Australia AUSTRALIA - 4YO AUGUST (GUS) Missing from rural family home in Outback, Yunta, South Australia, 27th Sept 2025
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PA PA - Retressa Saunders, missing from Harrisburg; reported early October 2025- Latest: starlightstarbright
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(paraphrased from your linked article)
Fleur Tiver says her family has known Gus' family for more than 130 years.
Her ancestral family and Gus' ancestral family settled on neighbouring farms in the 1800s. Five generations of families have lived there.
Gus' family are gentle and kind, reliable, trustworthy, and truthful - embodying everything about people that can be good.
Gus' dad built the Yunta Community Centre, and the family is involved with the local race club.
Fleur says that Gus' family's world has come to an end, never would they have harmed Gus.
The online speculation is painful.
Fleur thinks Gus is hiding somewhere on the property and has been missed.
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For an idea of scale here are three photos
One shows a yellow road
That us the main road and as you can see from
The Google street view it is still v remote
The property is at the red pin in the last photo
Vast distances in remote remote terrain
This is a self sufficient very hardy family and my heart bleeds for them
So sad
One shows a yellow road
That us the main road and as you can see from
The Google street view it is still v remote
The property is at the red pin in the last photo
Vast distances in remote remote terrain
This is a self sufficient very hardy family and my heart bleeds for them
So sad
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As someone who lives in rural Australia there’s a couple of things I want to point out;
-I see the posts about mobile phone towers etc - out here, people are more likely to use radio than mobile phones in many instances. For example out where I live, we only got access to mobile towers over the last few years and farmers still have radios that they carry with them as well as one in the house. Firstly out of habit and secondly because mobile coverage can still be very patchy and unreliable. I don’t know if that’s the case out there but it’s something to consider that there may not be any mobile calls made, but radio usage.
-I see posts saying that someone should’ve heard Gus yell if anything happened when he was playing near the house. If any machinery was in use at the time it may have been too loud to hear any distress calls. And considering the time of day he allegedly went missing it was as the sun was starting to go down. Depending on the wildlife, that time of day can be incredibly loud from bird calls. Yes, really. For example where I live the bird life at that time of day can be SO LOUD, and can’t be under estimated, again, blocking out any calls for help.
Does the property run sheep? Because let me tell you if someone was moving sheep to another field they can sound like a football crowd yelling during a game. I kid you not…it’s incredibly loud!
So yes, it’s entirely possible nothing was heard.
As for wild dogs/dingoes etc - it would be highly unusual for either to get close enough to a property during daylight. They usually wait for dark.
Wedgetail Eagle - yes, a strong one could definitely carry a small child a small distance. Here, they take lambs so they’re very strong. HOWEVER it’s past lambing season so it’s unlikely they would be hanging around a house in the middle of nowhere that has no consistent food source.
My burning curiosity is when was the last time anyone other than the family saw Gus.
Of course the above is all in my very humble opinion.
-I see the posts about mobile phone towers etc - out here, people are more likely to use radio than mobile phones in many instances. For example out where I live, we only got access to mobile towers over the last few years and farmers still have radios that they carry with them as well as one in the house. Firstly out of habit and secondly because mobile coverage can still be very patchy and unreliable. I don’t know if that’s the case out there but it’s something to consider that there may not be any mobile calls made, but radio usage.
-I see posts saying that someone should’ve heard Gus yell if anything happened when he was playing near the house. If any machinery was in use at the time it may have been too loud to hear any distress calls. And considering the time of day he allegedly went missing it was as the sun was starting to go down. Depending on the wildlife, that time of day can be incredibly loud from bird calls. Yes, really. For example where I live the bird life at that time of day can be SO LOUD, and can’t be under estimated, again, blocking out any calls for help.
Does the property run sheep? Because let me tell you if someone was moving sheep to another field they can sound like a football crowd yelling during a game. I kid you not…it’s incredibly loud!
So yes, it’s entirely possible nothing was heard.
As for wild dogs/dingoes etc - it would be highly unusual for either to get close enough to a property during daylight. They usually wait for dark.
Wedgetail Eagle - yes, a strong one could definitely carry a small child a small distance. Here, they take lambs so they’re very strong. HOWEVER it’s past lambing season so it’s unlikely they would be hanging around a house in the middle of nowhere that has no consistent food source.
My burning curiosity is when was the last time anyone other than the family saw Gus.
Of course the above is all in my very humble opinion.
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With Gus, the parents didn't seem to be interviewed, were the grandparents.
Did the parents even go to the property to join the search.
Once the search was called off, do we know if anyone on the property continued looking.
You would think the life of a 4 year old child would be more important than anything else on the station.
Did neighbours come and help search for Gus once the search teams had left.
The station owners would know the property, especially the distance a 4 year old can walk, like the back of their hands.
Did they join the search and show police the location of all possible hiding spots.
Did the searchers do a complete and thorough check around the house, surely they did. And if they didn't then surely the grandparents, parents and anyone else on the farm would have and are doing that now.
The homicide squad seemed to come and go quickly, but I don't know if they ever came back.
I have serious doubts Gus just wandered off like police said happened, otherwise he would have been found.
Did the parents even go to the property to join the search.
Once the search was called off, do we know if anyone on the property continued looking.
You would think the life of a 4 year old child would be more important than anything else on the station.
Did neighbours come and help search for Gus once the search teams had left.
The station owners would know the property, especially the distance a 4 year old can walk, like the back of their hands.
Did they join the search and show police the location of all possible hiding spots.
Did the searchers do a complete and thorough check around the house, surely they did. And if they didn't then surely the grandparents, parents and anyone else on the farm would have and are doing that now.
The homicide squad seemed to come and go quickly, but I don't know if they ever came back.
I have serious doubts Gus just wandered off like police said happened, otherwise he would have been found.
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The search wasn't "called off", but in the presser, LE admitted that after 7 days of searching, they were "scaling back" their efforts as the likelihood of finding Gus alive by then was very low.
Major Crimes returned to the property recently "to investigate what is now the presumed death of the four-year-old boy. Officer(*s) spent more than two hours speaking with family and taking photos around the property. Police said all the evidence so far suggests the boy's disappearance is not suspicious. ... The team of officers appeared to re-trace and record Gus's last known movements at the property last night." - 9 News Australia, 8:12pm Oct 4, 2025
(* plural correction by me)
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It was reported Channel 7 last night that major crimes went back to the property last night. The search may be called off, but it's not over yet.
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Royce Player used to be neighbours with the family and is also an experienced tracker who knows the area well.
"Under a bit of bush, a bloody hole in the ground, or an old motorcar … could be anywhere."
He said it could be easy to "miss a little four-year-old" if the searchers were spaced out even "20 metres apart".
Mr Player, like many of the volunteers assisting in the extensive search efforts, said he dropped everything to come and help with the search for a lost little boy who "wants his mum".
Mr Player said it was common for the community to "pull together in this sort of country".
"You just drop what you're doing and go, you don't question it, you know," he said.
Community comes together as search for missing 4yo Gus enters seventh day
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Why would police say keyboard detectives are not helping find Gus?
If police are reading comments from the public, would it not be helpful to find Gus if they read something that they had not even thought about doing themselves, or overlooked something important.
South Australian Police issued a statement saying: We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area. Police statement regarding Yunta search
Gus was not found in that search area and that area should have been the limit a 4 year old can walk, then IMO wouldn't they want to take a better look if they are so sure the only scenario is for Gus to have wandered off. SAPOL say there's a chance Gus will never be found, isn't that quite obvious if nobody is looking for him.
<modsnip: off topic>
If police are reading comments from the public, would it not be helpful to find Gus if they read something that they had not even thought about doing themselves, or overlooked something important.
South Australian Police issued a statement saying: We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area. Police statement regarding Yunta search
Gus was not found in that search area and that area should have been the limit a 4 year old can walk, then IMO wouldn't they want to take a better look if they are so sure the only scenario is for Gus to have wandered off. SAPOL say there's a chance Gus will never be found, isn't that quite obvious if nobody is looking for him.
<modsnip: off topic>
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I think the police expect people to contact them if they have some brilliant idea or information.
I suspect that the police are not reading social media comments - it is Gus' loved ones and the family's close friends and community who are finding that accusatory online speculation is adding to their pain.
imo
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How big was the search area? I wouldn't describe my young 5yo as a good walker at all and he can run/walk a mile (1.6km) in under 14 minutes. If they searched for 3 hours before calling the police poor little Gus could have gone miles and miles -- in any direction. It's not surprising to me that they couldn't find him.
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I see, so there are still police searching the area. I didn't know that.
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I see, so there're no longer searching because police said all indications suggested that Gus had simply wandered off, but major crimes have returned to the property. I wonder why they would do that.
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I see, so the community joined the search. Are the community still searching for Gus even though the police have either scaled back or left.
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For context, last time it rained I went for a walk in the paddock with my kids. There are probably more visible footprints from that walk than there are from the wander we took this morning, because the previous footprints were more likely to leave imprints in softened ground to dry.
There could even be clearer, deeper footprints from my kids stepping in the softer ground and none of my own, simply because I prefer to step where the ground appears more solid as I don’t want to end up with a boot full of mud or slipping over in a softer wetter patch, where my 4 year old couldn’t care less and prefers wet muddy feet.
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Much as the search has been thorough, I still wonder about the structures. Any trapdoors to spots under the buildings, that may have accidentally shut after going down?
Any silos or food structures? I guess there is no grain storage but maybe there is.
Is there a way for a 4 year old to climb the roof? I think of Harley Dilly and another boy Joshua Maddox, who wasn't found for SEVEN years in a chimney.
Any buildings on stilts, piles? The school I went to in Toowoomba way back in the day, was built on stilts, at least the pilings were open and accessible. We used to hide under there to skip chapel, spooky hiding spots, piles of dirt etc.
I so wish little Gus would be found.
Any silos or food structures? I guess there is no grain storage but maybe there is.
Is there a way for a 4 year old to climb the roof? I think of Harley Dilly and another boy Joshua Maddox, who wasn't found for SEVEN years in a chimney.
Any buildings on stilts, piles? The school I went to in Toowoomba way back in the day, was built on stilts, at least the pilings were open and accessible. We used to hide under there to skip chapel, spooky hiding spots, piles of dirt etc.
I so wish little Gus would be found.
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I'm very much an email freak myself and I'll find one somewhere and then there's no he said, she said stuff:
To report a missing person in South Australia, you should call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 or visit your local police station. In an emergency, you should call Triple Zero (000). There is no email contact listed for reporting missing persons; use the phone numbers provided by SAPOL - Home.
I'm wading my way through submitting my ideas online here:
To report a missing person in South Australia, you should call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 or visit your local police station. In an emergency, you should call Triple Zero (000). There is no email contact listed for reporting missing persons; use the phone numbers provided by SAPOL - Home.
I'm wading my way through submitting my ideas online here:
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