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00:11The Australian Outback.
00:15Vast.
00:18Remote.
00:22Hostile.
00:25For two men...
00:26We've pretty much risked our lives still, innit?
00:28This is the backdrop to a lifelong obsession.
00:33This is what we do. This is who we are.
00:37A childhood pact.
00:41To solve a 100-year-old mystery.
00:45We've been called eccentric and all sorts of different things.
00:49Finding Australia's El Dorado.
00:52A lost fortune in gold.
00:56Following a doomed expedition.
01:00A trail of evidence in the desert.
01:04Clues from one man hold the key.
01:08I think he did find it and he actually wanted somebody else to find it as well.
01:15Now, with expert help.
01:17That's a very clean looking bit of quartz.
01:20And cutting edge technology.
01:23They plan to crack this cold case wide open.
01:27This is a significant vine.
01:30Their quest...
01:32This is coming back, Jeff.
01:33It's coming in real fast, eh?
01:35Survive the Outback.
01:37Oh, steak, steak.
01:39Discover the truth.
01:41Oh, whoa.
01:42And just maybe...
01:44Hey!
01:45...become billionaires in the process.
01:47Good income.
01:48Check this out.
01:49We found gold.
01:50Yes!
01:54This time on Hunting Outback Gold.
01:58Do it, do it!
01:59Your life is at risk going out.
02:01It's dangerous.
02:06Oh, my lord.
02:09It's that kernel of truth that I think is interesting.
02:13We've been doing this so long.
02:15Oh, no way.
02:16Yeah.
02:17Our first day out, we've got relics.
02:28We're all two ten-year-old kids that made a promise to each other all to find it.
02:31And that's a promise we've kept to this day.
02:34We heard the story in class from a school teacher.
02:38Mr. Becker.
02:39Mr. Becker that read the book to us of Lasseter's Last Ride,
02:42and we just looked at each other and said,
02:44well, we're going to find that one day.
02:46We shook on it there and then.
02:50Lasseter's Last Ride is based on the true story of Harry Lasseter,
02:55a prospector, who in 1931 died alone in the outback.
03:03Lasseter was trying to return to a bonanza he'd allegedly found decades before.
03:09A 14-mile outcrop of rock known as a reef loaded with gold.
03:25How many times have been out looking for this reef now, mate?
03:28Too many bloody tongs, Jeff.
03:31So that's the Gibson Desert in front of us.
03:35The most beautiful Gibson in the world.
03:38Oh, he got a dingo.
03:42While Brendan juggled work as an upholsterer and Jeff as a handyman,
03:47the two have tried and failed six times to find the gold.
04:00It's been a 40-year obsession that's put them in danger of losing everything.
04:06If you're out there on your own and no-one knows where you are,
04:09you're pretty much stuffed.
04:11It was an eye-opener. It was a learning experience.
04:14But thinking back, you know, we're young and enthusiastic.
04:18Very enthusiastic, yeah.
04:22Really, it's just like a needle in a haystack because of the land that we're on.
04:28It's so vast.
04:30And that's why we're bringing in the experts to do our health along the way.
04:33Maybe they can find something that we risked, you know.
04:42We're not getting any younger.
04:44This could be our last chance to have a proper crack at it.
04:48Along with specialist help...
04:51Parallel to the main track.
04:52Yep.
04:53This time, they're also planning to retrace Lasseter's entire 3,000-kilometre journey.
05:02Something they've never done before.
05:07Well, this would be our biggest one.
05:09It's been a great adventure.
05:11It's still going.
05:12Yeah.
05:14The area that we're searching is as large as England itself.
05:19So we've got to search all of England to find that one rock.
05:29They're starting point, Alice Springs, 1,500 kilometres from the nearest city.
05:35And the place from where Harry Lasseter headed into the wilderness, almost 100 years ago.
05:46And here we are.
05:50And here we are.
05:51With a lifetime of research around them, Geoff and Brendan are sharing what they've learned
05:57with historian Tanya Evans and geologist Andrew Bales.
06:02The first time he came across...
06:04As a prospector, as a geologist, I look at the facts.
06:09Australia is just exceptionally rich for gold.
06:14It's vast and unexplored, even to this day.
06:17And people think, ah, it's all done to death.
06:20It's not the case.
06:22Well, this is Lasseter's last, right?
06:24He's written a lot of good books.
06:25I am a professor of history.
06:28Basically what a historian does is they're a little bit like a detective.
06:32We have to work with lots of different versions of the past.
06:35And our job is to try and put together these different versions
06:39and work out which one is the closest to the truth.
06:43Can you take us back to the start of 1930 and the exploration then?
06:48The organisation?
06:50It was actually the most advertised expedition of the day.
06:53So there was a real big hoo-ha about it.
06:55Song and dance, photographs, heading on this massive exhibition.
06:59It hit the papers and everyone was rooting for Lasseter.
07:03You know, go get our gold, son, you know?
07:05We need it.
07:06We need it.
07:06That's it.
07:07Well, you know, that could pay off the national debt.
07:12So how did he manage to win over, you know...
07:15The story alone.
07:16Okay.
07:20July, 1930.
07:21The world is in the grip of the Great Depression.
07:29It's at this moment that 50-year-old Harold Lasseter
07:34convinces investors to fund a wildly ambitious expedition
07:39deep into the outback.
07:44Lasseter tells them that 33 years prior, when prospecting for gemstones aged just 17,
07:52he became lost, far west of Alice Springs.
08:00Exhausted, he stumbled upon a rocky outcrop, or reef, studded with gold, stretching as far as the eye could see.
08:17It's estimated value in today's money, over $20 billion.
08:26With financial backing, Lasseter joins a team of bushmen, prospectors, a pilot and an engineer.
08:35At their disposal, a newly invented six-wheel truck and a gypsy moth biplane.
08:42There's a book, or I think Hill's Airport's there.
08:46To recall the location of his reef in the endless expanse, Lasseter recorded key landmarks.
08:54Then he indicated three hills, which he said could not be mistaken.
08:59They looked rather like three women in sunbonnets, talking to one another.
09:04Okay.
09:05About 35 miles to the south-east was another hill, shaped like a Quaker's hat.
09:11The reef lays about 10 miles east of a Lake Lett.
09:16So, if we find these landmarks, we find the gold.
09:19So, do you think there might be more clues out there?
09:21Oh, definitely.
09:22One thing we're searching for, too, is marked trees.
09:25What Lasseter says here, dig, dig in campfire.
09:31So, and there's another one here.
09:32So, these are clues meant for other people?
09:35Yeah.
09:35Dig, dig floor.
09:37So, it's a Hansel and Gretel kind of thing?
09:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:39Dig under the campfire.
09:41So, they found tins in there with, with, with letters and notes and things.
09:45That he'd been taken.
09:46His diary survives?
09:48His diary survives.
09:49And he found the diary?
09:50We've actually got a, we've actually got a copy here of his diary.
09:52Um, it was found out near the cave where, where he was, um, near where he passed away.
09:57Oh.
09:58If you look at here, just got my glasses, you should see something where he's camped.
10:01This, this is his sketch.
10:02This is his sketch.
10:04Um, right here it is.
10:07Here, look, there's the camp.
10:09So, if there's going to be any clues, it'll be places like these camps.
10:13And what we've got to do, decipher the diary correctly, find that camp.
10:23What we're searching for is a 14 mile gold reef, which is one of the biggest in the world,
10:29if we found it.
10:30It would be the biggest in the world.
10:31Not only the biggest, but the richest.
10:34Was every member of the team hoping to get rich?
10:37Every single one.
10:39But were they up to it?
10:40The outback swallows you up.
10:42So, even to this day, your life is at risk going out.
10:47And I'll state that, especially on our expedition where we're going and what we're going to be doing.
10:51It's dangerous.
10:52I mean, 100% dangerous.
10:54Eventually we'll be going into uncharted, unexplored country.
10:59This is such an interesting story.
11:02This gang of guys who are going out into the outback, brought there by the account of one man,
11:10after persuading a bunch of people in Sydney to fund the expedition.
11:15I think Lasseter, if he's found this, has come across a pocket on the surface within a reef
11:21that's extremely rich.
11:22And you only have to walk that far a metre the other side of it,
11:26and a metre the other side of it, you've missed it.
11:28And so, how easy is that?
11:30It's very easy.
11:33So, as a geologist, you've got to unravel the secrets of the land
11:37and try to work out where the gold can be, because it hides itself very well.
11:54On the trail of Lasseter's lost gold, lifelong friends Geoff Harris and Brendan Elliot
12:00are preparing for a journey far more ambitious than any they've done before.
12:06Just grab us that last strap, Brendan.
12:08Yeah, mate.
12:08Oh, Andrew.
12:11Following Lasseter's 1930 expedition,
12:16the first leg will see Geoff, Brendan and geologist Andrew hunt for clues along the 500-kilometre trail
12:25that Lasseter blazed to his base camp at Il Pili.
12:34Before they leave civilisation, Andrew is seeking the latest geological data
12:41to help indicate the possible location of Lasseter's Reef.
12:47This is the whole of Central Australia from WA to Queensland on this map.
12:51Here's Alice Springs located just here.
12:54Right.
12:55And each of these sort of boxes is 250 kilometres across.
13:00With each colour representing a different rock type, Lasseter would have encountered a wide variety of geology
13:08as he headed west and then south from Alice Springs.
13:12So can I ask the million dollar question, where would the reef be?
13:16That is a million dollar question.
13:18Any modern day exploration picked up anything of interest?
13:21I mean, there's been very, very little modern exploration and that's to do with the remoteness of the area.
13:27Very difficult to get to. Harsh.
13:30The only thing I can really report is that in this area here, there were some relatively nice gold assays
13:37that gave up to 30 grams per tonne, which is relatively high.
13:41That's an ounce to the tonne. That's pretty significant. I like the sound of that.
13:45Exactly, yeah.
13:47Gold assaying is a laboratory test, revealing the concentration of gold within a rock.
13:55Chris's data shows that 17 years ago, exploration companies found gold in the same country that Lasseter traversed.
14:07Somewhere in this area here, probably about 20k's across, and there were some interesting sniffs,
14:16but, you know, the companies ended up walking away.
14:18I don't mind that. I've found gold before where others have been.
14:22Yep.
14:23So that's a good start.
14:25Thank you for these maps and they'll be fantastic in the field.
14:28My pleasure, Andrew. Nice to meet you. Lovely, thanks.
14:30And good luck.
14:35Three key points. One of them, in particular, was we had a gold find.
14:39Has there been a gold find out there? Yeah.
14:41That's unreal.
14:42Yeah, in recent times, recent exploration.
14:44The second thing is it's just so underexplored.
14:48So, you know, we're really getting into some remote country.
14:51And the third really exciting thing is that Chris is going to send us the coordinates for this particular spot.
14:58Oh, that's great.
14:59That is unreal. We're going to get to actually see where it was picked up.
15:02Well, I just can't wait, so it's going to be really exciting.
15:07Before they hit the open road, one last stop.
15:12The team are meeting their cultural guide, Leo Abbott.
15:16Oh, it's OK. G'day.
15:20Geoff, mate, how are you? Yeah, good, mate.
15:22A local Arunda man, experienced in the bush, Leo will help guide the team through Aboriginal-owned country, as well
15:30as carrying essential supplies.
15:33Been here long? Bloody waiting all day for you.
15:36I'm burning daylight.
15:38Well, mate, it'll be all right.
15:40The country they're heading to is so remote, they need to be self-sufficient with food, water, shelter and fuel.
15:51So when we catch up in the next day or so, we can be able to top up the cars
15:57and all that.
15:57So we just keep rolling?
15:58Yeah, just keep going.
16:00That's great.
16:01Yeah, it's too hot to muck around out here.
16:03True.
16:04The weather now at the moment is unseasonably hot because we've got a bit of a heatwave going on here.
16:09Usually it's about 10 degrees cooler.
16:11So today we're going to be pushing 37.
16:13So we've got to take all precautions.
16:16I hope you fellas got plenty of water.
16:18Yeah, mate.
16:1820 up there, we've got 20 in the truck.
16:20It works out that we've got around about 120 litres on board.
16:24That'll get us to where we want to go.
16:26I gather you fellas got communications, you know, sat phone and radios.
16:31There's also a Starlink system that we can set up and use for Wi-Fi as well.
16:35See, bloody technology.
16:37See?
16:37You might get me too.
16:39We're not going without.
16:40We just didn't bring the widescreen TV.
16:42That's the missing bit I'm missing.
16:43Well, we can chuck it on the back of the ute.
16:45We can watch movies out there.
16:47Let's get this loaded up.
16:52Leo seems like a decent fella.
16:54He seems to know what he's talking about.
16:56We put a lot of faith in him to make sure we get through where we're going.
16:59We're going safely.
17:01While Geoff, Brendan and Andrew follow Lasseter's trail,
17:06Leo will go ahead to scout out their first campsite for the night.
17:27Those road trains don't bother slowing down much, do they?
17:29No way.
17:30I tell you what, that side post made it hard.
17:32Yeah, it did.
17:32It was a bit of a squeeze.
17:33It was quite cool.
17:36For the 1930 expedition, leaving Alice Springs was a very different experience.
17:43Back then, roads were few, and horse and camel the most trusted transport.
17:51The decision to use two trucks to carry seven men and three months of supplies was a leap of faith
17:58in technology.
18:00One that would soon haunt the team.
18:04Andrew, this is the way they went back in the day.
18:07They followed the McDonnell Rangers.
18:09Right.
18:09East, going west.
18:11Skirting on the northern side of it.
18:13Good thing is there too, they were looking for water along the way.
18:16Because they couldn't cart all the water with them.
18:19So they must have followed the edge of that mountain range there.
18:22Yep.
18:23Looking for the water.
18:29So who was sort of in charge of that logistics for the tour and the trip?
18:34Blakely was in charge of the whole expedition.
18:38That's why it created so much tension between him and Lasseter.
18:41Because Lasseter was always the one that wanted to be the big man.
18:46But he was only just there as a guide.
18:48But the actual leader was Blakely.
18:50This is his baby, right?
18:52This is his journey.
18:53And he feels like he's not in charge.
18:55That's right.
18:55Because Blakely would undermine Lasseter a few times.
18:58Right.
18:58And his credibility too.
19:00It's interesting, Geoff.
19:01And that credibility factor, you know, it's playing out so early.
19:05Like they've only just started, really.
19:07Yeah, yeah.
19:08This is in the beginning.
19:09So it's starting to break down at this point.
19:11Almost, almost straight away.
19:15Harold Lasseter was born in 1880 as Lewis Hubert Lasseter.
19:22Over his lifetime, he assumed many identities.
19:27Soldier.
19:28Surveyor.
19:30Journalist.
19:32Family man.
19:37As a prospector, his claim of finding an outback El Dorado seemed too incredible to believe.
19:47But that wasn't his only bold claim.
19:51He also declared himself the original designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
19:57Bleeding many, even those on the expedition, to write him off as a charlatan.
20:08The team's historian, Tanya, is investigating whether Lasseter's Harbour Bridge claim is as preposterous as it sounds.
20:19What we're trying to do here is to find some evidence to back up Lasseter's claim that he had designed
20:27the Harbour Bridge.
20:28Because if we found that there was some truth to his claim about designing the Harbour Bridge, then there might
20:33be truth to the claim about the reef discovery.
20:37Because, clearly, he likes to tell a story or two.
20:41Okay, so we have here the Australian Coal Shipping Steel and the Harbour from 1929.
20:49Tanya has found a trade magazine from the time that contains a letter from Lasseter.
20:55And he does include a picture. Wow. I mean, this is extraordinary.
21:11At the State Library of New South Wales, historian Tanya Evans is fact-checking an astonishing claim made by legendary
21:20gold prospector Harry Lasseter.
21:22That he originally designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
21:27We have a letter from Monday, September 2nd, 1929.
21:31So, only a few months before the expedition, authored by Lasseter.
21:37The bridge is opened in 1932.
21:41It was a huge undertaking at this time and it's a real symbol of modernity in Australia.
21:46And it's one of those kind of signs of the Australian nation really coming to fruition.
21:50This is a real depression project as well.
21:53These major construction works are often a sign of a depression.
21:57They're there to provide work, to provide employment, but also to help dig countries out of poverty.
22:04So, here we are. As Lasseter says,
22:06I thought the accompanying print of the first arch bridge designed for Sydney Harbour might prove of interest to your
22:11readers.
22:12This plan, this is interesting, was submitted by myself in June 1913.
22:17Hmm, so he submitted a plan and was rejected.
22:20The stated reason being that it was impossible to construct an arch of that span.
22:26Seeing that I antedated Dr Bradfields by 10 years, I feel that I have more claim to be the original
22:32designer, wow, of an arch bridge for Sydney Harbour than he.
22:35As I supplied working drawings and details down to the number of rivets required.
22:41Yours faithfully, Lewis H Lasseter.
22:43And we have his drawing here that looks remarkably similar to the bridge that exists today.
22:50So, goodness me.
22:54Between 1900 and 1924, the government held four separate bridge design competitions that Lasseter may have taken part in.
23:05It's not completely fail-safe because this is a claim that he submitted these drawings in 1913 and this article
23:14was published in 1929, so it's quite some time after the fact.
23:17But this is really important for our purposes because here's a man who was really ridiculed by the other team
23:24members about his claims to have designed the Harbour Bridge.
23:27But here, yet, we have some evidence that there was a truth to this claim.
23:32It's not, you know, bulletproof, but it's still an important part of our story.
23:37I can't wait to share this information, this drawing, this letter with the boys back in the field.
23:55It's just exciting. I mean, I get drawn in by their passion about the story of Lasseter, which is awesome,
24:01right?
24:01And so, I guess I'm hoping to bring a little bit of that scientific, you know, more staged approach where
24:08we step it out piece by piece.
24:14People in the past have done, you know, that rushed approach, trying to get to end results straight away.
24:20And I think the real secret to this is looking at areas that haven't been looked at and, you know,
24:25making sure every stone is looked under and every part of the store is investigated.
24:30Because that's where the gaps will be. That's where the secrets will lay.
24:34That's better.
24:35At their first campsite, 200 kilometres from Alice Springs, Jeff, Brendan and Andrew have caught up with cultural guide Leo
24:44and traditional owner Lloyd Inkamala.
24:49On tonight's menu, fresh kangaroo tails, a prized local delicacy.
24:56You fellas want to have a go at this thing in this tails?
25:00I'll have a crack.
25:02Kangaroos are a protected species.
25:06But Aboriginal people are permitted to hunt them for food.
25:10And that way it makes it more easier and more cleaner for cooking, you know?
25:17Roll them up like that.
25:18It just cooks in its own juices.
25:20Yeah.
25:22Low and slow.
25:25That's a good base, isn't it?
25:29So what we'll do is like this.
25:31Put one fat end like that.
25:33Yep.
25:34That's him.
25:43That's him.
25:44Beautiful.
25:45Nice.
25:57That's all I did.
26:01It's lovely and hot.
26:06What's the place like?
26:07I'm like kangaroo time.
26:11It sort of has a bit of texture like lamb, but it's got its own flavour.
26:16It's definitely got its own flavour.
26:19So how are you doing?
26:20Like you've got a few teeth missing and it makes it a bit hard to eat stuff.
26:25Yeah.
26:25Last horse had false teeth too, didn't he?
26:27Right.
26:28There was a story where Blakely and that were giving him a hard time.
26:31Yeah.
26:31He's real gentle.
26:33Pretty much like lamb.
26:34I'm just digging into mine.
26:35Yeah.
26:35Well, I've got false teeth.
26:37So it's a little bit difficult to just chew into it.
26:40Yeah.
26:40But Lassaday had the same problem.
26:42Yeah, because they commented on how he'd never eaten a roof before.
26:46That's right.
26:47And he told them that he had, but...
26:49That'd be an experienced horseman.
26:51Yeah.
26:52But, yeah, no, I can relate to Lassaday's little problem there.
26:57Doesn't get much better than this, does it?
26:59No.
27:00Love it.
27:03If we just keep following his trail...
27:05Yep.
27:06...there's no reason we can't find Lassaday's roof.
27:10We'll just keep walking in these footsteps.
27:11That's it.
27:25Well, here we are.
27:27I've just been woken up in the middle of the night from these dingoes howling in the background.
27:34There's a few of them.
27:35I hope everyone's put their tucker away.
27:37I can imagine what Lassaday felt like sitting out here in the middle of the night on his own.
27:44Would have been scary.
27:45We've got birds in the background.
27:47Crickets.
27:49Dingoes.
27:50It's all alive.
27:52Anyway, I better get some kip.
27:55I'll catch us all later.
28:08We're not going to be great, but we have a great day on the night.
28:08We'll be back.
28:13We'll be back.
28:14We'll be back.
28:14We'll be back.
28:23We'll be back.
28:24expedition, crossing this country became a brutal test. With no roads, getting the trucks
28:31through meant clearing a trail using axes through dense hardwood scrub.
28:47I think the dashwood's coming up here and the dashwood is actually pretty important.
28:51We know that Lasseter actually crossed the dashwood.
28:54This is the main river through here Geoff?
28:56Yeah, the dashwood, that was the one he'd stay close to, right?
28:59Yeah.
29:00In central Australia, dry river beds are common, only flowing after heavy rain.
29:07I actually stopped there for a while and built a soak for water.
29:13Often dug in dry river beds, a soak is a type of well for groundwater to seep into.
29:21It looks pretty dry.
29:23Yeah, it hasn't had water in a while.
29:27The team are looking for signs of a soak made by the Lasseter expedition.
29:33See that rock outcrop there?
29:35Yeah.
29:35That's sort of where you'd catch a bit of water, I reckon.
29:38Yeah, round there.
29:39What about up where all this runoff is down into this section?
29:41It could have stayed there.
29:42Actually, we're there.
29:43It looks like something's been digging in there.
29:45We might just go for a quick run into here and just have a look.
29:47I'm just thinking if you want to turn the trail around, that's why I'm biting up the other way.
29:50Yeah, we'll go and have a look.
29:51And, um, oh, that is a bit soft in here, isn't it?
29:57Might need a bit of a full drive action here in low range.
30:07Oh, peck down, peck down.
30:13I think we're a bit stucky, bro.
30:27Oh, yeah, we've got ourselves in a bit of mischief here, mate.
30:31The way we drove in off the road here, there's this bit of a dip and the drawbar got caught
30:35up
30:35on this little bit of a windrow and just dug straight in and just stopped us straight away.
30:39So, really, without the trailer, we might have been right and been able to drive through,
30:42but it's actually held us up.
30:45Hot on the heels of the 1930 Lasseter Gold Expedition,
30:50Brendan, Geoff and Andrew are bogged in soft sand.
30:58To create traction, they need to deflate the tyres and use recovery tracks.
31:06Line it up with your tyre, so when you're back out,
31:09your tyre will climb up it and give you a bit of more traction on the sand.
31:13Lasseter actually had to get all these sticks to all the logs and sticks.
31:18Well, yeah, we had all that thornycroft across the river too, yeah.
31:23For the 1930 team, getting across the dry creek beds was gruelling work.
31:30The trucks were loaded with nearly three tonnes of provisions.
31:34With the six-wheeled thornycroft truck having just nine inches of clearance.
31:42To stop it sinking and give it traction, heavy coconut matting and tree branches were used.
31:51You guys, we don't have to unload everything like they did with the thornycroft, eh?
31:54Oh, mate, yeah.
31:55That would have been hell.
31:56Mind you, it's only early.
31:59We should be right, eh?
32:03All right, I'll stand here, bro.
32:05No worries if you just want to just keep an eye on things and...
32:07Yeah.
32:08I'll give her back back and...
32:13All good, then?
32:14All good, bro.
32:16That's it.
32:17Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
32:19Go!
32:20Just take it right through.
32:22We'll walk up.
32:22No worries.
32:27Let's go.
32:27Yeah, let's do it.
32:28That's good.
32:35Good digging, bro.
32:36Easy going.
32:37That was good.
32:38Might just head down the road here a bit and then we'll pull up for a break, eh?
32:43Rehydration will be good.
32:45No worries.
32:46Let's go.
32:55The team are keen to investigate a location where the track once again crosses the Dashwood
33:01River, a likely spot for Lasseter to camp.
33:12Out under the stars tonight?
33:13Yeah, out under the stars, I reckon.
33:15Perfect.
33:21In two hours, the team are expecting an update from Tanya, made possible by satellite internet.
33:28Yeah, let's just pop up.
33:30Say when.
33:32Good going out there, mate.
33:34That's it.
33:34In contact.
33:36I bet you Lasseter wouldn't have minded a bit of technology like this.
33:47Meanwhile, further up the riverbed, Andrew is on the hunt for any signs that the Lasseter expedition
33:53was here.
33:57So I'm hoping to find something close to the creek that might be where someone's come down,
34:02spent a bit of time, and left some remains or relics behind.
34:11This is looking interesting.
34:22I'm really excited about this because this is a groundwater well, and whilst there's this
34:28steel structure here that the station owners have probably put over to stop cattle falling down
34:32it, we actually have timbers in the wall, and they would build wells of this structure very much
34:39like they do shafts for mining.
34:44Let's see whether we can pick up the groundwater and if there is some water in here.
34:48I don't know if it's dried out.
34:57I don't know if we can pick up the water in here.
35:21I don't know if we can pick up the water in here, but I don't know if we can pick
35:28up the water in here.
35:30So lots of iron around here.
35:33And iron tends to sound like, with this machine, it's beeping all over the place,
35:40and it would sound awfully confusing to the untrained ear.
35:43Now some of this could be a bit of ironstone too,
35:45but we're listening for a more solid sound that's not broken.
35:55This track leads all the way down towards the well, and it's been here a while.
35:59It's all grown over.
36:01And then just in front of me here, there's a structure, a man-made structure that's pretty old.
36:07Like, it's been around a long time.
36:12There's been more than just a lean-to here.
36:14This is the remnants of it.
36:16It would have given someone a bit of shelter.
36:18It's very interesting.
36:24Looking for a good solid hit.
36:36That.
36:39A bit broken.
36:41I think it's iron, but it's a solid one.
36:43We're going to have to test it out.
36:46We're going to have to test it out.
36:47That there is a buckle, and that would be off a piece of saddlery.
36:53Or a gear they'd use on the horse, pack horse, potential camel as well.
36:58Something they'd use with the lever.
37:00That is a beautiful example of that era.
37:03Wow.
37:04The history here, it's oozing with it.
37:11Okay, we've got a lid here, it could be something of age.
37:15Sometimes you've got to clear a bit of the junk around so you work back over things.
37:20Still heaps of signals.
37:24That's a solid signal.
37:27Both ways, sharp.
37:37No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
37:42Oh my lord.
37:45We have just picked up.
37:49This is a penny from, and I'm trying to read the date, and I think I could say 1928.
38:02I'm a little speechless.
38:04I'm actually shaking here with excitement, but is it possible?
38:08I mean, this is 1928.
38:11Penny, I nearly dare not say, was the potential of this being one of the party with Lasseter,
38:19or Lasseter himself.
38:21This is something really interesting to report to the boys and also to Tanya.
38:26To find a coin is just awesome because you don't get any better as far as a timing stamp.
38:33It is dated 1928.
38:39It just adds to that story, to that treasure hunt of unlocking the secrets of Lasseter.
38:49G'day Tanya, how you going?
38:51I'm really well, how are you?
38:53It's great to see you again.
38:54Oh, you too.
38:55Yeah, you too.
38:55We're doing well.
38:56It's very warm, as you can probably guess from the colour of my face.
38:59So you have to fill us in about your investigation.
39:03How have you got on?
39:04Well, I've had an amazing day in my happy place, the State Library of New South Wales.
39:10I found an amazing periodical that gives us some clues as to Lasseter's claim
39:18about designing the Harbour Bridge.
39:21And the article was published on the 2nd of September 1929.
39:25A letter that Lasseter wrote, sorry, he goes,
39:29Dear Sir, I thought the accompanying print of the first arch bridge designed for Sydney Harbour
39:34might prove of interest to your readers.
39:37This plan was submitted by myself in June 1913.
39:41And there is his drawing of the Harbour Bridge.
39:46Wow, it almost looks the same as the Harbour Bridge.
39:49I know.
39:51That's amazing.
39:52So there is some truth to his story and that there's some credibility.
39:57Absolutely.
39:58We could say he's brought back with that one drawing.
40:02So it's not entirely conclusive.
40:05No.
40:05It's that kernel of truth that I think is interesting.
40:07So I think that I have some more research to do back in the archives.
40:12What have you been up to?
40:13I've been out bush looking along the creek here and found some very interesting artefacts.
40:20An awesome buckle.
40:21This is a metal buckle, not a brass.
40:24That's old.
40:25It is.
40:26It's amazing.
40:27And then just on the surface was just this tin lid.
40:30Didn't really have to detect it, of course, but in really good condition.
40:33Hasn't rusted.
40:34You're an archaeologist as well as a geologist now.
40:36He's doing well.
40:37I love it.
40:38You're not going to believe what I just found after that.
40:41Wow.
40:42Right here.
40:43Oh, no way.
40:46You didn't show us that.
40:47No.
40:48That's a secret.
40:49We have found a penny with...
40:52What's the date?
40:541928.
40:55No way.
40:57Wow.
41:01I'm not sure if you're close enough for you to see, but it's 1928.
41:06I can't quite see.
41:08We'll send you a photograph.
41:10That's amazing.
41:11Yeah.
41:11Got a solid signal with the detector.
41:13Bang.
41:15Masseter could have held this penny.
41:17That's what I was shaking when I picked it up.
41:19I would have been too.
41:19That's just...
41:20And the coin is still in great condition, too.
41:25Well, Andrew, I asked you to go out looking for clues.
41:28I didn't get you back when I had a date on it.
41:31This is just like having a gold peel.
41:33The finds that you've just found are unbelievable.
41:35I'll be honest.
41:36I'm a bit worried.
41:36I've set the bar a little bit high earlier.
41:40You started with me.
41:41This is our treasure.
41:42Well, I hope I've got exceeding this so that the odds are going to start performing.
41:48But no gold yet.
41:50No gold yet.
41:51No gold yet.
41:51But we've got a penny.
41:53Well done.
41:55Good start.
41:58Again, mate.
41:59Good work on that coin.
42:00Well done.
42:01Great work on the coin.
42:02I love that coin.
42:03You guys.
42:04That's so intriguing.
42:07Mate, he brought back a 1928 coin.
42:10They crossed this creek in 1930 and built a soak.
42:13So if he's found a soak and he's found a coin from 1930,
42:17you know, they're pretty good clues to say, you know,
42:19that's the exact spot where they crossed.
42:22We've been doing this so long.
42:2410 years old.
42:25And here we are.
42:26We've got our first relic.
42:28So, yeah.
42:29It means the world.
42:31You know, we've had a lot of struggles along the way.
42:34A lot of people didn't believe us.
42:37You know, we've battled for years trying to convince people.
42:41But, you know, we're on to different things with Lasseter that no one knows about.
42:45And this is just the beginning.
42:47Our first day out.
42:49Here we are.
42:50And we've got relics.
42:53I'm ecstatic.
42:54I can't get the smile off my face.
42:56So cheers.
42:57Is that a tear in your eye?
42:58Good on you, mate.
43:02I've never had the opportunity to actually cook rocks.
43:06Oh, my goodness me.
43:07The more evidence we gather about Lasseter,
43:10the more complicated and contradictory he becomes.
43:15Oh, we've just found gold, boys.
43:17Oh, me.
43:17Where there's one sniff of gold, there's more.
43:28Oh, my goodness me.
43:30Oh, my goodness.
43:40Oh, my goodness.
43:50Oh, that's Evans.
43:50Oh.
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