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

[Ellery84]

Probably not accessible to the DM on social media. imo

What do you mean??

The one photo of Gus was released by the AAP, not the Daily Mail.

 

[SouthAussie]

I mean the photo aligns with that type of activity. I dunno if it is or not, just saying that if it were to truly be from them the whole thing seems odd to me.

Maybe and hopefully it was more recent.

Yes, I get what you were saying. I just wanted to lay out clearly how the DM arrived at their presumption. I don't think anyone but the police and people involved know the date of the photo. imo

But I feel pretty sure that the police liaison would have requested a recent photo. Otherwise they would have maybe published a likeness.

 

[SouthAussie]

What do you mean??

The one photo of Gus was released by the AAP, not the Daily Mail.

Replying to your question .... "where were the photos of Gus from March - September?" Probably inaccessible to the DM on social media.

imo

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I mean the photo aligns with that type of activity. I dunno if it is or not, just saying that if it were to truly be from them the whole thing seems odd to me.

Maybe and hopefully it was more recent.

My view is that it's not clear from the photo itself where it was taken. At the upper half of the left hand edge is the end of a noticeboard with various things pinned or stuck to it. Those items are not what I would expect to see in a reception class classroom but look to be more what I would expect in a residence - business cards from tradies, receipts, things to remember etc, so it could have been taken at home or it could have been taken in front of the sort of noticeboard one finds in local shops advertising local services and suchlike. That's not to say it wasn't or couldn't have been taken at the school as the school could have had a more general noticeboard for staff use.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Well, if they were wealthy enough that they had a camera or a mobile phone, where were the photos of Gus from April - September??

If they had more recent photos, then why didn’t they release one, and also; why did it take 6 days for the family to release the photo??

Did Josh have photos of his son? When is the last time Josh saw Gus?

IMO

As far as I know even the most basic mobile phone has a camera these days, and even if not basic cameras are very cheap. For people living out in remote areas, would having and carrying a camera of some sort not be useful for taking a quick shot of something that doesn't look quite right, just in case?

Back when I was a child (and dinosaurs roamed the earth), most Brits seemed to use one film a year because of the cost of film and processing. It had a Christmas tree at either end and some holiday and birthday snaps in the middle. With digital, individual snaps are effectively free so why would there not be other photos of Gus taken in recent months?

 

[katydid23]

Yunta, a small town with an airstrip, a Mobil station, a restaurant and a Park and rest stop, is only 24 miles, 40 km, away from Oak Station. I'd hope that Gus had been to town once or twice in the past 6 months, just to go to the park, or watch the planes and get a soda.

 

[katydid23]

My view is that it's not clear from the photo itself where it was taken. At the upper half of the left hand edge is the end of a noticeboard with various things pinned or stuck to it. Those items are not what I would expect to see in a reception class classroom but look to be more what I would expect in a residence - business cards from tradies, receipts, things to remember etc, so it could have been taken at home or it could have been taken in front of the sort of noticeboard one finds in local shops advertising local services and suchlike. That's not to say it wasn't or couldn't have been taken at the school as the school could have had a more general noticeboard for staff use.

There is probably no wifi out there for cell phones though?

 

[SouthAussie]

There is probably no wifi out there for cell phones though?

I think a person can still take photos on their phone without wifi. I know I can.

And they may have had satellite phones for other mobile phone purposes. It would be a tax deductible business expense if they do. And a wise choice for an outback area.

Communications options in the Outback

It’s much more relaxing in the Outback when you know that reliable contact with the outside world is only a button-push away, Allan Whiting from Outback Travel Australia reports. We recommend the satellite telephone as the top communication option in the Outback, we never leave home without ours...

outbacktravelaustralia.com.au

imo

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Have you seen the homestead? I doubt they would be classified as "poor".

You'd be surprised. A lot of farming families are doing it tough, despite how much property they own. Farming is not for the feint of heart in Australia, the land of drought and flooding rains, as Dorothea Mackellar put it.
For those who aren't Aussies, this poem is a well known "love letter" to Australia.

My Country - Dorothea Mackellar

The love of field and coppice, Of green and shaded lanes. Of ordered woods and gardens Is running in your veins, Strong love of grey-blue distance Brown streams and soft dim skies I know but cannot share it, My love is otherwise. I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged...

www.dorotheamackellar.com.au

 

[JLZ]

Remember there was a big delay in releasing a photo?

Was that because they

1. Didn’t want to
2. Didn’t have one

Just finding it odd that the released photo would be (assumed) from 6 months prior to his disappearance.

I could understand wanting to release a better photo and following up with this one but I dunno. Seems odd.

Is it possible that not everyone is photographing their lives and their children all the time? Jess herself is apparently camera-shy. Perhaps the whole family thinks it's enough to have memories, like, in their brains.

 

[Ellery84]

Replying to your question .... "where were the photos of Gus from March - September?" Probably inaccessible to the DM on social media.

imo

Ok.

 

[katydid23]

This is how the DM presumption goes.

Calendar entry for March, in Josh's house, says 'term starts'.
A local preschool had an orientation session in March.
Therefore that photo must be of Gus in March.

Missing Outback boy trans gran greets Mail reporter with shotgun

Up a remote gravel track near the dusty outback town of Belalie North in South Australia is a little house that time forgot.

www.dailymail.co.uk

imo

Is the DM incorrect about Gus being enrolled in school in upcoming session? The article seemed to say it was a done deal.

I hope they were correct and he was going to be attending school. He was so isolated for his first four years. I'd think he'd love making friends his age and learning to read, and play games etc.

If it was true that he was going to school, then they were correct that orientation was in March. And that picture did look very much like a standard student admissions photo, imo.


I am not a big DM fan, but t the same time, I am getting a bit suspicious of this missing child situation. Some things are not really adding up, imo.

 

[Ellery84]

Is it possible that not everyone is photographing their lives and their children all the time? Jess herself is apparently camera-shy. Perhaps the whole family thinks it's enough to have memories, like, in their brains.

Yes but this is not the time for having memories in one’s brain….

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Yunta, a small town with an airstrip, a Mobil station, a restaurant and a Park and rest stop, is only 24 miles, 40 km, away from Oak Station. I'd hope that Gus had been to town once or twice in the past 6 months, just to go to the park, or watch the planes and get a soda.

There is also a children's swimming pool in the town. Since Australia has been experiencing its colder months since March I wouldn't necessarily expect Gus to have been taken to it recently but I would expect that he was taken to it last summer and would have been taken again this coming summer.

The town actually has several petrol stations which seem to provide seating areas, refreshments and, in at least on case, some play equipment - as well as a hotel. It would be strange to me if whoever was going into Yunta for whatever reason wouldn't just take Gus along for the ride and a change of scenery, maybe watch a train going through and, as you say, have a soda before heading back.

And when and where would he have been taken for doctor's or dentist's appointments?

 

[BreakingNews]

DBM

 

[Ellery84]

hope they were correct and he was going to be attending school. He was so isolated for his first four years. I'd think he'd love making friends his age and learning to read, and play games etc.

I agree but the time for survivability in the wild has passed.

It’s just so sad.

 

[Ellery84]

There is also a children's swimming pool in the town. Since Australia has been experiencing its colder months since March I wouldn't necessarily expect Gus to have been taken to it recently but I would expect that he was taken to it last summer and would have been taken again this coming summer.

The town actually has several petrol stations which seem to provide seating areas, refreshments and, in at least on case, some play equipment - as well as a hotel. It would be strange to me if whoever was going into Yunta for whatever reason wouldn't just take Gus along for the ride and a change of scenery, maybe watch a train going through and, as you say, have a soda before heading back.

And when and where would he have been taken for doctor's or dentist's appointments?

Do you have a link for this??

There is also a children's swimming pool in the town.

 

[katydid23]

Is it possible that not everyone is photographing their lives and their children all the time? Jess herself is apparently camera-shy. Perhaps the whole family thinks it's enough to have memories, like, in their brains.

It's nice the grandparents and mother have the memories in their brains. But even the children themselves would likely enjoy seeing pictures themselves growing up. And be able to show them to their future partners and children. And there might be other people who'd like to see what the kids looked like? How about the father's family? Pictures are for posterity, and for the future, imo.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Back when I was a child (and dinosaurs roamed the earth), most Brits seemed to use one film a year because of the cost of film and processing. It had a Christmas tree at either end and some holiday and birthday snaps in the middle.

Just to clarify that in the 1970s and earlier, when cameras, film and developing were quite expensive, most people did only shoot one roll of film a year and then drop it into the local chemist to be sent for processing. The idea of the Christmas tree at each end of the film with the year's other snaps in between was a well-known phenomenon and a reality.

Edited for spelling.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

There is probably no wifi out there for cell phones though?

You wouldn't need wifi as you could simply download the photo from the phone to a computer/laptop/tablet or what have you.