Lasseters Gold

[Old Fred]

Instead of trying to trace his footsteps why not try to gather info on the type of aircraft that was supposed to fly his supplies in . Two attemps to take off then they took the plane back to Adelaide by truck (second time ) for repairs and did not return . Aircraft back then did not have a lot off feul onboard . Find type off aircraft , distance it could do a return trip , rumured to be heading S W and draw a line on the map and end up in drifting sand country that can be many meters deep . Lasseter did bring in ore samples for assay that was gold bearing . There is records off a man with that name who was a prospector in Alice at that time . I read somewhere that there was a record off him buying supplies and digging tools plus a small ammount of explosives .
Recon it happened but dont know how rich the source was .

Lutz Franken field from Darwin has had exploration lease on a patch of dirt in that area for 25 years and recpons its lasseters reef . He is trying to get mining compenies to join him in the hunt

 

[Nightjar]

We tried to find Lasseter's Lost Reef back in 2005, but had to turn back because of heavy rain.
Have tried uploading a video to YouTube.

https://youtu.be/eZPSBPHDY34

 

[Smoky bandit]

His son has spent most of his adult life looking for it ...with no success... :/

 

[Davent]

Gentlemen,

The site you should look at...
www.lasseteria.com
I think....
Most of the area is now either national park or aboriginal land....
Just my thoughts ....

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

What a great link, thanks mate!

 

[Brutus and me]

The Bush Tucker Man did an episode on the reef and its worth watching,,,
havnt looked on utube but i am guessing you will find it there

 

[xcvator]

"Lasseters Last Ride" by Ion Iddress is a good read too :/

 

[Eldorado]

The Bush Tucker Man did an episode on the reef and its worth watching,,,
havnt looked on utube but i am guessing you will find it there

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/I2nWlbIgm58[/video]

 

[user 4386]

Makes a good story. There is considerable doubt about whether it is genuine or not (Bob Buck seemed to doubt it). However it is worth putting it in perspective - at that time (and earlier) prospectors with a bag full of gold-rich quartz were a dime a dozen. Specimens were often sold for "salting" the stock exchange. Surprised that his claim pegs were never found, or that local aborigines never located the outcrop (aborigines found many gold reefs but rarely got credit - their observational skills were pretty good).

However it could be genuine - new and genuine finds were being made regularly. Often the gold would be enriched at surface and then peter out below. So odds are that it would not have been anything particularly major if it had been re-located. Geologically it is not a particularly hot area for gold and there are better areas slightly further away. Many people have looked - I remember my old metallurgy lecturer at RMIT launching one of many expeditions out there, and there have been many since, mostly mining the media. However also gold exploration companmioes with choppers etc. Probably better putting the effort into finding a new area, or a nugget in an old one - but historically it would be interesting to locate.

Photo - the cave Lasseter sheltered in for his last couple of weeks before he took off for a station and died en route:

 

[Old Fred]

Ok . Getting too old to find it my self but can narrow it down to ...The plane was a Gypsy Moth (called golden queen ) . 480 k range . No extra fuel tank added . Lasseter let slip that he would be 35 k short of the reef . Old RAAF piolet flying the plane would not have gone more than 200 k in case of head winds on the rdturn trip . Its recorded the flight was heading S W and there is only 2 spots suitable for landing in that area . Remember tho that Lasseter was lost when he found the reef so hard to work out how he knew where to land a plane . The plane flipped on the first takeoff cos the runway was too short . Second time because of mechanical problems OR the pilot had lost faith in Lassiter and not sure about the landing .
oogle the area and the 2 areas u can land in are pretty plain .
The gold was in a quarts reef and u can overlay u geo maps and that narrowes it down to 6 possabilities within 65 k of possible landing sites .
It will proberly be on the Aboriginal title or national park or on Lutz Frankenfield lease so no good to anyone

 

[Mad4gold88]

Was a good book

 

[Eldorado]

Ok . Getting too old to find it my self but can narrow it down to ...The plane was a Gypsy Moth (called golden queen ) . 480 k range . No extra fuel tank added . Lasseter let slip that he would be 35 k short of the reef . Old RAAF piolet flying the plane would not have gone more than 200 k in case of head winds on the rdturn trip . Its recorded the flight was heading S W and there is only 2 spots suitable for landing in that area . Remember tho that Lasseter was lost when he found the reef so hard to work out how he knew where to land a plane . The plane flipped on the first takeoff cos the runway was too short . Second time because of mechanical problems OR the pilot had lost faith in Lassiter and not sure about the landing .
oogle the area and the 2 areas u can land in are pretty plain .
The gold was in a quarts reef and u can overlay u geo maps and that narrowes it down to 6 possabilities within 65 k of possible landing sites .
It will proberly be on the Aboriginal title or national park or on Lutz Frankenfield lease so no good to anyone

The plane was called Golden Quest.