Harold Bell Lasseter, aged 17, nearly perished in 1897, after getting lost in the Australian Outback while searching for gold. An Afghan Camel Driver found him somewhere near the Western Australia and Northern Territory border, and took him to the camp of a Surveyor named Harding. Lasseter claimed to have found a huge reef of gold, and he and Harding attempted to re-locate the reef but failed.
According to Lasseter, he spent the next 30 years trying to raise finance for an expedition to work the reef, but could not find any interested party. In 1930 Lasseter approached the Australian Workers Union for assistance, and as the 'Great Depression' was biting fairly hard, he got quite some interest.
The executives of the Union formed a company, 'Central Australian Gold Exploration' (CAGE), purchased a DH Gipsy Moth aeroplane, trucks and equipment and set up a base camp at Ilbilba, some 120 mile west of Alice Springs.
After the first aircraft, Golden Quest 1, crashed, they purchased another and it was flown to the Ilbilba camp by the previous owner. Lasseter got the pilot to fly him south to where he reckoned the reef was, and returned after only 2 hours, claiming to have spotted the reef. CAGE then sent the Thornycroft 4 wheel drive out to locate the reef but could not find a track through' the 'Breakaways' (sheer cliffs about 3 to 4 metre high) so they returned to camp.
Lasseter then set off with a team of camels, accompanied by a dingo trapper named Johns, but after a few days they had an argument and Johns returned, leaving Lasseter to continue on alone, with just a few camels. A couple of days later the camels bolted, leaving Lasseter with very few provisions, but luckily some Aborigines found him and took him to a cave in an area called 'Tjunta', where he existed for about 60 days. During this time CAGE decided to pull out of the expedition, and in spite of the chief Pilot, Coote, wanting to go and search for Lasseter they returned to Adelaide, really hanging Lasseter 'Out to Dry', so to speak.
Lasseter tried to walk out of Tjunta but in his weakened condition he did not get far and perished. Some natives found the body and buried it. Later, a pastoralist, Bob Buck searched for, and found the grave, returning the body, together with documents that were buried in the cave, to Alice Springs. Where the grave and memorial can be seen today.
