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

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

but perhaps they thought because Gus had never wandered off before, they convinced themselves that he would be close by

Makes it all the stranger that he might've wandered off...
Do we know for certain that foul play wasn't involved? As I've mentioned before, there was no word of footprints found nearby the homestead at the time the family found out he was gone, so we can't say for sure that he wandered off unless the footprints were covered in sand. Which I'd say is pretty likely considering the windspeed that afternoon (Which seemed to be about 9 mph)

 

[Dotta]

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[Judy Sleuth]

Being a working station, I do not believe the sand was put there purely as a 'sandpit' for Gus. It was probably there for some other use, and it just happened that Gus thought it was a good place to play. MOO.

Agreed. At least one of the photos of the "sand pit" shows what looks like a cement mixer immediately to its left. A sand mound of that size, and with a mixer nearby says to me that they were using it for some sort of construction on the property.

 

[tedtink]

Agreed. At least one of the photos of the "sand pit" shows what looks like a cement mixer immediately to its left. A sand mound of that size, and with a mixer nearby says to me that they were using it for some sort of construction on the property.

Agree. Looks to me as if the sand has been there for a while as there are plants growing in it.
When you live in such a remote area your stock of everything is larger, including building materials.
Imo

 

[Yesiamapirate]

I keep thinking of Summer Moon-Utah Wells from TN as I read this thread. I tried to copy and paste a link but alas my computer skills lack.

 

[Lucy6226]

Being a working station, I do not believe the sand was put there purely as a 'sandpit' for Gus. It was probably there for some other use, and it just happened that Gus thought it was a good place to play. MOO.

Agreed. At least one of the photos of the "sand pit" shows what looks like a cement mixer immediately to its left. A sand mound of that size, and with a mixer nearby says to me that they were using it for some sort of construction on the property.

Yeah it looks more like a discarded pile for a project rather than play sand specifically for a child.

 

[BGirl88]

The statement from Police yday said he didn’t often wonder off, but was a good walker. This statement made me think what activities has Gus done with his family to make them describe him as a good walker. Perhaps they went for walks on the property together…?

And the footprint found (whether that was recent or not) was 500m from the house - that’s a fair distance from the house for a 4 yo.

I also agree that if there were recent footprints of his, they would have been trampled on those first few hours before LE were notified.

And odd that we haven’t heard any reference to a mum or dad… only a grandmother…?

 

[BGirl88]

Interestingly, the tracker that was brought in had worked on the property previously. I wonder in what capacity the tracker had worked on the property… tracking someone, or as an employee…?

Police then called in a local tracker, who they said had "deep knowledge of the terrain" to help identify the path Gus may have taken, and had worked on the property previously.

What we know about search for missing boy on sheep station

Authorities are searching for a missing four-year-old boy on a sheep grazing station in the mid-north of South Australia. Here's what we know about the search so far.

www.abc.net.au

 

[tedtink]

Interestingly, the tracker that was brought in had worked on the property previously. I wonder in what capacity the tracker had worked on the property… tracking someone, or as an employee…?

Police then called in a local tracker, who they said had "deep knowledge of the terrain" to help identify the path Gus may have taken, and had worked on the property previously.

What we know about search for missing boy on sheep station

Authorities are searching for a missing four-year-old boy on a sheep grazing station in the mid-north of South Australia. Here's what we know about the search so far.

www.abc.net.au

One of the trackers, goat herder, Royce Player, is a family friend who used to be a neighbour. The other tracker was aboriginal iirc.

 

[Dotta]

It is a good idea to have a restricted/fenced playground area for kids on such big properties.
With a swing, trampoline, slide, small sandbox, etc.
To keep kids occupied and safe.

JMO

 

[Kieiru]

-32.90730469974133, 139.66013212194895 - seems like it could be the starting point, one of the buildings near this point, there is Lines Dam near with lot of white spots which might or might not be sheep, at the very least there are few points of interest that a determined 4 year old could reach

 

[su5ie]

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Apparently there is loads of these mine shafts mapped and unmapped. With the terrain flat for the majority with a fairly good line of sight from the property. I imagine it is just pot luck in coming across the right mine or creek gully

 

[Miss-e]

Wait... Do we know when the police arrived to the homestead on the day of his disappearance?

9:30pm

 

[Miss-e]

Was the child walking there (now) 2 weeks ago, for them to think it’s possibly an old print ?
Walking by himself, 500 metres from the homestead ?
Did he regularly go off walking by himself ? and walking those distances ?
Did he go off late that afternoon looking for someone?
Was he in the habit of meeting someone at the end of the day / expecting someone to arrive who didn’t - so he went to find that person ?
I would expect that at that time of the day a 4 year old would be getting hungry - why would he head off AWAY from his dinner ?

Like others on here, I have a background in the Australian ‘bush’ / slang for rural Australia, in all its different forms.

And like others, I’m very confused as to why he hasn’t been found in country that would usually be considered ideal for ‘searching / tracking’.
That country is not heavy scrub / forestry / national park / rain forest / mountainous etc, .. . It’s pretty much salt bush plains.

Sadly, after almost of week of Nothing, this is starting to give me a very uneasy feeling.

Official update : Police statement regarding Yunta search.

My kids at that age would have dinner then play outside then bath and bed.
Given they may be up early for farm life, 4:30pm could be a reasonable dinner time for a 4 year old.

 

[su5ie]

Little Gus’s boot print……..

View attachment 617536

Search for missing boy Gus enters fourth day

Police have entered the fourth day of an extensive search for four-year-old August “Gus”, who was last seen at his family’s remote homestead, approximately 40 kilometres south of Yunta, at around 5pm on Saturday, 27 September.

www.police.sa.gov.au

Is that sheep or emu dung . This tracker talks about gus possibly following an animal that caught his eye

Tracker Tells The Challenges Of Searching For A Missing Person - Mornings with Graeme Goodings

Tracker Rick Heaton from Missing Persons Australia on FIVEAA with Matthew Pantelis – in for Graeme Goodings. Listen live on the FIVEAA Player. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. Subscribe on YouTube

omny.fm

 

[su5ie]

Little Gus’s boot print……..

View attachment 617536

Search for missing boy Gus enters fourth day

Police have entered the fourth day of an extensive search for four-year-old August “Gus”, who was last seen at his family’s remote homestead, approximately 40 kilometres south of Yunta, at around 5pm on Saturday, 27 September.

www.police.sa.gov.au

Can anyone else spot partial boot prints besides the main one within the upper pile of dung it looks like one or two is partially covered and to the right there seems to be a shallower foot print where the indents have mostly blown away . Maybe I'm imagining things .

 

[Kieiru]

Apparently there is loads of these mine shafts mapped and unmapped. With the terrain flat for the majority with a fairly good line of sight from the property. I imagine it is just pot luck in coming across the right mine or creek gully

according to https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/minesatlas the closest mapped one to a plausible building (40km south of yunta) is almost 8km away, which is coincidentally the one i found, so its either unmapped one or only worse options

 

[su5ie]

according to https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/minesatlas the closest mapped one to a plausible building (40km south of yunta) is almost 8km away, which is coincidentally the one i found, so its either unmapped one or only worse options

The linked article I posted re the tracker above , I think mentions ,old mine shafts hidden as they are historical

 

[Miss-e]

Not issuing a photograph, during the early stages was the right thing to do imo. It makes sense, in this vast area, if they had found a 4 yr old it was a very high probability it would have been Gus.
The last thing Police needed at the beginning of this operation was an influx of phone calls from members of the public with false sightings and speculation - albeit by concerned folk just wanting to help. This would have sucked up resources better spent on the search.

It seems he wandered off between 5 - 5.30pm, what drew him away from the homestead as the sun was setting? Did he see something and being an inquisitive, adventurous boy decide to follow it?

I'd like to know if there was a conversation between G'Ma and Gus at 5pm - for instance, did she say it's nearly time to come in? Nearly supper time?

Had Gus been pushing boundaries, which is completely normal for a child at that age in their development, decided he was having too much fun outside and adamantly, quietly just walked off, as some kids do? Boundary setting doesn't necessarily mean screaming, struggling, it can also be subtle in some children.
I'm sure the Police will have all this info and the direction of the investigation was based on it.

However, Police never just settle on one theory, this is evident in the presser today, which again is completely normal in investigations, otherwise LE wouldn't be worth their salt. But that doesn't mean they believe something else has happened to Gus.

What I find perplexing is - Would a 4 year old keep walking through the outback into the dark night and not stop? There's a lot of physical and emotional obstacles to overcome when it's pitch black and I can't see that he'd have got very far that first night, let alone keep going for a few days, especially if he were crying, hungry, tired and confused etc.

Personally I think he's still on the property, the search party, although thorough and highly professional have missed him so far.
It happens.

all jmo

How dark was it though?
It says the moon was a waxing crescent on google and also says

Harvest September moon - known for rising just after sunset for several days in a row, providing farmers with longer periods of light during the early evening, and giving them more time to harvest crops.

 

[Serononin]

Apparently there is loads of these mine shafts mapped and unmapped. With the terrain flat for the majority with a fairly good line of sight from the property. I imagine it is just pot luck in coming across the right mine or creek gully

Somebody on a reddit thread also pointed out that if he fell into a hole, it may have collapsed in on him