- 2 days ago
hunting outback gold s01e02
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00:11The Australian Outback.
00:15Vast.
00:18Remote.
00:21Hostile.
00:24For two men,
00:27this is the backdrop to a lifelong obsession.
00:31This is what we do.
00:33This 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.
00:50A lost fortune in gold.
00:56Clues from one man hold the key.
00:59I think he did find it,
01:00and he actually wanted somebody else to find it as well.
01:07In 1897,
01:08Harold Lasseter staggered out of the desert.
01:14Claiming to have discovered a massive outcrop of gold,
01:18known as a reef,
01:20worth billions.
01:23Decades later,
01:24while on an expedition to rediscover his fortune,
01:28Lasseter perished.
01:31Taking to the grave,
01:33the secret location of his gold.
01:37Now,
01:38a new expedition is out
01:40to discover the truth.
01:43Coming in real fast, eh?
01:46Survive the outback.
01:48Steak, steak.
01:48Big brown.
01:49Oh, whoa.
01:50And just maybe become billionaires in the process.
01:55Look at that.
01:55Bad income.
01:56Check this out.
01:57We found gold.
01:58Yes!
01:59Oh, no, no.
02:08Last time...
02:10Give it, do it!
02:11The team began their quest...
02:13Your life is at risk going out.
02:14It's dangerous.
02:16Confronting the same threats faced by the 1930 expedition.
02:21It's that kernel of truth that I think is interesting.
02:23Tanya 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.
02:38...a 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.
03:04We've got a decent-sized huntsman 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...
03:47Just show the world that Lasseter was actually telling the truth.
03:56The team are following the path of Harry Lasseter's
03:59ill-fated 1930 expedition.
04:04After leaving Alice Springs,
04:07they still have 250 kilometres to go
04:10to reach his base camp at Il Pili.
04:14Along the trail,
04:16they're hunting for traces of the infamous prospector,
04:20as well as anything pointing to the existence of his gold.
04:24We need a couple more clues,
04:26and we don't know what they are
04:28until we stumble across them.
04:30It could 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,
04:36buried under campfires.
04:37He left messages.
04:40Metal detectors.
04:41It's interesting studying the McDonald ranges.
04:45It'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,
04:53and 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,
05:05historian Tanya Evans is following Lasseter's paper trail,
05:10investigating whether the enigmatic Lasseter
05:13should even be believed.
05:17I 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
05:27about this particular story
05:28because I think this is going to be really important
05:30for trying to establish
05:31whether Lasseter was a man who told the truth.
05:44What's the fuel situation?
05:45Oh, we're well under half,
05:46so it's a good time to get some fuel right now
05:49and meet up aloud.
05:51The expedition covers a total area
05:53of 130,000 square kilometres.
05:59Out here, there are no petrol stations.
06:03Planned fuel drops are essential.
06:07Respected local guide and Arrindar man,
06:10Leo 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
06:19that 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.
06:40Just 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.
06:59We are pleased to see you, mate,
07:00I can tell you.
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, yeah.
07:06Were you?
07:07I was thinking,
07:08nah, they can wait a little bit more longer.
07:10Mate.
07:10I've got to enjoy this cappuccino.
07:12As long as he 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.
07:27Rocket on.
07:30Oh, we're flowing.
07:32Beauty.
07:37I 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.
08:03All right.
08:04We found, which was a real, absolute, well, I was shocked.
08:09It was a gem of a fine, wasn't it?
08:10It was.
08:10We found this penny, dated 1928.
08:16Could 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.
08:27Was he just getting away from troubles, or was he just the world's best con man, you
08:33know?
08:34Him coming out here for a big find and all this sort of stuff, well, nobody's found it.
08:40Not yet.
08:43There you are.
08:45Yeah, well, catch it.
08:46No worries.
08:47No worries.
08:47Thanks a lot for that.
08:48All right.
08:48No worries.
09:03For Brendan and Geoff, Leo's doubt in Lasseter feels all too familiar.
09:10Sometimes I feel it, Lasseter.
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, I just had a look at my phone before on the geology, we're cross-cutting
09:44from north to south through these gaps in the range.
09:48And there's only a couple of places through the range here 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 wants camping.
10:03Do I want to stop and have a look?
10:04Yeah, I can have a bit of a squeeze.
10:11Oh.
10:15This looks like a bit of a cave, is it?
10:17Yeah.
10:22This looks like a cave.
10:23At the same point on the 1930 expedition, friction between Lasseter and the team leader,
10:29Fred Blakely, was intensifying.
10:33Blakely was beginning to doubt Lasseter and the story of his gold.
10:38When Lasseter noticed a cave high up on a rock face, he told Blakely he'd camped there
10:4533 years before, aged 17, when he first found his gold.
10:53Blakely scoffed at the idea.
10:57Why would he 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, if it was me, I'd
11:08want
11:08to 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, there's a good
11:15chance 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?
11:23Oh, for a night?
11:24You don't want anyone in their right mind to just climb up there for a night.
11:27You reckon you'd get up there?
11:28Well, if I would.
11:29Come on, bro.
11:30You're not as fit as you used to be.
11:32I'll get up there, mate.
11:32Bet you a dollar.
11:34You 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've got the old type.
11:44Of course.
11:45I bet with this all the time and I'll always win it back at some stage.
11:48Well, I'll come on with you.
11:50See you on your own, OK?
11:51Yeah.
11:51What are you going to do?
11:52I'm going to take a bit of a keeper.
11:53I'll keep the radio on and I'll listen after he is calling me.
11:57All right, all right.
11:58Good, good.
11:59Reach the cave and for Geoff, it will reinforce his belief in Lasseter.
12:07The point is, one, you could get up there because that was one of Blakely's statesmen's.
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 Lasseter did roll up there when he was 17.
12:21Who's to say he didn't put his name on the wall or even leave something behind?
12:26Well, we're going to take the ladder up there.
12:27Because I don't want to come back down.
12:29I want to get in.
12:31You ready?
12:32I think we're all right.
12:33Let's do it.
12:34Good luck, boys.
12:43Which way?
12:45Well...
12:45Straight up there.
12:46Yeah, yeah.
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 Lasseter 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
13:11bit of evidence like a tin can with something written in it, it just might point us in that
13:15right direction.
13:18Midday, and the temperature is well over 40 degrees.
13:22I 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.
13:34But 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.
13:48Whoa.
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 the last one about that's been too high up to climb.
14:03Yeah.
14:04Now I'm starting to think a little differently about it.
14:07We should get out there and have a look.
14:15You got it?
14:16Yeah, can you take your tithe?
14:18Yeah.
14:32Oh, woah.
14:42You got a copy up there, Jeff?
14:46copy Andrew
14:50copy Jeff
14:51they did say they'd keep that radio on at all times
14:58they might have lost radio
14:59contact inside the cave or something
15:01it's a bit concerning
15:03but
15:06a lot of things can go wrong
15:07in a 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
15:20a lot bigger
15:21a bit of scat lying around
15:24well there's definitely I reckon bats in here
15:25I don't know about that
15:27I'm just keen to see if there's any human
15:30activity
15:30see if a tin has been left behind or something
15:32yeah
15:39that rock there
15:40he's out of place
15:42oh yeah
15:43you see that
15:43oh 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
15:55rock things behind
15:57not that I know of
15:58I know he used to mark trees
16:00so is that a sign
16:01that there's something buried here
16:03I suppose if you run the gold detector over
16:05and see what you come across
16:07it's worth it
16:14well I'm going right in around here
16:16really close to this um
16:17this marker
16:19you're getting hit are you
16:20no if it's metal it will really see
16:23yeah
16:33a small metal detector
16:36known as a pinpointer
16:37helps find the exact location of the signal
16:42it's giving a little uh something going on
16:46it's giving a false signal I think
16:49unfortunately
16:51that's alright
16:52we had a look
16:53we had a try man
16:54but the point is
16:56it's big enough to camp in
16:58and it's not hard to get up here
17:03copy Jeff or Andrew
17:04you there mate
17:07yeah I got a copy
17:09oh you there
17:10I was starting to get worried mate
17:11you weren't answering
17:12put your pants on mate
17:14we could hear you snoring from up here
17:16you're all good up there
17:18yeah all good brother
17:19there you go
17:21love you
17:26how'd it go
17:27a lot bigger than you think
17:29detector
17:30gridded the whole cave
17:31yep
17:32not in 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
17:37well I guess I owe you a dollar
17:39you owe me a dollar brother
17:40owe you a dollar
17:41there you go
17:41well I'll hang on to that my friend
17:43yeah no worries
17:44I'll win it back at some stage
17:45I'll tell you
17:45let's go
17:49while no clues have been found
17:51Lasseter's story of camping here
17:53is highly possible
17:55reinforcing the team's belief
17:57that they're on the right track
18:06over 2,000 kilometres away
18:09historian Tanya
18:11is continuing her own investigation
18:13into Lasseter
18:17Lasseter strikes me as a really complicated individual
18:19um I haven't worked him out yet
18:21um I don't think we have the evidence to quite work him out yet
18:26it's been important to try and piece together whether he was telling the truth
18:32obviously for discovering the reef full of gold
18:35but also to test his claim about designing the harbour bridge
18:42so far
18:43Tanya has found that Lasseter's extraordinary claim
18:47to being the original designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
18:51may have been true
18:54and there
18:55is
18:56his
18:56drawing
18:58of the harbour bridge
18:59wow
19:02wow
19:03but now she's uncovered a magazine
19:06containing an anonymous letter to the editor
19:09that casts doubt on Lasseter's character
19:12it's an account that's been published in the bulletin
19:17in March 1932
19:19so after Lasseter's death
19:21so we have here an account by somebody who calls himself
19:25Virax
19:25which means um to tell the truth
19:28so Virax
19:30I haven't much faith in Lasseter's reef
19:32I knew Lasseter
19:34he claimed to be a Victorian by birth
19:36but had spent many years in the USA
19:38he used to write for a local newspaper
19:41but one of his contributions being
19:43a bitter denunciation of the war in verse
19:47oh goodness he writes poetry as well
19:48he told me he had invented a device to make battleships torpedo proof
19:53but the naval authorities were not impressed by it
19:57in short
19:59Virax suggests
20:00he was more or less of a crank
20:03very aggressive
20:04very self-opinionated
20:06and full of large hopeful visions
20:08I fear his reef was only one
20:12of the many illusions and delusions
20:14that spattered his career
20:17the more documentary evidence we gather about Lasseter
20:21the more complicated and contradictory he becomes
20:26so you know you think you find a piece of evidence that provides an answer
20:30and then another piece of evidence just throws that out of the window
20:36it's really hard to find the truth
20:38and all historians don't think in terms of black and white
20:41people try and alter the story of their selves
20:44not just Lasseter but other people as well
20:47in fact almost everyone plays with different versions of themselves
20:50and that's why it's it's hard to find the truth
21:00back in the field
21:02the team pushed through ancient mountain ranges
21:06on constant watch for landmarks that Lasseter said lay close to his gold reef
21:13three hills in the shape of women wearing sun bonnets
21:16and there was another hill that he actually said to look like a quakist hat
21:20with the top cut off
21:22and that's when he stumbled across the reef
21:24and that's where he found the gold
21:27hang on mate
21:28just pull up
21:29hang on
21:29hang on
21:30let's go
21:30let's pull up here for a second
21:32there's something I want to look at out here
21:33this looks interesting
21:43this looks interesting
21:45really interesting
21:46a 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 from an area like this
21:57quartz is like a carrier fluid for the gold
22:02he's spotted what could be a much smaller version of Lasseter's quartz outcrop
22:07or reef
22:09could this be similar to what Lasseter found
22:11possibly
22:13Lasseter claimed that his gold lay embedded in a quartz reef
22:1714 miles long
22:19and up to 12 feet wide
22:22quartz is just a really nice sign
22:24where your gold likes to be
22:26this is a very white bucky looking quartz
22:29what does bucky mean?
22:30very little mineralisation
22:32and limited potential for gold
22:33however
22:34I've found gold in fairly bucky white quartz before
22:37so I don't discount it
22:3990%
22:4080% of the time
22:41the more mongery the quartz looks
22:43the more iron stained
22:45broken
22:45brittle
22:46mouse ridden
22:47mouse ridden
22:48little pockets
22:49looks like a bit of cheese
22:50oh like it's a bit chewed out or something
22:52yeah chewed out
22:53is that where the gold sits
22:55in those fractures?
22:56that's right
22:56gold likes space
22:58so where there's fractures and joints
23:02that's where the gold likes to be
23:04is this something we're looking for when we're looking for Lasseter's reef?
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
23:48quartz veins they pinch and swell it's like a big sausage
23:53yep and it 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
24:03yes
24:04down the track a bit it'll come back up again
24:06and not saying this is Lasseter's roof but it can happen
24:09absolutely how come it hasn't been found today yeah just for that reason
24:14yeah
24:17so how would you work out if it's a gold bearing line of quartz
24:22so we'll collect maybe half a dozen pieces crush these up and pan it
24:32yeah that's nice potential
24:40this tool here is a very basic rock crusher for us it's called a dolly pot an old term
24:47that's like a mortar and pestle really
24:51i'm going to break it down if there's a sniff of gold any of this it should show up
24:56the 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
25:12they'll be super hot chuck them into cold water
25:16cracks it
25:18acting like bellows a leaf blower generates furnace like temperatures
25:24very hot
25:28you ever seen anything like this before brendan
25:29no mate i'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 there we go look at that
25:45just broke straight off
25:46pop straight off
25:48oh yeah sizzle whistle
25:53so it doesn't take much cooking to really soften this material up and which is just
25:58well i didn't expect that that it started such a hard rock to end up so soft
26:02so soft and brilliant
26:03put a few pieces in
26:06put a few pieces in there
26:06so how far do you take that back to dust or is it
26:15back to dirt yeah it's basically as fine as i can get it
26:21keep you fit though
26:22it does
26:25yeah right
26:26pretty good
26:26so now it's really about wetting this down and then panning it off we'll now wash the
26:32lights off the top
26:33gold being a really extremely dense element it's it's going to water sink to the bottom
26:39then stay at the bottom
26:40stay at the bottom
26:40yeah right yeah
26:45i try to get it down to about a tablespoon quantity
26:50so now i'm going to do is just roll it anti-clockwise
26:52so fecally moving the water across it all the lights brought down to the back
26:56yep
26:56and the front keep all the heavies
26:59oh
27:01that's not is it
27:04see it
27:04yeah i see it just see it
27:06it's actually gold there
27:07there's two
27:08two specks
27:09yeah
27:10we just found gold boys
27:15we just found gold
27:17you're kidding me
27:19it's more but
27:21it's gold
27:21that's it
27:22it's like a pair of eyes looking at me
27:25well that's two more than i thought we're going to get out of this load
27:29i don't know
27:30oh no
27:31that's mine
27:32i can see the dynamics already
27:33wow
27:35that's just from crushing a bit of quartz that'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
27:47coming along and being found it's probable
27:51it's really surprising and it sort of lifts your spirit up a bit too to know that
27:55gold can appear in a lot of areas
27:58it's great
27:58it was a great feeling
28:00i didn't expect
28:01i didn't expect
28:02no
28:03no way i was i think it would be their sample so
28:05it's a good start i'm really excited
28:08we found gold
28:11for me it gives a conviction of what laceda was saying that there's a long big gold reef out here
28:16it 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 fast
29:00and 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 quick
29:13in 1930 lassiter'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
29:35and most dramatically their biplane crashed on takeoff
29:40the pilot lucky to survive
29:58deeper into the outback the team enter aboriginal controlled land
30:03a 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 lassiter's time most were still living traditional nomadic lives
30:27few had ever seen europeans before
30:32if any had met lassiter it would have left the lasting impression
30:37becoming part of an oral history 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 lassiter did not follow
31:04that's leo there
31:06sitting in the shade
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
31:17just have a seat
31:18we'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 that we're in
31:32one 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
31:41so the country can see you too for who you are
31:46for yourself and for your own wellbeing
31:49acknowledging the country that you're on
31:51the best way to do it
31:53just get a bit of sand like this and just
31:57let it run through your hand and just letting the country know the spirits know
32:01that you're only visiting
32:04and then that way you know you get a safe passage you know
32:11by the country
32:12we're just here to pass through and visit
32:18it's over us
32:21appreciate where we are
32:23thank you
32:33yeah
32:34every land has got spirit
32:37you don't want bad spirits attaching to yourself
32:39and that you know there's been stories
32:41that that's happened to people you know
32:43so it's real
32:46yeah just give you that rite of passage you know
32:48so you can go through and you know visit safely
32:51thank 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
33:05it's going to give you a hard time on the way through
33:07that's right
33:08makes you think about the Lusseters expedition
33:11and going to areas in this country where
33:15they shouldn't have been
33:17yeah
33:17yeah that's right
33:18so they really pushed the boundaries on all fronts
33:20didn't they?
33:20the amount of bad luck they had is
33:24well in my eyes above average
33:26yeah
33:26playing crashes
33:27the boulder 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
33:59Tanya's continuing her investigation into Harry Lusseter's credibility where it started 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
34:18whether 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
34:29and the wonderfully helpful staff here have helped us dig out some 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
34:55it's entitled Christian Warfare
34:58so here we have Lusseter calling himself Lewis
35:02but 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 a charging squadrons met
35:12while shot and shell fell thick as hail
35:15till the face of earth was wet
35:18with the red life blood of the best of earth
35:21in stern sad words he spoke
35:23is 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
35:33is really articulating the sheer desperation that many Australians felt
35:38when so many lives had been lost or injured as a result of the First World War
35:43and we'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 Lasseter's military records here
36:04this looks like his enlistment papers
36:08dated the 21st of February 1916
36:14so right in the middle of the war
36:17his name is Lewis Herbert Lasseter
36:21born 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
36:32and 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
36:41it 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 to Lasseter
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 in a bit later
37:19please don't get lost
37:22near the remote Aboriginal community of Ikunchi
37:26the team are continuing their search for three distinct hills
37:30that Lasseter said looked like some bonnets
37:34we know the reef lies not far from there
37:36no 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 Lasseter
37:47that may point them in the right direction
37:50oh you fellas found me
37:52yeah mate
37:53you're always tucked away mate
37:55interesting thing
37:56a couple of people crossed their way over there
37:58would be probably interested to have a bit of a yarn with them
38:01good
38:02thanks mate
38:03I wonder what this is all about boys
38:09hello gentlemen
38:10hey Lloyd
38:12got these two here
38:14you guys might want to hear a story about Lasseter
38:18yeah
38:18yeah
38:19so they're willing to say
38:20tell us the story
38:22grab a seat
38:23wonderful
38:26it's soft in that
38:27yeah
38:28how do yous know the stories?
38:31my father
38:34your father passed the story down?
38:36yeah
38:36because he saw Lasseter when he was a little boy
38:40yeah right
38:41his father
38:42his father saw him when he was a little boy
38:44yeah
38:45yeah
38:46even my father knows the story too
38:49yeah
38:50yeah
38:56he said they would pass here
38:58through
38:59what about you
39:00what about you
39:01what about you
39:02what about you
39:03what about you
39:03so they come through this country
39:05yeah he was just looking around the mountain
39:07rock mountains you know
39:08yeah
39:09when he was traveling along
39:10does he know why he was there?
39:16next to water
39:17he's looking for water
39:19looking for water
39:19yeah
39:20yeah
39:20on his own?
39:24yeah
39:24yeah
39:25on his own
39:26oh
39:27ому
39:41he tried to go to the tree hills
39:46but when he was traveling
39:48he saw another hill in the middle
39:50white hill there
39:53halfway
39:55Pretty much, that's what Lasseter was saying. There's three hills in the shape of sun bonnets,
40:02I mean a third hill in the shape of a quagisat. We know the roof lies not far from there.
40:07I mean,
40:08that's pretty amazing. That place is called . Yeah, it's got a rock with the water.
40:21And from there, we start traveling to south, coming into the dark river area. That makes sense.
40:31So somewhere in here, he said his gold was in that radial point. This is beautiful,
40:40because we've been studying Lasseter ever since we were 10 years old, since we were boys.
40:46Oh. This is very important to us. We really appreciate your help and your knowledge.
40:55Yeah. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
41:02It's an amazing moment, mate. We've been doing this for 43 years, and finally I get to sit down
41:09with someone who actually knows the story of where Lasseter actually stood. So that's first-hand
41:15knowledge. So that was pretty amazing. We were privileged to sit down with them, and that is
41:25special in itself, because it's not something they share with just anybody. So 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. That's not written
41:51down anyway. That's oral history. Yeah, and it's a story that's come from his father. That's not
41:56something that's come from generations. It's something that's just been spoken. He said,
42:02Lasseter to come through here. We're on the track. I mean, we could have been
42:06100 k's that way or 100 k's that way. That's right. We're on his tail. Yeah.
42:12The different point of us and others has been they tried to jump to the end. We did that in
42:17the
42:17beginning. Don't get us wrong. This time's actually going to work out a lot better,
42:20because we're starting from the start, and we're going to step our way right through the entire
42:24thing. And we've already seen the value of that. That's it. That's exciting. Exciting days ahead.
42:30Oh, yeah. I think the truth is always out there. It just needed to be uncovered.
42:42Oh, look at that. Oh, boy, she's shredded, eh? We've got no spares. This is awesome.
42:51That's a cross. There it is. We've got it. You've done it, Jack. Might be under something here, mate.
43:14Oh, yeah.
43:17Oh, yeah.
43:20Oh, yeah.
43:21Oh, yeah.
43:26Oh, yeah.
43:36You
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