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

[SouthAussie]

It's worth remembering that old mine are not just holes in the ground, but also the spoil heaps around them comprising the material removed in the process of digging the shaft and any galleries running off them. Those heaps would presumably be visible for decades until they eventually are eroded flat into the landscape. There's also often other detritus such as glass, rusty cans and shards of broken crockery which reveals the earlier human presence.

Yes. But just to give you an idea of the size of that sheep station, which is definitely not the largest in the area, Oak Park is bigger than each of the 6 smallest counties in the UK.
(The state of South Australia is as big as 4 x UK)

Oak Park is about 231 sq miles in area - this chart is in sq miles.
Counties of the United Kingdom

And these mines and their surrounds have undergone 100-135 years of erosion and regrowth.

imo

 

[Lady-J]

I’ll eat my hat if he’s found on that property! He’s not there! He’s been taken away by someone ! Theres no evidence of him being there . Nothing is sitting right about this with me. It’s weird! It’s fairly obvious who it is to me.

 

[nao]

Moo....the live stock will be moved in a regular pattern along known trails. There are probably places on the property they have never had the need to walk through.

 

[drsleuth]

I’ll eat my hat if he’s found on that property! He’s not there! He’s been taken away by someone ! Theres no evidence of him being there . Nothing is sitting right about this with me. It’s weird! It’s fairly obvious who it is to me.

Who?

 

[Doesitmakesense]

I’ll eat my hat if he’s found on that property! He’s not there! He’s been taken away by someone ! Theres no evidence of him being there . Nothing is sitting right about this with me. It’s weird! It’s fairly obvious who it is to me.

I can't tell if you are thinking along the same lines as me or not

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I think he wandered and had a misadventure, because that seems most likely.

However those who think he was removed from the property, do you think by car? And where do think they most likely they brought him, considering they wouldn't have had endless time nor distance to avoid the car being seen, etc.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993088030027268102

"STAR squad tactical police,
trained in belays, climbing, and more challenging operations
will take their time entering the narrow pits to ensure their own safety.

The 'delicate' and 'complex' search
is expected to last about three days,
though media are not permitted to join the crews."

 

[SouthAussie]

New article in The Advertiser.

(paraphrased)

Officers spent 10 hours as the sun beat down during the first day of their search of the first of the mine shafts
Convoy of 4 unmarked vehicles arrived at about 8am, kicking up dust
Temps were 32C (90F) by early arvo, cloudless sky, with an extreme UV rating
Using specialist equipment to lower officers into each shaft
Officers methodically worked through first shaft before leaving at about 6pm.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/police-target-remote-mine-shafts-on-oak-park-station-in-desperate-new-search-for-gus-lamont/news-story/53312ff767e97334d8e91d15363149d6?amp

 

[Detechtive]

How thorough was the search for Gus if six mineshafts went unseen by search teams?

If they missed the mineshafts, how can we be certain that the search teams did not miss Gus?

They were 5+kms away from where he went missing.

 

[Detechtive]

I think there's a lot of people on this thread with not much comprehension of how large this area of land is or what that means in practice. Even if the land had been in your family for generations - there is no way to know a patch of land that large with the depth and detail some people seem to be assuming they would, could or should. I don't agree that they would necessarily have detailed maps either.

As someone who grew up on vast acres of farmland, I can’t agree more.

We spent years playing, horse riding, and motorbiking on our 300+ acres, but about 6 years after we moved there we found a disused sandstone quarry we never saw before.

Mine shafts are so easy to miss. Like rabbit holes or wombat holes.

The comments in here smack of city living. People who grow up and live on farmland are usually extremely busy and don’t have time to explore every inch of their property? But even when they do, they miss things because of the vastness of their properties.

IMO

 

[Dotta]

Let's just hope
No Officer comes to harm exploring these treacherous pits

 

[SouthAussie]

Let's just hope
No Officer comes to harm exploring these treacherous pits

Yes, we don't need to lose any responders. Our state just lost a firefighter this past weekend, fighting a scrub fire at a conservation park. Link

It sounds as if they have specialist equipment at Oak Park, but I feel sure that those mineshafts will be dicey. They are so old and abandoned.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Police find no trace of missing boy Gus Lamont after first day of mine shaft search

www.9news.com.au

Police find no trace of missing boy Gus Lamont after first day of mine shaft search​

Detectives will return to the area tomorrow.

 

[PromotedPawn]

Holding out hope that he is found over these next few days. He ever, I must agree with the above poster, there does appear to be human involvement. MOO

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Where is Ron Iddles when you need him..!

 

[SouthAussie]

Police find no trace of missing boy Gus Lamont after first day of mine shaft search

www.9news.com.au

Police find no trace of missing boy Gus Lamont after first day of mine shaft search​

Detectives will return to the area tomorrow.

" .... lowering cameras into the mines in search of the little boy."

I am guessing that the media don't actually know what specialist equipment is being used. One article says lowering officers into the mineshafts, another says lowering cameras.

Though I can only imagine that some of these shafts may not be too accessible if they were perhaps covered at one point, and the covering has eroded and fallen in, or edges have fallen in. They may have to dig a bit of rubble out to get a good look.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Specialist officers are en route to a sprawling desert homestead in South Australia, readied to descend six mineshafts in a bid to retrieve missing four-year-old Gus Lamont.

Officers with tactical gear and specialised equipment will enter the pits at Oak Park Station, after police first became aware of their presence on the property.

A police source indicated officers will commence the long, harsh journey to the mine shafts over the course of Tuesday morning.

STAR squad tactical police, trained in belays, climbing, and more challenging operations will take their time entering the narrow pits to ensure their own safety.

The "delicate" and "complex" search is expected to last about three days, though media are not permitted to join the crews.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/crime/specialist-police-return-to-south-australian-homestead-desperate-to-find-missing-fouryearold-gus-lamont/news-story/bb4897143c0a50734bfdccc8fb0cd21a

 

[Ellery84]

S
T
A
R

Special tasks and rescue.

“As part of our STAR Group, your specialist duties include the apprehension of armed offenders, search and rescue operations, VIP and witness protection, public order and general policing duties. Due to the physical demands of the role and the risks involved, our STAR Group officers need to exhibit above-average performance in all major skills.”

https://www.police.sa.gov.au/join-us/achievemore/police-officer-careers/working-as-a-police-officer/specialist-areas

“STAR Group, a branch of the SAPOL Operations Support Service, and comprises several sections: Operations (broad duties that extend to extensive travel state-wide, nationally and internationally, including accompanying immigration staff as far as India or Europe to enact deportation orders), dog operations, water operations, mounted operations (horses), negotiator coordinator, bomb response unit and the training and development section.”

STAR (Special Tasks and Rescue) force expands to grouping of South Australian police rapid response elements | Adelaide AZ

STAR (Special Tasks and Rescue) force expands to grouping of South Australian police rapid response elements

adelaideaz.com

Also, for film aficionados out there, in the Hunger Games: “Squad 451, also known as the "Star Squad," was a special sharpshooter unit formed to film propos and defuse pods during the Battle of the Capitol.”

Squad 451

Squad 451, also known as the "Star Squad," was a special sharpshooter unit formed to film propos and defuse pods during the Battle of the Capitol.[1] They later set out on an unsanctioned mission to assassinate President Snow, led by Katniss Everdeen.[2] At its first formation, the squad had...

thehungergames.fandom.com

 

[musicaljoke]

I’ll eat my hat if he’s found on that property! He’s not there! He’s been taken away by someone ! Theres no evidence of him being there . Nothing is sitting right about this with me. It’s weird! It’s fairly obvious who it is to me.

Without evidence of an abduction, believing that he was removed from the property by a human simply because he hasn't been found yet is much like saying, "I can't find my keys. I've looked everywhere and I can't find them. Someone must have stolen them."

 

[statt#1]

Who says he walked straight there? This was outside the search area. He may have taken a convoluted route over a couple of days to get that far away from the house.

This isn't the first that we've heard of mine shafts on the property. Their presence was told to us at the time of Gus' disappearance.

I'm just wondering the actual statistical odds of him coming upon a mineshaft hole 5.5 to 12 kilometers away from the homestead in any direction on a property so vast... can't wrap my head around it, in my opinion would be a truly near inconceivable occurrence, a very bad case of tragic bad luck for Gus.