- 4 year old up and vanishes
- Trans grandpa "tranpa" rufuses any help
- Pulls a shotgun on reporters
- Cops do nothing
Four-year-old Augustus "Gus" Lamont vanished without a trace on the evening of September 27, 2025, from his family's remote sheep station homestead, Oak Park, located about 40 km south of Yunta in South Australia's outback—roughly 300 km northeast of Adelaide. Gus, described as an adventurous but shy child, was last seen around 5:00–5:30 p.m. playing in a dirt mound outside while wearing a blue Minion T-shirt, light grey pants, boots, and a grey hat. His grandmother called him in about 30 minutes later but found him gone, prompting an immediate alert.
A massive 10-day operation involving over 150,000 acres searched by ground teams, helicopters with thermal imaging, drones, Aboriginal trackers, trail bikes, ATVs, 48 Australian Defence Force (ADF) members, and community volunteers. No clothing, hat, or definitive footprints were found, though unrelated prints were noted. The search scaled back due to survival odds in the harsh, freezing terrain.
Renewed efforts included draining a 3.2-million-liter dam 600 m from the homestead (Oct 30–31; no traces via divers or aerial scans); a broad scrubland sweep with 80+ personnel, drones, and vehicles (Oct 2025; nothing found); and inspections of six mine shafts 5.5–12 km away (Nov 25–26; concluded early with no evidence).
As of November 29, 2025 (63 days later), police's Task Force Horizon continues investigating with family cooperation, but all physical searches have ended without clues. One possible boot print was found 500 m away but later doubted.
The grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont has waved a pump-action shotgun at a (female) Daily Mail reporter who enquired about the ongoing search for her grandson. The encounter left our reporter shaken. But police later sought to portray the incident as a misunderstanding, saying Josie wasn’t using the gun to threaten her visitor, but was carrying it because she’d seen a snake on their porch. Local Deputy Police Commissioner Linda Williams insisted: ‘There was no intent for the person having that firearm at that time to be threatening.
Firstly, snakes are protected in South Australia. Didn’t that make it illegal for Murray to shoot one? Secondly, are pump action shotguns an appropriate tool for dispatching a reptile at close range? And thirdly, if dangerous snakes really are in the habit of taking up residence on the porch, why did the family allow their four-year-old child to play unsupervised outside on the day he vanished? The police have yet to address any of these points, just as they are refusing to comment on the question of when Gus was last seen by anyone outside his immediate family.
Dad of missing little Gus breaks cover as hunt takes its brutal toll
Mr Lamont was pictured on Tuesday looking distinctly more pale and thin than older photos, his red hair and beard flecked with grey as he appeared to be going to work dressed in tradie hi-vis.
Gus has been gone for 63 days, and multiple searches have yielded no clues
The disappearance of Gus Lamont is one of those events that have a seismic impact on public consciousness: they distress, disturb, upset and unsettle. This week six mine shafts were searched, providing no further clues in the case.
www.abc.net.au
