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

[Total_C]

Follow-up on POL53 activity

After posting earlier about the helicopter’s departure and signal drop, I’ve now noticed it comes back online over Jamestown at 18:34:30 UTC (around 4:04 am local time).

So, in total:

• Departed Adelaide ~11:31 pm local
• Signal lost near Jamestown ~12:19 am
• Back online over the same area ~4:04 am

Looks like it was operating through the night, possibly below ADS-B range for several hours.

 

[Toowong(s)]

This is interesting. Hopefully leads to a breakthrough…

Results of drone searches for 4yo Gus on SA property 'being analysed'

Police say they have conducted a "significant" aerial search of a property in South Australia's mid-north, where a four-year-old boy went missing 10 days ago.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Detective Willy]

I think its very strange that they have not found anything relating to Gus.

The lack of information being released is strange too IMO.

I would normally expect a relative or family friend to be speaking out but something seems off here.

If Gus simply wandered off I think he would have been found by now. How can you leave a boy this young without any Supervision for such a long time? Something is not adding up here.

Volunteer who helped search for missing boy drops bombshell theory

‘We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area.’

7news.com.au

 

[Kemug]

It probably has no relevance whatsoever, but that Saturday was the first day of school holidays in South Australia.

Replying to myself: I suppose it could mean that the parents had travelled to Adelaide to collect older children from boarding school, and hadn't yet returned. Leaving Gus with grandma.

 

[packetgravy]

I’m interested in understanding:

• How long it typically takes to get a police helicopter launched once a missing-child report is received in regional SA.

This is case by case and depends on several factors (terrain/conditions/circumstances/timeframes/age/resource and team availability/travel time/subjects background info etc.)

Even if the decision to deploy an aircraft is made early, getting it airborne will take some time. Crews are called in, equipment is checked, fuel loaded, flight plan filed etc. I don’t have data on average ground to air timeframes but looking over the extensive SAR procedures does provide some clues.

• Whether this timing is consistent with normal procedure or if there are usually faster deployments.

The timing could be explained by operational and logistical factors common in Australian search and rescue cases. The sequence of events below demonstrate SAR procedures in cases similar to Gus’s and may provide some insight:


1. Gus is reported missing around 20:30, emergency response must first assess risk and determine the urgency level, verify details and identify suitable resources for deployment. The immediate line of enquiry also determines the initial strategy (in this case, a ground search team was mobilised, followed by the aircraft.)

2. POL53 was based at Adelaide, crew had to be alerted, briefed and the aircraft prepared for flight. Night time operations may require additional checks (fuel/weather/air traffic clearance.)

3. Adelaide to Jamestown flight times would also depend on several factors. Based on knowing absolutely nothing about helicopters, best I can offer is a questionable estimate of roughly 1-2+ hours in optimal conditions. This tiki tour may have been a staging point for crew to meet coordinators or access communication infrastructure and resources.

4. Aircraft operations likely require liaison with ground teams before entering a search area to ensure coverage is coordinated and any updates are reported.

• And whether this affects anyone’s view of the official timeline

Not really no, although public information is still fairly minimal for this case.

Is it possible aircrew had been instructed to search the wider area before arriving at the scene? SAR had been on foot at the property for some time covering the initial radius, potentially identifying the need to widen the search area. Given the time between the last sighting, the missing persons report, the arrival of SAR and the limited visibility, a wider search radius is plausible.

 

[tedtink]

Is there a link anywhere that says this?

Yes, I've provided it twice already.

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

Yesterday at 3:39 PM

I hadn’t seen this anywhere yet

• tedtink

• 

 

[packetgravy]

I think its very strange that they have not found anything relating to Gus.

The lack of information being released is strange too IMO.

I suspect this is intentional.

 

[drsleuth]

586K views · 3.1K reactions | BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy. Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km west of the homestead af

BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy. Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km...

www.facebook.com

Police presser from today

7NEWS Adelaide​

BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy.
Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km west of the homestead after a small bootprint was located - but that potential clue was quickly ruled out.
In recent days, police have been using a special drone with infrared capabilities to further search the property located 40km south of Yunta – the same technology used in the search for the remains of Port Lincoln murder victim Julian Story

 

[Ellery84]

Not an easy feat...

Unless it was someone who has access to the property and knows the layout <modsnip>

Could be an Amazon delivery person for all we know. Imo

 

[PromotedPawn]

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He said what he said. MOO

 

[Warshawski]

He lived there.

Did he live there with both parents, of only his father ?

 

[Total_C]

586K views · 3.1K reactions | BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy. Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km west of the homestead af

BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy. Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km...

www.facebook.com

Police presser from today

7NEWS Adelaide​

BREAKING: Police have provided an update on the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, vowing to never give up on finding the little boy.
Yesterday, a search occurred near a dam located 3.5km west of the homestead after a small bootprint was located - but that potential clue was quickly ruled out.
In recent days, police have been using a special drone with infrared capabilities to further search the property located 40km south of Yunta – the same technology used in the search for the remains of Port Lincoln murder victim Julian Story

I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

 

[Dotta]

Did he live there with both parents, of only his father ?

According to this report
both mother and grandparents were at the property when the boy went missing.

(The second part of a tweet "Police say further...")

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[ScottToorak]

I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

View attachment 618625

Outstanding insight. Thank you

 

[Ellery84]

I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

View attachment 618625

You are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us.

 

[Lucy.D]

I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

View attachment 618625

There's no reason for you to know the answer to this @Total_C, but if police are using LIDAR to find a buried body wouldn't they have said there was a possibility Gus was murdered and not simply wandered away and also we don't know where the drones were used on the property but if someone buried Gus then it could have been far from the homestead in which case all that ground would not have been covered.

 

[Total_C]

I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

View attachment 618625

Just to explain it a little in visuals.

I've zoomed in on one of the dams or depressions in the landscape that I have on my project.

In the next picture, I have manually "filled in" this hole in the scan.

This third photo is the analysis my software completes which shows the difference in the landscape between the 2 scans. You can see my filling in the hole has highlighted the change.

This is just a simple example showing how deviation analysis works. I took a LiDAR scan, filled in a small hole, then ran a comparison between the two surfaces. The software instantly flagged the change, even though it was minor.

Now imagine scaling that up. That’s what police will be doing with their drone data. They’ll compare surface models across a huge area to look for any patch of disturbed ground, fill, or change in soil structure that doesn’t match the baseline terrain. It’s slow, heavy processing work, but if there’s been any physical disturbance out there, this is the kind of technology that will find it.

 

[Lucy.D]

Just to explain it a little in visuals.

I've zoomed in on one of the dams or depressions in the landscape that I have on my project.

View attachment 618628
In the next picture, I have manually "filled in" this hole in the scan.

View attachment 618629

This third photo is the analysis my software completes which shows the difference in the landscape between the 2 scans. You can see my filling in the hole has highlighted the change.

View attachment 618630
This is just a simple example showing how deviation analysis works. I took a LiDAR scan, filled in a small hole, then ran a comparison between the two surfaces. The software instantly flagged the change, even though it was minor.

Now imagine scaling that up. That’s what police will be doing with their drone data. They’ll compare surface models across a huge area to look for any patch of disturbed ground, fill, or change in soil structure that doesn’t match the baseline terrain. It’s slow, heavy processing work, but if there’s been any physical disturbance out there, this is the kind of technology that will find it.

Wonderful work.
BTW @Total_C after six years it's great to see you have finally hit your straps.

 

[Total_C]

There's no reason for you to know the answer to this @Total_C, but if police are using LIDAR to find a buried body wouldn't they have said there was a possibility Gus was murdered and not simply wandered away and also we don't know where the drones were used on the property but if someone buried Gus then it could have been far from the homestead in which case all that ground would not have been covered.

That’s a fair question, and I agree we don’t know exactly where the drone work was done or what the results might show. I’m really just looking at it from a technical angle. Based on what police said about “complex technology” and the analysis taking weeks, it doesn’t sound like a basic infrared search. That kind of work is usually quick. This sounds more like volumetric or LiDAR-type imagery that can detect small changes in the ground surface. Whether they’ve said that outright or not, that sort of scan is what you’d use if you were checking for disturbed ground.

They also mentioned that the investigation is now being handled by the Missing Persons Section under Major Crime. I don’t really know how that structure works, but it caught my attention. If that’s routine, fair enough, but it feels like an important shift. Maybe it’s just procedural, or maybe it means they want access to broader investigative tools.

Either way, it makes sense that they’re being careful about what they share publicly. The language has definitely moved from a rescue tone to a more investigative one. I don’t think they’re hiding things for the sake of it, probably just protecting whatever lines of inquiry they’re working through.