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

[su5ie]

Haven't found a great photo but here is a screenshot from one of 7NEWS's videos:

View attachment 626857

Not 100% sure which bit is meant to be the mineshaft though. In any case, I'm sure it would have been thoroughly searched in the beginning.

Well I sincerely hope every millimetre of that area was searched , certainly not the ' playground ' I envisioned leaving a 4 year old to play unsupervised for half an hour which is only the time between checking on him (5pm ) and calling him for dinner ( 5.30 ) was he used to playing here unsupervised regularly?

I'm starting to see why josh deemed it too dangerous for his children to be raised there

 

[SouthAussie]

There are always a few key statements that stick with me in cases. In this one - we were told wandering isn’t something he does.

Kids are unpredictable but why does that statement matter to make known

I believe the statement was that it would be unusual for Gus to wander, but it also said that Gus is adventurous. So there must be something(s) about his behaviour that deemed him as 'pretty adventurous'.


Superintendent Syrus said it was not suspected anyone had taken the boy, saying the "only people who would travel on this road are station owners" or those who serviced the area.

He said it was "unusual" for Gus to have wandered off and said the boy "normally stays within the confines of the area".

"But, who knows what goes through a four-year-old's mind?" he said.

"We understand he's a pretty quiet sort of lad, but he is, as you know, a country lad and he's pretty adventurous as well.

"But him moving out of the area is a little bit unusual."

Emergency services and community members continue search for 4yo boy

Police are continuing to search for a four-year-old boy who vanished while playing in sand at his family's isolated sheep grazing property near Yunta in a remote part of South Australia's north.

www.abc.net.au

 

[SouthAussie]

Haven't found a great photo but here is a screenshot from one of 7NEWS's videos:

View attachment 626857

Not 100% sure which bit is meant to be the mineshaft though. In any case, I'm sure it would have been thoroughly searched in the beginning.

In that DM article, they actually circled the machinery and sandpile in red. Perhaps they are insinuating that there is an old mine under the sandpile? Where would they get that kind of information? Seeing that no-one is talking to them, not even Josh's parents who they located and approached for comment (and were refused, as stated in the article).

 

[TMich6811]

I believe the statement was that it would be unusual for Gus to wander, but it also said that Gus is adventurous. So there must be something(s) about his behaviour that deemed him as 'pretty adventurous'.


Superintendent Syrus said it was not suspected anyone had taken the boy, saying the "only people who would travel on this road are station owners" or those who serviced the area.

He said it was "unusual" for Gus to have wandered off and said the boy "normally stays within the confines of the area".

"But, who knows what goes through a four-year-old's mind?" he said.

"We understand he's a pretty quiet sort of lad, but he is, as you know, a country lad and he's pretty adventurous as well.

"But him moving out of the area is a little bit unusual."

Emergency services and community members continue search for 4yo boy

Police are continuing to search for a four-year-old boy who vanished while playing in sand at his family's isolated sheep grazing property near Yunta in a remote part of South Australia's north.

www.abc.net.au

Yep still sticks with me

 

[SouthAussie]

Yep still sticks with me

Children don't wander until they do. Common phrase on these kind of threads.

Eg:
AJ was said to never wander, but he did (and fortunately was found alive three days later, 500 metres from his home, drinking from a muddy puddle - he hadn't revealed himself to searchers).


"AJ's family moved to the area just three months ago and were emotional on Sunday, saying it was out of character for him to wander off."
AJ found in NSW

 

[statt#1]

Haven't found a great photo but here is a screenshot from one of 7NEWS's videos:

View attachment 626857

Not 100% sure which bit is meant to be the mineshaft though. In any case, I'm sure it would have been thoroughly searched in the beginning.

This appears to be the trommel. And in the picture behind it, under the haphazard boards to the right appears to be the mineshaft.

 

[Mandi3020]

This appears to be the trommel. And in the picture behind it, under the haphazard boards to the right appears to be the mineshaft.

Am I understanding correctly that this is the sand pile Gus was playing in, and right behind it is a mineshaft? Surely not an open mineshaft. Forgive my ignorance as I don’t know anything about them.

 

[statt#1]

Am I understanding correctly that this is the sand pile Gus was playing in, and right behind it is a mineshaft? Surely not an open mineshaft. Forgive my ignorance as I don’t know anything about them.

I don't know, and don't think anyone knows, what exact pile Gus was said to have been playing in.

 

[SouthAussie]

This appears to be the trommel. And in the picture behind it, under the haphazard boards to the right appears to be the mineshaft.

Except the haphazard boards are not within the red circle on the DM's photo. Their red circle encompasses the trommel and the sandpile. The red circle line splits through the blue object on the right. They seem to be indicating that the sand pile is a mine?

I am guessing that is their opinion, as there is no information provided as to why they think there is a mine outside the house near the trommel.

Locals' horrifying theory for what happened to missing boy Gus Lamont

When SA Police confirmed on Monday they were returning this week to the scene of Gus Lamont's disappearance for a fifth time, I had a sinking feeling, reports Karleigh Smith.

www.dailymail.co.uk

ETA: This is a replica of the red circle the DM placed around the trommel and the 'mine'. My green line is their red line.

Link

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993448019048681556

"Police will descend more mineshafts under gruelling conditions on Wednesday in the search for Gus Lamont,
prompting one former investigator
to suggest detectives must now confront all possibilities including
'human intervention'.

'The fact
that they're searching so far away from where Gus first disappeared suggests to me
they're looking at possible intervention',
he said."

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Earlier in the thread someone said a lost child would have called out if they heard voices.

That made me wonder, because I know not every child would have called out.
In some cases children have not called out, even in response to their own parents.

And Gus was said to be both shy and quiet.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

When a "current" police spokeperson says there may have been human intervention, then and only then will I take it seriously.

I take with a very big grain of salt the opinions of "former" police and "experts"

 

[TootsieFootsie]

In that DM article, they actually circled the machinery and sandpile in red. Perhaps they are insinuating that there is an old mine under the sandpile? Where would they get that kind of information? Seeing that no-one is talking to them, not even Josh's parents who they located and approached for comment (and were refused, as stated in the article).

They could very well have got it from social media.

 

[Lady-J]

If he happens to be found 12km away in an area that’s not part of the property it’s suspicious imo

 

[essareem]

Search for Gus uncovers unmapped dangers: Abandoned mines

Abandoned mines in Australia are often an after-thought by those who pursue the worthy cause because it gets placed in the 'too hard basket'.

mining.com.au

 

[SouthAussie]

When a "current" police spokeperson says there may have been human intervention, then and only then will I take it seriously.

I take with a very big grain of salt the opinions of "former" police and "experts"

I imagine that SAPOL are trying to investigate every scenario of what might have happened to Gus. Through searches and investigations. So they can rule things in and rule things out.


Taskforce Horizon ... 12 people, including "a range of specialists who will continue to analyse information, assess opportunities for further searches on the property, and investigate all of the circumstances that possibly might have occurred that's resulted in Gus going missing".

'No evidence' during new Gus search, as police announce taskforce

As SA Police and the Australian Defence Force resume their search for missing four-year-old Gus in South Australia's arid mid-north, authorities have announced a new taskforce.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Dotta]

If he happens to be found 12km away in an area that’s not part of the property it’s suspicious imo

I would also call it "common sense".

 

[SouthAussie]

Search for Gus uncovers unmapped dangers: Abandoned mines

Abandoned mines in Australia are often an after-thought by those who pursue the worthy cause because it gets placed in the 'too hard basket'.

mining.com.au

"In South Australia, there are more than 5,000 inactive mines, with more than half (3,759) neglected, abandoned, or unrehabilitated mines in the state."

(from your link)

 

[essareem]

"In South Australia, there are more than 5,000 inactive mines, with more than half (3,759) neglected, abandoned, or unrehabilitated mines in the state."

(from your link)

And

It’s understood that documents published on an South Australian Government mining database refers to early copper mining just a few short kilometres south of what appears to be the homestead on the station where Gus went missing.

 

[whitelilac]

Good grief, we spoke about abandoned mine shafts very early in this disappearance, and there was a local who actually made a statement about old mine shafts and abandoned wells.
Only now they are investigating?

Though, I suppose since they are at a substantial distance from the homestead, it makes sense searches were not initially carried out there.