MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21292, 20 September 1932, Page 12

MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY

DEATH OF MISS GULLETT BODY FOUND 'IN SWAMP -■ £"' <Si- , FEDERAL MINISTER'S SISTER The body of Miss Anna Gullett, who had been missing from Leura since Saturday, September 10, was found on Monday, September 12, at the bottom of Northcote Street, Leura, near Katoomba, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, about a mile away from where she had been living.

Miss Gullett, who was 48, was a sister of Mr. H. S. Gullett, Australian Minister of Customs. At about 5 p.m. on September 10 she left to go for a stroll. Grave fears for her safety were roused when she had not returned at nightfall and search parties were hastily organised. Throughout the night parties of men scoured the district for the missing woman. On Sunday morning Constable Bugden organised parties of local residents and visitors and an intensive search was made. The heavy rain and sense banks of mist on the mountains intensified the difficulties of the searchers. Search in Cold Bain The search was continued by more than 200 people on Sunday. Constable Bugden and Mr. Eric Lowe, of the Blue Mountains Guide Service, led two separate parties. Rain fell continuously and it was bitterly cold. At times the searchers could see only a few yards ahead. The steep rugged gullies near the guest house were combed, but no trace of the woman could be found.

Mr. John McDadc organised a party of 15 searchers from amongj the guests at a Katoomba boarding house. They left early in the morning and decided to search around Leighton Lodge once more. Throughout the day the searchers climbed through the gullies, searched the timbered country and scrambled up precipitous cliffs, vainly shouting.

The party separated and Messrs. McDade, Jack Fahey, a well-known footballer, and Victor Adams conducted a search independently of the main party. They scoured the neighbourhood of a large swamp. Tall rain-sodden grass, waist high, impeded their progress, and in floundering through the rain-soaked ground they were drenched to the skin. Discovery of the Body The searchers were nearly a mile from Leighton Lodge, when Mr. Adams, who had been searching the eastern edge of the swamp, decided to scour the swamp itself. He pushed aside the tall reeds and stepped forward. Looking down, he saw the missing woman's body lying at his feet. Her umbrella was lying closji beside her.

Miss Gullett's clothing was soaked. The woman was short-sighted and had apparently wandered throughout Saturday night, unable to find her way out of the gully in which she was found. As last, overcome by exhaustion and exposure, she had fallen and died.

At the inquest a verdict of death from heart failure following exposure was returned.