LASSETER’S REEF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 4

LASSETER’S REEF

"Hell’s Airport." By Errol Coote. Foreword by Air Commodore Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. Illustrated, with Map. Sydney: the Peterman Press. (7s net.) Some time ago . lon L. Idriese wrote “ Laeseter’s Last Ride.” the story of the last attempt by L. 11. B. Lasseter, an Australian prospector, to locate an immensely rich gold reef which he claimed to have found 30 years previously. He perished miserably of starvation in the heart of Australia. ‘‘Devil’s Airport" (from Whitcombe and Tombs) is the aerial supplement to Mr Idriess’s book, which should be read before this latest volume. In it Mr Errol Coote, as the first airman to be associated with the expedition organised to find, under Lasseter’s direction, the reef, which, if discovered, “ would solve Australia’s financial problems overnight,” relates a dramatic talc. There were, and still are, many in Australia to scoff at the story told by the little prospector when he walked into the Trades Hall in Sydney, unemployed and seeking the assistance of the Federal Government, which was then being pressed to help “Wizard” Smith in his attack on speed in New Zealand, but the legend of the fabulous reef persistently survives. An enthusiastic meeting of those interested ■in Lasseter’s story soon subscribed money for an extensive air search, and the party left for Alice Springs equipped with a D.H. Gipsy Moth plane and a six-wheeled truck. The difficulties experienced m driving the truck overland across sand, scrub country, and rivers were immense, and the party was unfortunate in having several accidents to the plane which necessitated aggravating delays on account of the difficulty of getting spares. All was not well within the party. Lasseter was at loggerheads with two or more of the other members, who made little effort to heal the breach. The prospector’s extravagant claims, such as having originally designed the Sydney harbour bridge, and being personally responsible for the popularity of Kipling’s works through reciting them over the air, “got on the nerves ” of men who were working hard in trying conditions.

The Last Ride Eventually, after an aerial survey, Lasseter claimed to have located his landmarks, and even to have seen the reef, which was situated in the heart of the mulga scrub. Coote was forced down on liis own, when trying to relocate the spot, and was in dire straits when found. The directors of the company were now impatient, and ordered the return of the expedition, Lasseter setting out on camel for his reef, on which he later claimed to have pegged six claims. It was on his return to the reef that his camels stampeded and left him in the very heart of the desert, where, after being sixty days without food, he'succumbed. His body was found by a blackfellow and his lubra.‘ His grave is one of the loneliest in Australia. He had kept his diary until he was too weak to write, and carefully buried it and his papers under the ashes of his fire, where they were later found. He expressed the desire in his last writing that his wife should be provided for when the reef was discovered, and his son’s future assured. If the lost reef does exist, and is eventually opened, Australia’s troubles will indeed be over. Lasseter declared that it extends for ten miles in plain sight, and assayed 3oz to the ton on the samples he brought out 30 years or more ago. This-book gives a graphic and at times poignant account of the search, and the tragic death of Lasseter. That the aeroplane must play a big part in future expeditions is plain, and it is still urged that the Federal Government might do worse than finance another search. The illustrations in this volume are interesting. D. A. L.