3-070-705 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. Lamont Young, government geologist, disappeared in Australia, 1881. 'Much anxiety and regret has been caused in New South Wales by the disappearance of...the Government Geological Surveyor, who was sent from Sydney to report on the Bermagui gold-field...Mr. Young went on the day of his arrival at Bermagui to cross the bay in a centreboard boat. Two days afterwards the boat was found jammed among rocks on the coast, about ten miles to the northward, and no trace could be discovered of its occupants. Among the explanations devised for their disappearance was that they had been drowned and the boat had drifted ashore. Later and closer examination of the spot, however, appears to prove that the boat was carefully navigated to the shore..., and that the party had a meal on shore after landing. The discovery of some bullet-holes in the boat and of a copper cartridge-case on the sand suggested...that the party had been attacked and murdered. This, again, seems to be refuted by careful examination, which fails to discover any traces that might be looked for if such a crime had been committed...since that time, Oct. 9, 1880, all the members of the party, five in number, and all traces of them, have utterly disappeared...it is an unsolved mystery'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.