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

[Scooby-Doo]

Being in a very remote area. If he wasn't detected by infrared (IR) or thermal cameras, it's a worry

 

[Marg944]

Saturday 4th October 2025

226K views · 1.3K reactions | Major Crime detectives have returned to the country homestead where four-year-old Gus Lamont tragically disappeared. Despite police calling off the search, investigations are continuing. #7NEWS | 7NEWS Adelaide

Major Crime detectives have returned to the country homestead where four-year-old Gus Lamont tragically disappeared. Despite police calling off the search, investigations are continuing. #7NEWS.

www.facebook.com

 

[Dotta]

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[MrJ]

Where are you, Gus?

 

[Sarahlou]

I tend to think this poor boy didn't wander off.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Heartbreaking admission as outback search for Gus enters seventh day

A local goat herder has a 'gut feeling' that Gus is still in area, as the desperate search becomes a recovery mission.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Police have cast doubt on the child's footprint found on Tuesday, 500m from the homestead.

'Now that we know that we can't find any other footprints around the place - that (footprint) could have been there a week,' Supt Syrus said.

 

[GenericUsername88]

I haven't seen anyone mention the barefoot right footprint to the left of Gus' footprint. Am I imagining it?

 

[Total_C]

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That Facebook rant was a perfect example of someone inserting themselves into a tragedy for attention. It offered no facts, just anger and swearing, and it turns the whole situation into a performance instead of helping.

It’s easy to accuse police of “giving up” from a distance, but the reality is they’ve already thrown everything they can at a search that produced zero evidence. People on the ground have worked themselves to exhaustion. Grandstanding online does nothing for Gus or the investigators still working the case.

 

[Dotta]

That Facebook rant was a perfect example of someone inserting themselves into a tragedy for attention. It offered no facts, just anger and swearing, and it turns the whole situation into a performance instead of helping.

It’s easy to accuse police of “giving up” from a distance, but the reality is they’ve already thrown everything they can at a search that produced zero evidence. People on the ground have worked themselves to exhaustion. Grandstanding online does nothing for Gus or the investigators still working the case.

I cannot opine.
I'm lost for words to be honest
I guess emotions run high.
The locals are genuinely worried no doubt.

By the way,
in my earlier link, Police suggested unused mineshafts and wells.

But it is a private property, right?

So...
I would assume that every inch of it was checked previously of such dangers.

That people living there, the owners, were/are aware of them and addressed these issues,
eliminating/securing them, right?

I mean
everyone wants their property to be safe,
especially if there are young kids on the premises.

JMO

 

[Someone8746]

I haven't seen anyone mention the barefoot right footprint to the left of Gus' footprint. Am I imagining it? View attachment 618163

The more I look at the photo, the more footprints and marks I see.. but none of them are solid if I scrutinise them.. one image isn’t enough to go off imo

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I cannot opine.
I'm lost for words to be honest
I guess emotions run high.
The locals are genuinely worried no doubt.

By the way,
in my earlier link, Police suggested unused mineshafts and wells.

But it is a private property, right?

So...
I would assume that every inch of it was checked previously of such dangers.

That people living there, the owners, were/are aware of them and addressed these issues,
eliminating/securing them, right?

I mean
everyone wants their property to be safe,
especially if there are young kids on the premises.

JMO

I'm sure their locations are many, varied and often unknown. Properties like these can be huge. I don't know the size of this particular one but they can easily be hundreds (maybe thousands, I'm not sure) of acres in size. It's just not feasible I don't think, to find and secure every last one.

 

[SouthAussie]

I'm sure their locations are many, varied and often unknown. Properties like these can be huge. I don't know the size of this particular one but they can easily be hundreds (maybe thousands, I'm not sure) of acres in size. It's just not feasible I don't think, to find and secure every last one.

The property is very large. 6,000 hectares (14,830 acres).


The desperate hunt for the boy at the family's sprawling 6,000-hectare sheep grazing property .....

Emergency services and community members continue search for 4yo boy

Police are continuing to search for a four-year-old boy who vanished while playing in sand at his family's isolated sheep grazing property near Yunta in a remote part of South Australia's north.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MelmothTheLost]

but so far, the only footprint found was 500m away from the homestead, which police aren't even sure if it's Gus's.

I wonder if that is an indication of how far Gus might have wandered on his own or whether someone would have been with him. If the former, it sounds as though he could find his way back home from that distance and was probably comfortable being so far from mum. If the latter, why did the other person's footprint not show up, considering how much heavier they would have been.

Thinking about it, how well would sound carry over 500m in the bush/outback if Gus was crying or searchers calling him?

 

[CredibleSauce]

is the third picture real? the first kangeroo is only half there - is it AI? or is the shot panned while the kangeroo is jumping?



what do you mean by 'dog fence'? are you referring to dingos as dogs? (I think an Australian dog fence is different than a Canadian one is why I'm asking)

The South Australian Dog Fence was established under the Dog Fence Act 1946 to protect the sheep industry from the severe impact of wild dogs and dingoes. The Dog Fence stretches across South Australia for 2,110 km from the Great Australian Bight near Fowlers Bay to the New South Wales border.

 

[kurtneverdied]

Thinking about it, how well would sound carry over 500m in the bush/outback if Gus was crying or searchers calling him?

500m you'd definitely here him. I live in a town of 1000 people, all on 1 acre or more blocks and I reckon I could here people talking from 500m. Out there it would be from a lot further, also extremely dark, if his hat fell off he'd have trouble finding it.

 

[CredibleSauce]

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

Friends who live on a neighboring farm have 1500mm colorbond fencing surrounding their house yard - they are considering removing it because their 3 year old escape artist takes any opportunity to scale the fence and run off. Piles up toys from the yard, bikes, anything to make it over the top or reach the gate latch. I couldn’t fathom my 4 year old even trying anything like it, but I’ve seen this 3 year old doing it with my own eyes.
We have wire fencing around our yard and they want to install it at their place, cause at least you can see where they’ve gone when the kid gets out!

What is practical is not always one size fits all.

 

[CredibleSauce]

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.

We don’t harvest crops in September in Australia just fyi

 

[CredibleSauce]

BBM
Bear in mind, this is an expansive property, with lots of out buildings and "stuff" lying around. We know at least Grandma was home when he went missing, but she may have been alone. There's been no mention of anyone else home at the time, not to say they weren't though. It takes time to search the house, all the many and varied out buildings, in/around/behind all the bits and pieces, not to mention then searching around the land itself. 3 hours in an isolated property like this is not the same as 3 hours in a family home on a 500 square metre block in the suburbs. It's just not, because the perceived dangers of city living just don't exist on a remote property. Not to say there aren't other dangers, just not the same nefarious ones.

Thank you, it’s a bit frustrating listening to the repeated misinformed questions and accusations that have been answered over and over again by people who actually understand the reality of properties like these. Some statements are beginning to sound like people are deliberately missing the point/s when the living situation is vastly different from what someone living in a city or even regional town would experience.

For example, I can nearly guarantee the property would have a “dump” - generally a hole the property owners have dug themselves (usually with a loader or bulldozer) maybe 1-3kms from the homestead where they dispose of their household rubbish and general property waste. There is likely a scrap heap next to/surrounding it consisting of things like old steel, washing machines, vehicles, timbers from old buildings etc - anything that could be recycled or repurposed down the track.
The concept of this seems outlandish, might even seem illegal or disgusting to someone who doesn’t live on a property like this. But rubbish has to go somewhere, and you sure as hell don’t have a friendly garbage truck driver come past once a week/fortnight to empty your bins on a station 40kms from the nearest town. The places a 4 year old could get lost in just “the dump” are extensive and take hours to search properly if you even knew for a fact they were there, let alone covering the rest of the outbuildings, sheds, yards and vehicles we’d have to search if one of my kids went missing on a similar property and weren’t responding to anyone calling their name. Just a nightmare situation altogether.

 

[musicaljoke]

I wonder if that is an indication of how far Gus might have wandered on his own or whether someone would have been with him. If the former, it sounds as though he could find his way back home from that distance and was probably comfortable being so far from mum. If the latter, why did the other person's footprint not show up, considering how much heavier they would have been.

Thinking about it, how well would sound carry over 500m in the bush/outback if Gus was crying or searchers calling him?

A child on a mission could walk 500 metres in about 10 minutes. He was described as a good walker and the terrain looks manageable. Even if he walked fairly slowly, he could be a couple of kms away within the first hour.

I'm not sure that a four year old would have the logic skills necessary to find his way back. I doubt that he would think to look for the lights on the horizon that showed him his way home. Nor would he know the danger he was in if he didn't turn back. If, for example, he thought his parents had gone to the city for the day, then he was on his way there too, or wherever his young imagination was taking him.

 

[CredibleSauce]

I've been thinking about what most likely has happened.
It's getting to the point where I don't believe out there, anymore. I still hold out hope of course that he will be found.
However there are a number of growing reasons to look at alternatives to him wandering off.
The land is not hard to search. No or few big trees to hide. It's pretty flat and easily searched. He wandered off supposedly close to sunset. If he was list he most likely was still close enough to see the lights if the homestead. If it wasn't windy he would of heard the yells for his name also. I feel pretty certain once the sun went down he would be scared and want home. In the country it gets completely dark without the light pollution.
I think it's a chance he did wander, but would of walked along a road if he could, if dark. Anyone driving along that road would not be expecting him there and likely complacent behind the wheel. There would be the odd kangaroo or wallaby to watch out for and rabbits likely running around everywhere. There concerns on hitting anything big perhaps not big as non country people because they likely to have a 4WD with a huge bullbar.
So perhaps tragically hit and killed and the person who did it had a choice to own up or to try and save themselves.
There seems to be a time period where this could have happened and to me it's becoming, sadly, the likely scenario.

Can’t see this being likely IMO - there would be tracks, noise, evidence of a collision (or evidence of panicked attempts to cover up tracks etc) if this were the case, especially nearby the homestead. The fact they’ve found nothing at all is the biggest concern altogether.

You’d expect a hat, shoes socks to have turned up SOMEWHERE by now. Damp edges of dams would show disturbance, his little tracks amongst sheep and kangaroo prints.
I’m hoping (still with dread) that something tragic, but simple and quick has happened to him - perhaps went wandering and suddenly slipped into a hidden abandoned mineshaft somewhere fairly close to the homestead, fatally bumped his head and that he was never aware of being hurt, alone or scared. Just wandering off in his own little world then “poof”.

The absence of any tracks or trace of him is so distressing though and doesn’t really fit with any realistic theory - I’m just hoping there were tracks to start with and they were trampled over in the initial frantic search to the point that when the more methodical searchers arrived, there was nothing to find.