of passing the farm down to future generations.

Of course, if one had a severe disability, one may not have the farm passed down to them regardless of birth order, am I correct in assuming so?

 

[Ellery84]

Even with Gus out of the picture Jess has another son (Ronnie) who would step up

Gus is out of the picture.

I see.

Well he's not been deemed as being deceased, he's just missing.

 

[musicaljoke]

Or maybe Grandma Josie "rules the roost", as they say, and made the decision.

I imagine in this time of crisis, Grandma Josie was fully engaged in finding wee Gus. The fear and panic must have been beyond what a human could bear. I know that my wee grandson is my very life and breath. There is no predicting how I would respond if he went missing but just putting one foot in front of the other would likely be a challenge.

Can we not extend grace and support instead of accusations?

 

[Ellery84]

What kind of tactic could it have been, considering Josh would not commit any crime by taking Gus? He is his father with full custody and rights. There was no reason to use any tactics on him.

The tactic is, you are SAPOL, you travel to the parent's house, you rock up, you check if Gus is there, you tell the parent their child is missing and you get a reaction on a police body worn camera.

If it goes to inquest or becomes a homicide investigation, you have that as evidence.

Does that make sense?

So I assume that Josh is cleared.

He didn't have opportunity to take Gus as he wasn't there. He's done nothing wrong.

This is my understanding; it's 2025, we are post William Tyrrell 2014 era, lessons have been learnt by the way that case was mishandled from the very beginning...... it's 2025, a young Australian child goes missing, the cops can not find the child and they do treat it as a homicide investigation from the get-go. So the police act accordingly.

This is another reason why (I think) the cops didn't mobilise the whole community to come and search for Gus, they used professionals, because essentially Oak Park is a crime scene.

Imagine if they brought in the entire community and there was a paedophile who was searching, that person found Gus, and subsequently abducted him. That may have happened in William's case. We don't know. Either way, evidence is trampled over and the crime scene is then destroyed.

Imo

This is all to say, imho Police tactics and procedures are very important and I think the SAPOL are thorough but also very supportive of the traumatised family of Gus.
Imo

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Ok, thank you for explaining! That's all quite interesting.

It's the first time I've really heard someone talk about the importance of passing the farm down to future generations.

The landowning families of the UK and Europe have set great store by ensuring land and property are passed down to their descendants. In England and Wales property lawyers promoted the concept of the entail which (usually) ensured that property could only be passed down the legitimate male line, so that if a couple had only daughters the property would bypass the daughters and pass to the closest male relative, such as a nephew. There were several reasons for this. Firstly because in law a woman could not hold property and therefore control of an inheritance fell under her husband, and secondly because a woman being a significant heiress could make her vulnerable to profligate gold-digging fortune-hunters looking for money to squander. The entail was set out in a deed and usually provided for a fixed sum cash dowry to the daughters. It's a long time since I read Jane Austen but IIRC land, entails and daughters' dowries tend to crop up quite often in her novels. I've a feeling it cropped up in one or two of Dickens' novels as well.

It's likely that since Australian law was originally based on E&W law, entails were used from time to time there as well.

Of course, if one had a severe disability, one may not have the farm passed down to them regardless of birth order, am I correct in assuming so?

Difficult to say. Children born with severe disabilities tended not to survive very long so the question probably didn't arise very often.

(Edited for clarity)

 

[Hexe]

The tactic is, you are SAPOL, you travel to the parent's house, you rock up, you check if Gus is there, you tell the parent their child is missing and you get a reaction on a police body worn camera.

If it goes to inquest or becomes a homicide investigation, you have that as evidence.

Does that make sense?

No. As far as I know reactions are not evidence from the legal point of view. Not even saying that completely innocent people can react in different ways to shock. Getting numb and emotionless is not rare, actually.

 

[Dotta]

No. As far as I know reactions are not evidence from the legal point of view. Not even saying that completely innocent people can react in different ways to shock. Getting numb and emotionless is not rare, actually.

Exactly!


Emotional reactions depend on internal and external factors,
including genetics, personal past experiences, and cultural norms.

Even so called
lie detector (polygraph) test results are not admissible in court because they are considered unreliable.
Well, at least where I live.

JMO

 

[Ellery84]

No. As far as I know reactions are not evidence from the legal point of view. Not even saying that completely innocent people can react in different ways to shock. Getting numb and emotionless is not rare, actually.

The fact that Josh is asleep and Gus is not with him is the evidence, I would say.

But also his reaction to the news, would also be evidence, imo.

 

[Hexe]

But also his reaction to the news, would also be evidence, imo.

Again: emotional reactions are not an evidence in the eyes of law. Anyway, more logical thing to do for the investigators, would be checking thoroughly if his alibi checks out... When the need for that arises. There was no need for checking his reaction when it still was a case of a missing child with huge probability of wandering away and zero evidence of foul play whatsoever.

 

[BreakingNews]

Exactly!


Emotional reactions depend on internal and external factors,
including genetics, personal past experiences, and cultural norms.

Even so called
lie detector (polygraph) test results are not admissible in court because they are considered unreliable.
Well, at least where I live.

JMO

Lie detectors are not used in Australia either. If a person believes their own lie, it won't show up as a lie.

 

[Ellery84]

more logical thing to do for the investigators, would be checking thoroughly if his alibi checks out... When the need for that arises.

That's a good point, and they may have checked that out.

Imo

 

[tara83]

I'm more interested if they ever saw family on the property as suspects. I hope they at least considered it but have my doubts.