Summary: On Friday morning 12th August 1864, Isaac (9), Jane (7), and Frank (3½) were sent by their mother to cut and collect broom bush from a patch about a mile from their hut. After gathering the brush they mistakenly walked in the opposite direction and became lost in the vast swathes of heath that covered the area. Their father and station hands searched for them that night and through Saturday. By Sunday more than 36 men were on a systematic but unsuccessful search. It was on the Monday that 2 searchers found their tracks, which the party followed until rain on Tuesday night obliterated the tracks. When they still could not detect any trace on Thursday, a man rode to Mt Elgin station 30 miles away to obtain Aboriginal trackers. He returned with 3 trackers on the Friday evening just after the tracks had been rediscovered. The search resumed on Saturday, augmented by the assistance of the trackers. It was approaching sunset on Saturday 20th, when their father riding ahead of the search party found the children asleep under a clump of saplings. Weak and emaciated, the children had been lost for nine days and eight nights, having walked approximately 100kms through the bush.
“Lost in the bush” was an hour-long 16mm colour film made by the Audio-Visual Education Centre, and with some minor differences follows the account of the story by Les Blake. The film was shot on location west of Mt Arapiles, with a second location in the Little Desert. Auditions for the children’s parts were held in Horsham and three local children were selected. Gabrielle Bulle plays Jane; Colin Freckleton plays Isaac; and Richard McClelland plays Frank. The leading adult roles were played by local members of the Arts Council dramatic society—Adrian Crick and Barbara Maroske.
