Lasseter's Reef refers to the purported discovery, announced by Harold Bell Lasseter in 1929 and 1930, of a fabulously rich gold deposit in a remote and desolate corner of central Australia. Lasseter's accounts of the find are conflicting and its precise location remains a mystery—if it exists.

Timeline

In 1929 and again in 1930 Lewis Harold Bell Lasseter (1880–1931) made different (and possibly conflicting) claims that either in 1911 or in 1897, he had discovered a rich gold deposit. On 14 October 1929 he wrote a letter to Kalgoorlie federal member, Albert Green, claiming to have discovered "a vast gold bearing reef in Central Australia" 18 years earlier and that it was located at the western edge of the MacDonnell Ranges. He claimed that subsequent to this discovery he got into difficulties and was fortuitously rescued by a passing Afghan camel driver who took him to the camp of a surveyor, Joseph Harding. The group endured logistical difficulties and physical hardships (including the loss of a plane). On reaching Mount Marjorie (now Mount Leisler), Lasseter declared that they were too far north of the search zone. Exasperated, Blakeley declared Lasseter a charlatan, and decided to end the expedition. They parted with Lasseter at Ilbilba. The burial of Lasseter would continue to cause contention until it was finally relocated to the Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery.

Buck also located Lasseter's personal effects in a cave at Hull's Creek and, from Lasseter's diary, it was learned that after Johns had left, Lasseter's camels bolted, leaving him alone in the desert without any means of sustaining himself or returning. He encountered a group of nomadic Aboriginal people (the Pitjantjatjara), who helped him with food and shelter; despite their help a weakened and blinded Lasseter eventually died of malnutrition and exhaustion after several weeks, having made a belated attempt to walk from the cave to Uluru or Kata Tjuṯa. Almost out of supplies they then returned to Ilbilba where they parted.

Geologists have made various statements as to whether or not there are gold bearing areas in this country. In 1931 geologists T. Blatchford and H.W.B. Talbot accompanying Bob Buck pronounced the region as unpromising but they only inspected the Petermann Range and the eastern end of the Rawlinson Range, travelling no farther west than Sladen Waters. In 2014 geologists W.D. Maier, H.M. Howard and R.H. Smithies likened the southern part of Lasseter's search area to the Bushveld Complex in South Africa where gold deposits do occur and said the region has high potential, quoting a 2002 report of copper-gold vein style material found north of the Cavenagh Range.

Later history

No maps showing the location of the fabled gold reef were ever found, and over subsequent decades the tale of the reef and its discoverer has assumed mythic proportions; it is perhaps the most famous lost mine legend in Australia, and remains a "holy grail" among Australian prospectors. Popular adventure-story author Ion Idriess, in his book Lasseter's Last Ride (1931), gives a detailed description of Lasseter's time with the Aboriginal peoples. His diary's notes were hidden from the Aboriginal peoples by being buried under camp fires. They had shunned Lasseter after their Kurdaitcha man "pointed the bone at him" – he was condemned to be ignored and no longer cared for. Another story is told in Pintupi-Luritja language and English in Laatjatanya Yanutja, available in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.

In 1988, Senator John Panizza stated that he had "spent a bit of time searching for Lasseter's Reef" and believed that the Telfer mine was the most likely candidate for the lost reef.

Lasseter's Reef became a famous Australian folk tale. It inspired a sub-plot in the film, Strike Me Lucky (1934), and Lasseter's fate was recreated in the movie Phantom Gold (1936). In 1974, Bill Gill Productions and Australian Film School worked on a film version of Lasseter's Last Ride.

Two songs are titled "Lasseter's Last Ride"; the first by Peter Dawson and Edward Harrington and performed by Peter Dawson (May 1940), and the second by Dean Thomas (September 2012). Other songs dealing with the subject include: "Lasseter" (James Hermel), "Lasseter" (William Lovelock), "Lasseter's Dream" (Keith Glass), "Lasseter's Gold" (M Vijars, T Davis), and "Lasseters Reef of Gold" (Brian Letton). The film also follows Lasseter's elderly son Bob on his last desert expedition to find his father's lost gold and explores the many complex strands of the Lasseter mystery. Lasseter's Bones was nominated for Best Documentary at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.

In January 2017, an episode of Expedition Unknown on the American Travel Channel, titled "Lasseter's Gold", examined the mystery.

References

;General

  • .

;Specific

  • Central Australian Gold Expedition, MacDonnell Ranges, 1930 [picture] at National Library of Australia, shows six expedition members: Harold Bell Lasseter in front; others, left to right: Errol Hampton Coote, George Sutherland, Frank Colson, Fred Blakeley, and Philip Taylor. Photo is described here.
  • Lasseter's grave in Central Australia, photo at State Library of New South Wales.
  • . Possible 1979 rediscovery of the reef.
  • Lassertia – The Lasseter Encyclopedia
  • . 2007 article by Alison Bevege, reported in The Courier-Mail.
  • Sam Hazlett and the Search for Lasseter's Reef.