- 2 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:11The Australian Outback, vast, remote, hostile.
00:25For two men, this is the backdrop to a lifelong obsession.
00:31This is what we do. This is who we are.
00:34A childhood pact.
00:38To solve a 100-year-old mystery.
00:42We've been called eccentric and all sorts of different things.
00:46Finding Australia's El Dorado.
00:49A lost fortune in gold.
00:56Clues from one man hold the key.
00:59I think he did find it and he actually wanted somebody else to find it as well.
01:06In 1897, Harold Lasseter staggered out of the desert.
01:14Claiming to have discovered a massive outcrop of gold, known as a reef, worth billions.
01:22Decades later, while on an expedition to rediscover his fortune, Lasseter perished.
01:31Taking to the grave the secret location of his gold.
01:37Now, a new expedition is out. To discover the truth.
01:43Coming in real fast, eh?
01:46Survive the outback.
01:48Snake, snake. Big brown.
01:49Oh, whoa.
01:50And just maybe become billionaires in the process.
01:55Look at that.
01:55Bad income. Check this out.
01:57We found gold.
01:58Yes!
02:08Last time, the team began their quest.
02:13Your life is at risk going out. It's dangerous.
02:16Confronting the same threats faced by the 1930 expedition.
02:21It's that kernel of truth that I think is interesting.
02:24Tanya discovered that a bold claim from Lasseter actually stacked up.
02:29Looks remarkably similar to the bridge that exists today.
02:32So, goodness me.
02:33And a chance find from Andrew.
02:36Oh, my Lord.
02:38A sign they're on the right track.
02:41We've been doing this so long.
02:43Oh, no way.
02:44Really?
02:45Our first day out.
02:47We've got relics.
03:04I've got a decent sized hutsman spider here.
03:06Look at this.
03:07I just folded up my swag and he was crawling down my shoulder.
03:12They don't tend to bite usually.
03:15They're normally pretty friendly.
03:19200 kilometres west of Alice Springs,
03:23lifelong friends Brendan Elliott and Geoff Harris,
03:27along with geologist Andrew Bales,
03:30are four days into a hunt for a lost fortune.
03:35And a lost legend.
03:38No, it's not about finding billions of dollars
03:41or running off with a whole handful of cash or gold.
03:43It's, um...
03:44It's never been about the money.
03:45It's just, um...
03:47To show the world that Lasseter was actually telling the truth.
03:55The team are following the path of Harry Lasseter's ill-fated 1930 expedition.
04:04After leaving Alice Springs, they still have 250 kilometres to go
04:10to reach his base camp at Il Pili.
04:14Along the trail, they're hunting for traces of the infamous prospector,
04:19as well as anything pointing to the existence of his gold.
04:24We need a couple more clues, and we don't know what they are
04:28until we stumble across them.
04:30Could be a tin with one piece of paper in it
04:32that gives you that little bit of extra information.
04:34He left a lot of the secrets around, buried under campfires.
04:37He left messages.
04:39Metal detectors.
04:41It's interesting studying the Macdonald Ranges.
04:44It's not renowned in the western reaches
04:47to have gold occurrences full stop.
04:51I don't care.
04:52I want to see it myself, and I'll study it,
04:54and I can read the ground very easily
04:55and quickly say we're in a really good location.
04:58So there's always a chance.
05:03Meanwhile, in the archives, historian Tanya Evans
05:07is following Lasseter's paper trail,
05:10investigating whether the enigmatic Lasseter
05:13should even be believed.
05:18I find Lasseter really interesting.
05:19He's a man of mystery.
05:20He's a man of tall stories.
05:22He's a man of enormous ambition.
05:24But I look forward to digging up more about this particular story
05:28because I think this is going to be really important
05:30for trying to establish whether Lasseter was a man who told the truth.
05:44What's the fuel situation?
05:45We're well under half, so it's a good time to get some fuel right now
05:49and meet up aloud.
05:50The expedition covers a total area of 130,000 square kilometres.
05:59Out here, there are no petrol stations.
06:03Planned fuel drops are essential.
06:07Respected local guide and Arenda man, Leo Abbott,
06:11is due to rendezvous with the team.
06:15I'm just looking at those coordinates, guys.
06:17We're not far off the location that we're going to meet Leo.
06:20There'll be an intersection you've got to look for.
06:25Oh, yeah, this will be it.
06:28Leo's not here.
06:31No.
06:31Oh.
06:40Just wait here and wait for him.
06:45Got a bit of dust coming.
06:46Oh, here we go.
06:49Beautiful.
06:50He's hooking along.
06:51He loves it.
06:58We are pleased to see you, mate, I can tell you.
07:01Oh.
07:01We're starting to worry.
07:02What's going on?
07:03I don't know.
07:04I thought you must have been having a coffee somewhere.
07:05I was.
07:06Were you?
07:07I was thinking, nah, they can wait a little bit more longer.
07:10Mate.
07:10I've got to enjoy this cappuccino.
07:12As long as you got here, eh?
07:14That's right, I'm here.
07:20We'll fuel it up now.
07:22Too easy.
07:26You ready?
07:27Yeah, mate.
07:27Rock it on.
07:30Oh, we're flowing.
07:32Beauty.
07:33So how are you fellas been going?
07:35Got a couple of objects there we want to show you.
07:37Yeah, you must.
07:38I didn't expect to be finding what we've been getting, so it's great.
07:44For nearly 100 years, dozens of expeditions have been through this land, hunting for Lasseter's
07:51lost fortune in gold.
07:54Good job, Leo.
07:55Leo has seen many of them try and fail.
08:00Well, these are some of the fires we've got here, Leo.
08:02Here we go.
08:03We found, which was a real, absolute, well, I was shocked.
08:09It was a general find, wasn't it?
08:10It was, we found this penny, dated 1928.
08:15Could be from the Lasseter expedition.
08:19Timing's about right.
08:20Timing's about right, yeah.
08:21Could be.
08:23Just from talking to some of the old people, they've had sort of different theories about
08:27it.
08:28Was he just getting away from troubles?
08:29Or was he just the world's best con man, you know?
08:34Him coming out here for a big find and all this sort of stuff.
08:38Well, nobody's found it.
08:40Not yet.
08:45No worries.
08:47No worries.
08:47Thanks a lot for that.
08:48No worries.
09:03For Brendan and Geoff, Leo's doubt in Lasseter feels all too familiar.
09:10Sometimes I feel a lot less though.
09:13No one believed him.
09:15No one believes us.
09:18We've been called crazy.
09:20You're nuts.
09:20It doesn't exist.
09:25It's difficult.
09:31Hey, check out that.
09:33Look at that.
09:34How beautiful is that?
09:39Well, it's interesting.
09:40I just had a look at my phone before on the geology.
09:42We're cross cutting from north to south through these gaps in the range.
09:48And there's only a couple of places through the range that you can pass.
09:52I mean, when you think about it.
09:53They must have had to come through this way.
09:57Hey, hold on, bro.
09:58Check it out.
10:00Now, this looks like a place where Lasseter said he once camped in.
10:03Do you want to stop and have a look?
10:04Yeah, I can have a bit of a squeeze.
10:15This looks like a bit of a cave, isn't it?
10:17Yeah.
10:22At the same point on the 1930 expedition, friction between Lasseter and the team leader,
10:29Fred Blakely, was intensifying.
10:32Blakely was beginning to doubt Lasseter and the story of his gold.
10:38When Lasseter noticed a cave high up on a rock face,
10:43he told Blakely he'd camped there 33 years before, aged 17,
10:49when he first found his gold.
10:53Blakely scoffed at the idea.
10:57Why would it have gone up there?
10:58Well, I'm looking at it myself.
11:01And if I was 17 years old, riding horse through this country on me own,
11:06if it was me, I'd want to hide up high and have a good view,
11:11considering that's the only cave we've located since we've been on the track.
11:15There's a good chance that was a cave.
11:18I'd camp in that.
11:20Up there?
11:21Yeah, I'd get up there.
11:22Why would you get up that high?
11:23Well, for a night.
11:24You don't want anyone in their right mind to just climb up there for a night.
11:26You reckon you'd get up there?
11:28Well, if I would.
11:29Come on, bro, you're not as fit as you used to be.
11:32I'll get up there, mate.
11:33Bet you a dollar you don't make it.
11:35You're on.
11:36Rightio.
11:37You got the dollar?
11:38I've got a dollar.
11:39There you go.
11:41One Australian dollar.
11:43You got the old type.
11:44Of course.
11:45I bet with this all the time, and I always win it back at some stage.
11:48All right.
11:48Well, I'll come on with you.
11:50See you on your own, okay?
11:51Yeah.
11:51What are you going to do?
11:52I'm going to take a bit of a keeper.
11:53I'll take the radio on.
11:55All right.
11:56I'll listen after he is calling me.
11:57All right.
11:57All right.
11:57Good, good.
11:59Reach the cave, and for Geoff, it will reinforce his belief in Lassiter.
12:07The point is, one, you could get up there, because that was one of Blakely's statements.
12:11He says, there's no way you climb up that height.
12:13So I want to see where he actually can get up into that cave.
12:17And let's just say Lassiter did roll up there when he was 17.
12:21Who's to say he didn't put his name on the wall?
12:23Or even leave something behind?
12:26Well, we're going to take the ladder up there, because I don't want to come back down.
12:29I want to get in.
12:31You ready?
12:32I think you're right.
12:33Let's do it.
12:33Good luck, boys.
12:43Which way?
12:44Well...
12:45Straight up there.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:47Let's do it.
12:49On the hunt for a multi-billion dollar gold reef, Geoff and Andrew are attempting to reach
12:55a cave that prospector Harry Lassiter may have camped in.
13:03Watch yourself.
13:05And if we can find one clue to get us closer to the reef, you know, if we can find
13:10another
13:10bit of evidence like a tin can with something written in it, it just might find us in that
13:15right direction.
13:16That's a good one.
13:18Midday, and the temperature is well over 40 degrees.
13:23I mean, jeez, isn't it hot?
13:25Made worse by heat radiating off the rocks.
13:29It's like inside an oven, a blast furnace.
13:31You're getting it straight up from below.
13:34Yeah.
13:34So it's cooking.
13:41Let's go around here, on the left.
13:44You gonna go to the left?
13:45Yeah, there's a flat piece here we can walk up on.
13:50All right.
13:51Well, that's it, brother.
13:53It's like stepping stones all the way up.
13:56The distance from below to here didn't take long.
13:59Nah.
14:00So that just puts what Blakely said to Lassiter about that being too high up to climb.
14:04Yeah.
14:04Now I'm starting to think a little differently about it.
14:06We should get up there and have a look.
14:15You got it?
14:16You got it?
14:17You take your time.
14:18Yeah.
14:32Ah, whoa.
14:42You got it?
14:43Copy up there, Jeff?
14:46Copy, Andrew?
14:50Copy, Jeff?
14:51Copy, Jeff?
14:55Copy, Jeff?
14:55They did say they'd keep that radio on at all times.
14:58They might have lost radio contact inside the cave or something.
15:02It's a bit concerning, but a lot of things can go wrong in the cave.
15:08Copy Jeff or Andrew.
15:10You there, mate.
15:16It's different.
15:18It's much bigger than I thought it was going to be.
15:20Oh, yeah.
15:20A lot bigger.
15:21Bit of scat lying around.
15:24Well, there's definitely, I reckon, bats in here.
15:26I don't know about that.
15:27I'm just keen to see if there's any human activity.
15:30So if a tin's been left behind or something.
15:32Yeah.
15:39That rock there is out of place.
15:42Oh, yeah.
15:43You see that?
15:44Oh, I didn't want to put a rock there, though.
15:45Don't know.
15:46There's nothing else in here that's of that colour.
15:49This is something that's been brought into this cave.
15:51It hasn't come from the cave, right?
15:53Did Lasseter ever leave rock things behind?
15:57Not that I know of.
15:58I know it used to mark trees.
16:00So is that a sign that there's something buried here?
16:03I suppose if you run the gold detector over
16:05and see what you come across, it's worth it.
16:14Well, I'm going right in around here,
16:16really close to this marker.
16:19You're getting hit, are you?
16:21No.
16:22If it's metal, it'll really sing.
16:25Oh, wow.
16:34A small metal detector known as a pinpointer
16:37helps find the exact location of the signal.
16:41It's giving a little something going on,
16:45and it's giving a false signal, I think, unfortunately.
16:51Once we're up, we had a little bit of a try, man.
16:54But the point is, it's big enough to camp in,
16:58and it's not hard to get up here.
17:03Copy, Jeff, or Andrew.
17:05You there, mate?
17:07Yeah, I got a copy.
17:09Oh, you're there.
17:10I was starting to get worried, mate.
17:11You weren't answering.
17:13Put your pants on, mate.
17:14We could hear you snoring from up here.
17:16You guys are all good up there?
17:18Yeah, all good, brother.
17:19There you go.
17:21Love you.
17:26How'd it just go?
17:27A lot bigger than you think.
17:30Detector, gridded the whole cave.
17:31Yep.
17:32Not a skerrick.
17:33So we...
17:33So at least we can cross that off.
17:35There was something in there from Lasseter.
17:36We would have found it.
17:37Yeah.
17:38Well, I guess I owe you a dollar.
17:39You owe me a dollar, brother?
17:40I owe you a dollar.
17:41There you go.
17:42Well, I'll hang on to that, my friend.
17:43Yeah, no worries.
17:44I'll win it back at some stage, I'll tell you.
17:45Let's go.
17:49While no clues have been found, Lasseter's story of camping here is highly possible, reinforcing
17:56the team's belief that they're on the right track.
18:06Over 2,000 kilometres away, historian Tanya is continuing her own investigation into Lasseter.
18:17Lasseter strikes me as a really complicated individual.
18:20I haven't worked him out yet.
18:22I don't think we have the evidence to quite work him out yet.
18:25It's been important to try and piece together whether he was telling the truth, obviously
18:33for discovering the reef full of gold, but also to test his claim about designing the
18:39Harbour Bridge.
18:42So far, Tanya has found that Lasseter's extraordinary claim to being the original designer of the Sydney
18:50Harbour Bridge may have been true.
18:53And there is his drawing of the Harbour Bridge.
18:59Wow.
19:03But now she's uncovered a magazine containing an anonymous letter to the editor that casts
19:10doubt on Lasseter's character.
19:12It's an account that's been published in the Bulletin in March 1932, so after Lasseter's
19:21death.
19:21So we have here an account by somebody who calls himself Virax, which means to tell the
19:28truth.
19:29So, Virax.
19:30I haven't much faith in Lasseter's reef.
19:33I knew Lasseter.
19:34He claimed to be a Victorian by birth, but had spent many years in the USA.
19:39He used to write for a local newspaper, but one of his contributions being a bitter denunciation
19:45of the war in verse.
19:47Oh, goodness, he writes poetry as well.
19:49He told me he had invented a device to make battleships torpedo proof, but the naval authorities
19:55were not impressed by it.
19:58In short, Virax suggests, he was more or less of a crank.
20:03Very aggressive, very self-opinionated, and full of large, hopeful visions.
20:09I fear his reef was only one of the many illusions and delusions that spattered his career.
20:17The more documentary evidence we gather about Lasseter, the more complicated and contradictory
20:25he becomes.
20:26So, you know, you think you find a piece of evidence that provides an answer, and then
20:31another piece of evidence just throws that out of the window.
20:36It's really hard to find the truth, and all historians don't think in terms of black and
20:41white.
20:41People try and alter the story of themselves, not just Lasseter, but other people as well.
20:47In fact, almost everyone plays with different versions of themselves, and that's why it's
20:52hard to find the truth.
21:00Back in the field, the team pushed through ancient mountain ranges, on constant watch for landmarks
21:08that Lasseter said lay close to his gold reef.
21:13Three hills in the shape of women wearing sun bonnets, and there was another hill that he actually
21:18said to look like a quaker's hat with the top cut off.
21:22And that's when he stumbled across the reef, and that's where he found the gold.
21:27Oh, hang on, mate.
21:28Just pull up.
21:29Hang on.
21:29Hang on.
21:30No, seriously.
21:30Let's go.
21:31Just pull up here for a second.
21:32There's something I want to look at out here.
21:33This looks interesting.
21:47A pile of rocks has caught geologist Andrew's eye.
21:52This one's a nice piece of quartz.
21:54This is what's really exciting coming to an area like this.
21:58Quartz is like a carrier fluid for the gold.
22:02He's spotted what could be a much smaller version of Lasseter's quartz outcrop, or reef.
22:09Could this be similar to what Lasseter found?
22:12Possibly.
22:13Lasseter claimed that his gold lay embedded in a quartz reef, 14 miles long and up to 12 feet wide.
22:22Quartz is just a really nice sign of where gold likes to be.
22:26This is a very white, bucky-looking quartz.
22:29What does bucky mean?
22:30Very little mineralisation and limited potential for gold.
22:33However, I've found gold in fairly bucky-white quartz before, so I don't discount it.
22:3990%, 80% of the time, the more mongery the quartz looks, the more iron-stained, broken, brittle, mouse-ridden.
22:47Mouse-ridden, like it's...
22:48Little pockets.
22:50It looks like a bit of cheese.
22:51Oh, like it's been chewed out or something.
22:53Yeah, chewed out.
22:53Is that where the gold sits in that fracture?
22:56That's right.
22:57Gold likes space.
22:59So where there's fractures and joints, that's where the gold likes to be.
23:04Is this something we're looking for when we're looking for Lasseter's roof?
23:06Absolutely.
23:07The strong theory back in the day was that the country out here didn't hold gold,
23:11and hence there was a lot of controversy and doubt on Lasseter's part that there was gold out here.
23:18Gold and quartz are often found together, forming under similar geological conditions.
23:27Deep in the earth, water, heated by magma, is forced up through rock, dissolving gold.
23:35As the fluid cools or changes pressure, gold can crystallise with quartz, forming gold-bearing quartz reefs.
23:49Quartz veins, they pinch and swell.
23:52It's like a big sausage.
23:54Yep.
23:54It has a narrow point, and then it blows out again.
23:56That's one of the clues with Lasseter's roof.
23:59It went along above the ground, and then went down underground, down the track a bit, it'll come back up
24:06again.
24:06And I'm not saying this is Lasseter's roof, but it can happen.
24:09Absolutely.
24:10How come it hasn't been found today?
24:12Yeah.
24:12Just for that reason.
24:14Yeah.
24:17So how would you work out if it's a gold-bearing line of quartz?
24:23So we'll collect maybe half a dozen pieces, crush these up, and pan it.
24:32Yeah, that's nice.
24:33Potential.
24:40This tool here is a very basic rock crusher for us.
24:45It's called a dolly pot, an old term.
24:48It's like a mortar and pestle, really.
24:51I'm going to break it down.
24:53If there's a sniff of gold, any of this, it should show up.
24:57The chance of finding gold is slim.
25:00To find any gold in the quartz, first, it needs to be shattered.
25:06The rocks are heated, then rapidly cooled.
25:10We'll pull those bits of quartz out.
25:13They'll be super hot.
25:14Chuck them into cold water.
25:16Cracks it.
25:17Acting like bellows, a leaf blower generates furnace-like temperatures.
25:24Very hot.
25:28You ever seen anything like this before, Brendan?
25:29No, mate.
25:30I've never had the opportunity to actually cook rocks.
25:32So this is a bit different for me.
25:35I think we'll grab another piece.
25:43Oh, yeah.
25:44There we go.
25:44Look at that.
25:45Just broke straight off.
25:45Popped straight off.
25:48Oh, yeah.
25:50Sizzle whistle.
25:53So it doesn't take much cooking to really soften this material up, and it's just...
25:58Well, I didn't expect that.
26:00It started as such a hard rock to end up so soft.
26:03So soft and brittle.
26:04Put a few pieces in.
26:06Okay.
26:13So how far do you take that?
26:14Back to dust?
26:15Back to dust?
26:16Yeah, it's basically as fine as I can get it.
26:21Keep you fit, though.
26:22It does.
26:25Yeah, right.
26:26Pretty good.
26:26Yeah, that's...
26:27So now it's really about wetting this down and then panning it off.
26:31We'll now wash the lights off the top.
26:34Gold being a really extremely dense element, it's going to water sink to the bottom.
26:39And stay at the bottom.
26:40And stay at the bottom.
26:40Yeah, right, yeah.
26:45I try to get it down to about a tablespoon quantity.
26:50So now what I'm going to do is just roll it anti-clockwise, to effectively move the water
26:54across it, all the lights brought down to the back, and the front keep all the headies.
26:59Oh.
27:01That's nice, is it?
27:04See?
27:04Yeah, I see it.
27:05Just see it.
27:06That's actually gold, though.
27:07There's two.
27:08Two specks.
27:10We just found gold, boys.
27:15We just found gold.
27:17You're all kidding me.
27:19Small, but it's gold.
27:22That's it.
27:23It's like a pair of eyes looking at me.
27:25Well, that's two more than I thought.
27:26We're going to get out of this load.
27:29Oh, that's mine.
27:32I see the dynamics already.
27:34Wow.
27:35That's just from crushing a bit of quartz.
27:37That's unbelievable.
27:39Where there's one sniff of gold, there's more.
27:42So what's stopping there being a better piece of country that suits gold coming along and
27:48being found?
27:49It's probable.
27:51It's really surprising, and it sort of lifts your spirit up a bit, too, to know that gold
27:56can appear in a lot of areas.
27:58It's great.
27:59It was a great feeling.
28:00I didn't expect, there's no way, obviously, I think it would be a sample, so it's a good
28:06start.
28:06I'm really excited.
28:08We found gold.
28:11For me, it gives a conviction of what Lasseter was saying, that there's a big gold reef out
28:16here.
28:17It just makes the idea of it being in the ground a lot stronger.
28:38We're just doing a bit of a vehicle pre-start, just checking that the oil levels are good.
28:43In the remote outback, daily maintenance of your vehicle is crucial.
28:48There's a good chance you can perish really quickly if you break down.
28:52As team mechanic, this is Brendan's responsibility.
28:56If you run out of oil and damage the engine out here, you're not going to get very far,
29:00so you could be waiting for quite a while.
29:06If you don't look after your vehicles and your equipment, they can fail when you're really
29:10quick.
29:13In 1930, Lasseter's expedition had their fair share of mechanical setbacks.
29:20One of their trucks had a crippling breakdown.
29:23The other caught fire.
29:27The bad luck didn't stop there.
29:30A boulder rolled down a hillside, narrowly missing the men.
29:36And most dramatically, their biplane crashed on take-off.
29:40The pilot, lucky to survive.
29:58Deeper into the outback, the team enter Aboriginal-controlled land.
30:04A vast tract of country occupying the heart of the continent.
30:11For over 40,000 years, Aboriginal people have lived in this desert country.
30:20In Lasseter's time, most were still living traditional nomadic lives.
30:27Few had ever seen Europeans before.
30:32If any had met Lasseter, it would have left a lasting impression, becoming part of an oral
30:39history, passed down through generations.
30:47To enter this part of Australia, permits are required.
30:53Access to sacred sites is by invitation only.
30:57A protocol that Lasseter did not follow.
31:08Before they continue on, the team are meeting with cultural guide, Leo.
31:14Three omega.
31:15Hey, Leo.
31:16Hey, Leo.
31:17How are you, mate?
31:18Just have a seat.
31:19We'll have a little bit of a yard.
31:23You know, I wanted to sit down here with you fellas.
31:26When people do come out to areas like this, it's good for people to acknowledge the country
31:31that we're in.
31:33One thing that you've got to think about here is that, you know, this country's alive.
31:38Just like we're sitting here breathing and looking around here, so the country can see you too,
31:43for who you are.
31:46For yourself and for your own well-being, acknowledging the country that you're on,
31:52the best way to do it, just get a bit of sand like this and just let it run through
31:58your hand
31:59and just letting the country know, the spirits know, that you're only visiting.
32:04And then that way, you know, you get a safe passage, you know?
32:11By the country, we're just here to pass through and visit.
32:18It's over us.
32:21Appreciate where we are.
32:34Every land has got spirit.
32:37You don't want bad spirits attaching to yourself and, you know, there's been stories that that's happened to people, you
32:43know?
32:43So it's real.
32:46Yeah, just give you that rite of passage, you know, so you can go through and, you know, visit safely.
32:52Yeah, that's it.
32:53Thank you, Leo.
32:54Appreciate your time.
33:01You've got to remember what Leo said, you know?
33:03If the country doesn't want you to pass, it's going to give you a hard time on the way through.
33:07That's right.
33:08Makes you think about the Lusseter's expedition and going to areas in this country where they shouldn't have been.
33:17Yeah.
33:17Yeah, that's right.
33:18So they really pushed the boundaries on all fronts, didn't they?
33:20Yeah.
33:21And the amount of bad luck they had is, in my eyes, above average.
33:26Yep.
33:26Playing crashes.
33:28The bolt was rolling down a hill.
33:29The rest of the team was lucky to make it back alive.
33:32Yeah, for sure.
33:47So we've come to Melbourne from Sydney because we found out that Lusseter was born in Victoria and also that
33:57he might have served in the Australian Army.
34:00Tanya's continuing her investigation into Harry Lusseter's credibility where it's starting to feel like two steps forward, one step back.
34:11We have lots of different sources telling us different kinds of things.
34:15I'm not quite sure what kind of man he is, whether he's a man of his word or not.
34:20I think that's, for me, that's definitely still up for grabs.
34:27So we've come to the State Library of Victoria and the wonderfully helpful staff here have helped us dig out
34:34some sources that make mention of Lusseter.
34:39Tanya's first document is a regional newspaper.
34:42A really interesting poem, it seems, from the Foster and Tura mirror from 1918.
34:51So we're still at the tail end of the First World War.
34:54It's entitled Christian Warfare.
34:58So here we have Lusseter calling himself Lewis, but we know in 1924 he changed his name to Harold.
35:05It's actually very, very moving.
35:08Earth shook beneath their arm tread as the charging squadrons met, while shot and shell fell thick as hail, till
35:16the face of earth was wet, with the red lifeblood of the best of earth.
35:21In stern, sad words he spoke, is this goodwill to men?
35:25Behold, a dream for I awoke.
35:29So this is really interesting.
35:31What he's doing in this work is really articulating the sheer desperation that many Australians felt when so many lives
35:40had been lost or injured as a result of the First World War.
35:44We're seeing a side of his character that we haven't yet seen so far.
35:48I think it's important that we try and piece together what we can about his military contributions.
35:59It looks like Lusseter's military records here.
36:04This looks like his enlistment papers dated the 21st of February, 1916.
36:14So right in the middle of the war, his name is Lewis Herbert Lusseter, born in the town of Meredith.
36:25He's 35 years old.
36:27Oh, isn't that interesting?
36:29His trade is listed as a bridge engineer.
36:32Wow.
36:33And he served in the Australian army.
36:36That is really interesting.
36:37I wonder what impact that had.
36:39We get a sense from that poem, of course, it did have a huge impact.
36:43And here we have a really interesting picture of him.
36:51He looks like a man on a mission.
36:55This is a new site, Lusseter.
36:57It adds a whole other chapter to his life story.
37:08Hey, Brendan, just come across the creek and just turn right and come down that little track there.
37:13I'm on the bend of the creek here.
37:16See you a bit later.
37:19Please don't get a lot.
37:21Near the remote Aboriginal community of Ikunchi, the team are continuing their search for three distinct hills that Lusseter said
37:32looked like sun bonnets.
37:33We know the reef lies not far from there.
37:37No one's been able to locate those hills.
37:39They might have seen them, but don't know what they are.
37:42But now Leo has discovered a direct link to Lusseter that may point them in the right direction.
37:51Oh, you fellas found me.
37:53Yeah, mate.
37:53You're always tucked away, mate.
37:56Interesting thing.
37:56A couple of people across the way over there would be probably interested to have a bit of a yarn
38:01with them.
38:02Good.
38:02Thanks, mate.
38:03I wonder what this is all about, boys.
38:09Hello, gentlemen.
38:10Hey, Lloyd.
38:11Hello, Lloyd.
38:11How are you?
38:12I've got these two here.
38:14You guys might want to hear a story about Lusseters.
38:18Yeah.
38:19So they're willing to tell us the story.
38:22Grab a seat.
38:24Wonderful.
38:26It's soft, isn't it?
38:28Yeah.
38:28How do yous know the stories?
38:31My father told me.
38:34Yeah.
38:35Your father passed the story down?
38:36Yeah.
38:37Because he saw Lusseter when he was a little boy.
38:40Yeah, right.
38:41His father.
38:42Right.
38:42His father sent him when he was a little boy.
38:45Yeah.
38:46Wow.
38:47Even my father knows the story, too.
38:49Yeah.
38:50Yeah.
39:02So they come through this country?
39:05Yeah.
39:06He was just looking around the rock mountains, you know?
39:09Yeah.
39:09When he was traveling along.
39:11Does he know why he was there?
39:16Next to water.
39:17He's looking for water.
39:19Looking for water.
39:19Yeah.
39:20Yeah.
39:21On his own?
39:25Yeah.
39:26On his own.
39:27Oh.
39:32Yeah.
39:42On his own.
39:46But when he was traveling, he saw another hill there in the middle.
39:51Wide hill there.
39:52Yes.
39:53Halfway.
39:55Pretty much, that's what Lusseter was saying.
39:59There was three hills in the shape of sun bonnets.
40:02I mean a third hill, in the shape of a quagisat.
40:04We know the roof lies not far from there.
40:07I mean that's pretty amazing.
40:20And from there, he start grappling to south.
40:25South.
40:26Coming into the duck river area.
40:28That makes sense.
40:31So somewhere in here, he said his gold was in that radial point.
40:39This is beautiful because we've been studying Lassana ever since we were 10 years old.
40:45Since we were boys.
40:48This is very important to us.
40:51We really appreciate your help and your knowledge.
40:55Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
41:02It's an amazing moment, mate.
41:04Like, we've been doing this for 43 years.
41:07And finally, I get to sit down with someone who actually knows the story of where Lassana actually stood.
41:14So that's first hand knowledge.
41:16So that was pretty amazing.
41:21We were privileged to sit down with them.
41:24And that is special in itself.
41:27Because it's not something they share with just anybody.
41:30So yeah, I do pinch myself.
41:33Just to make sure it's real.
41:46Well, that was an experience we've had, mate, that you'll probably never have again.
41:50That's not written down anyway.
41:52That's oral history.
41:53Yeah.
41:53And it's a story that's come from his father.
41:55That's right.
41:55That's not something that's come from generations.
41:57It's something that's just been spoken.
42:00He said, that's to come through here.
42:03We're on the track.
42:04I mean, we could have been 100 k's that way or 100 k's that way.
42:08That's right.
42:09We're on his tail.
42:11Yeah.
42:12The different point of us and others has been, they tried to jump to the end.
42:16We did that in the beginning.
42:17Yeah.
42:17Don't get us wrong.
42:18This time's actually going to work out a lot better because we're starting from the start.
42:22Yeah.
42:22And we're going to step our way right through the entire thing.
42:25And we've already seen the value of that.
42:27That's it.
42:28That's exciting.
42:29Exciting days ahead.
42:30Oh, yeah.
42:32I think the truth is always out there.
42:35It just needed to be uncovered.
42:42Oh, look at that.
42:44Oh, boy, she's shredded, eh?
42:47Look at those spears.
42:48This is awesome.
42:51That's a cross.
42:54There it is.
42:55We've got it.
42:56You've done it, Jack.
42:58I've got it for something, mate.
43:00Yeah.
43:02Yeah.
Comments