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LEWIS HAROLD BELL LASSETER. Lewis Lasseter was born at Bangamy in the Victorian goldfields on the 27th September,1880. He later adopted the two middle names of Harold Bell maybe in admiration of the author Harold Bell Wright. In his later years he was known as Harry Lasseter. THE 1897 DISCOVERY When he was seventeen, Lasseter travelled from Cairns in northern Queensland where he had been working on coastal steamers, to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to prospect for rubies which were reportedly being found there at that time. When he arrived he discovered that the reported "rubies" were only garnets - of little value. The maps at that time showed the Macdonnell Ranges at Alice Springs extended west to the west coast of Australia, so Lasseter decided to travel west following the range to the coast to find work. He soon discovered the maps to be very wrong! The mountains gave way to huge expanses of desert, waterholes were difficult to find, and feed for his 2 horses virtually non existent. It was around this time when Lasseter discovered a large gold bearing quartz reef. He took samples from it and noted its position relative to surrounding landmarks. He continued on but his horses eventually died and he was on foot and close to death when he was saved by a passing Afghan camel driver. Lasseter was taken to the base camp of a surveyor named Harding and once he had regained his strength, Lasseter showed Harding his samples and told him of his find. Harding wanted Lasseter to take him back to the reef but Lasseter refused due to the ordeal he had been through. They agreed to return at a later time. THE RETURN TO THE REEF IN 1900. Three years later Lasseter and Harding returned to the area to relocate the reef. After considerable time and effort they located the reef. They took bearings to accurately locate its latitude & longitude and collected numerous samples. (These were later assayed in Perth and returned 3oz / ton ) They followed the quartz outcropping of the 8-12 ft wide reef for 1 mile and could see outcrops on the same alignment for up to 10 miles. On their return to Carnarvon they found their watch to be in error by 1 1/2 hours which meant that the position was incorrect by an incalculable amount. They tried to create interest in the reef in Australia and also in England, but were unsuccessful mainly due to gold finds being plentiful in Kalgoolie at that time. Harding died from ill health some time later. THE 1917 ATTEMPT. It was seventeen years later before Lasseter made another attempt to relocate his reef. During the previous years he had first lived in America for eleven years and gained his masters certificate to captain a ship at sea. On his return to Australia he worked in various fields including farming, building and bridge construction, design, etc. In 1917 Lasseter arranged an expedition to go back to the reef. The travelled to Oodnadatta and set out from there, however they didn't get far before some of the group wanted to return to civilization and so the attempt was aborted. THE 1930 EXPEDITION. It was not until 1930 that Lasseter got the opportunity to once again search for his reef. During the late 20's he wrote numerous times to the Government in Canberra telling them of the discovery he had made in Central Australia some 33 years earlier, hoping to get them interested in relocating the reef. Australia was slipping into economic depression and Lasseter thought that the mining of the reef would be an enormous help to the Australian economy. Finally , unable to get the government interested, Lasseter visited the president of the Australian Workers Union and told him of his reef. Various experts were then called upon to question Lasseter at length regarding his find and following this 5,000 pounds was raised in a matter of hours. A Company was formed - C.A.G.E. (Central Australian Gold Exploration) and an expedition was organised to relocate the reef. A 6 wheel Thorneycroft truck and an aeroplane were acquired to assist the expedition. A Mr Fred Blakely was chosen to be the leader and Lasseter would be the guide on the journey. The expedition set out from Alice Springs and travelled west to Haasts Bluff where a dispute arose between Blakely and Lasseter. Lasseter, based on his recollections of his journey 33 years earlier wanted to travel to the south side of the bluff in a south westerly direction, however, Blakely for reasons unknown insisted they travel to the north side. This decision contributed very significantly to the eventual failure and tragedy of the expedition. The expedition continued west to the Ehrenberg Range and established a base camp and an airstrip. Unfortunately, the aeroplane crashed on takeoff during the flight out to the base camp and both aircraft and injured pilot had to be replaced. Further west again at Mt Leisler Lasseter determined that they were now 150 miles too far north! The expedition then tried to head south but soon found the terrain too difficult to proceed. It was then decided that the expedition would return to Alice Springs, restock with provisions, proceed to Ayres Rock and then travel west from there. Lasseter, and a camel driver named Paul Johns would continue on camels to relocate the reef. Some weeks later, Johns returned to Alice Springs with a sealed letter from Lasseter which said that he had located the area of the reef and that he would meet the rest of the expedition at Lake Christopher, about 250 miles west from Ayres Rock. Lasseter reached Lake Christopher and waited for 1-2 weeks but the rest of the expedition failed to arrive so he then decided to return to Ayres Rock. On his return journey his camels took fright and bolted leaving him stranded with few supplies. Lasseter walked 9 miles to a cave in the Petermann Ranges where he was able to shelter from the extreme heat of the mid summer. He waited for almost a month at the cave believing the rest of the expedition were on their way. During this time he was slowly starving to death. Meanwhile, the main expedition had accidentally burnt out their camp at Ayres Rock and had to return once again to Alice Springs to re-organise. Finally, close to death and with the realisation that no help was coming, Lasseter tried to walk to Mt Olga, a distance of 100 miles. He managed to walk 30 miles before he died on or about the 30th January, 1931. Despite many well equipped expeditions since, the location of Lasseter's Reef remains a mystery to this day! STILL TO COME : THE LASSETER FAMILY'S ONGOING SEARCH. PHOTO'S OVER 40 YEARS OF SEARCHING. HARRY LASSETER'S LAST DAYS. |