LOST GOLD REEF

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 6

LOST GOLD REEF

MYSTERY OF LASSITER’S FIND. NEW ATTEMPTS AT RE-DISCOVERY. Probably no spot in Australia has been associated with as many romantic stories as Lassiter’s Reef—a reef in the very heart of Australia said to be rich in gold. Lassiter, the discoverer, met with a cruel fate when he was deserted by his camels and died of thirst in the desert country, writes the Sydney correspondent of the Evening Post, Wellington. Ever since the location of the reef has been a mystery and all who have hoped to solve that mystery have failed. Now a new expedition has set out from Sydney, and one member of the party, Mr. W. A. T. Marshall, tells a story quite as romantic as any that have preceded it. Last year S. R. Hummerston, a prospector, was knocking about somewhere 450 miles west from Oodnadatta when he saw a dingo, fired at it and missed. He blamed his gun, and in order to check the weapon he fired at a mark on a tree, and then walked to the tree to see how true his aim hac been. The mark, he said, was a mark left by Lassiter. Further on he came upon a second tree bearing the words, “Dig in the camp fire.” Floods had swept away all traces of a camp in the meantime, but Hummerston camped there and dug for two days until he came upon some ashes. Under the ashes was a bottle containing several sealed letters and a map. Early this year Hummerston was given enough money to return to the spot. He says he found the reef, and took specimens of quartz from outcrops along three-quarters of a mile of its course. His camel broke away from its hobbles, and, fearing to be stranded like Lassiter was, he chased the animal and returned no civilisation.

I To his friends in Sydney Mr; Marshall has displayed a map, which is drawn in pencil on a scrap of yellowed note paper. The track of a ten-mile long reef is shown with bearings taken upon it from two mountains. The names on it are printed, but Mr. Marshall, who knew Lassiter well, says he is certain that they are in Lassiter’s hand. Mr. Marshall said he laughed at the story when he first heard it from Hummerston, but when he saw the documents he immediately put up £3OO. In the meantime Hummerston had written to a Sydney paper urging the Government not to send prospectors into the interior until they had been taught their trade. A copy of the papei’ containing the letter reached Germany, and a German, Fritz Muller, wrote to Hummerston enclosing a lump of gold and another map. Muller's father, who had prospected in Central Australia in 1914, claimed also to have found a reef, and plotted it on a piece of parchment. Muller wished Hummerston luck in finding it, and left the matter of his own reward entirely to Hummersaon. Mr. Marshall claims that Muller’s map, when turned upside down, coincides exactly with the map alleged to have been made by Lassiter. The search for the reef began from Alice Springs on December 27, the party travelling in two motor-lorries. Hummerston has said that the lorries will be able to go within 100 miles of the reef, and that there is plenty of water.