Everyone knows about a “Little Boy Lost” near Guyra in February 1960, but just over a year later, another boy was lost near Guyra, and although that second story in March 1961 is well-known in Guyra, it seems to have been forgotten in Armidale. This week we look at the story of the second “Little Boy Lost”.
Harold Jones and his wife Shirley went from Guyra to a potato patch at “Elderberry’, eight miles west of Guyra on Saturday, March 18, 1961, taking with them their three sons, Larry (aged 9), Kerry (7) and Roy. During the morning tea break, the three boys were picking up firewood to take home and Roy wandered off.
When the two older boys returned to their parents without Roy, a search began, but he was not found. The Police were called out at 2 pm. Sergeant Fred Wilson and two Constables (O’Dea and Coombs) came out to the site then returned to Guyra to organise a search.
More than 2,500 people participated in the search, under the command of Sgt Wilson, David Williams (whose property was close by), and Geoff Ward of Guyra. Men and women worked to a set plan to comb the country on foot. Everyone acknowledged that the search was very efficient, lessons having been learnt from problems in the search in 1960.
Walkers were dispatched at distances of seven or eight miles for a sweep-back to headquarters, while horse-riders were sent to search boggy creeks and swamps. On Sunday convoys of searchers were sent out in an ever-widening circle. The groups were under the command of men who knew the country, and “they moved like a well-disciplined army, without question or complaint.”
Many of the searchers brought their own food and rations, and several searchers carried their transistor radios, on which they could get reports from Radio 2AD. Women from the Guyra Presbyterian Church set up a canteen under gum trees at headquarters and were quickly joined by a great many other women who brought food such as tomatoes, cucumbers and meat for sandwiches. A radio call was made for bread to be rushed up from Armidale.
Searchers came from all walks of life: experienced station hands who knew the bush; enthusiastic girl undergraduates from the city; several hundred students from the University of New England and the Teachers’ College, and from secondary schools in Armidale; University staff; Ambulance and Police, soldiers, footballers, Civil Defence, Shire Council staff, County Council staff and the Fire Brigade. Trucks were used to carry the searchers to the starting out points.
Special credit was given to County Council vehicles equipped with two-way radios. One was at the Guyra Police Station, another at search headquarters, and the third was out with searchers. Radio support was also given by the Hunter River Lancers in the search area. Designated people stopped passing cars at intersections and directed the drivers to take messages up the roads.
Early sweeps proved unsuccessful so Sgt Wilson ordered the searchers to go out further. It was this big sweep that was successful. Vince Bell’s section had moved almost two miles in less than an hour when the boy was found about five miles south of where he was last seen by his family 27 hours earlier. Kevin Bindley, one of the Armidale footballers with the searchers, spotted the boy first. He was sitting on a rock and appeared to be quite happy. He called out to the searchers, “Are you looking for me?”
Kevin Bindley, Bobby Haynes and Laurie Marshall carried the boy back to the truck. Others in that section included Graham Bindley, Bobby Keogh, Ron Roach and Sandy Gallagher. The boy was given a sandwich and a pear. On the way back to headquarters the rescuers met the boy’s father who jumped into the truck’s cabin with his son. Although Roy was found at 2 pm it was about 45 minutes before the rescue party arrived back at headquarters with the good news. That’s how life was before mobile phones. The rescuers heralded their success by honking the truck’s horn all the way, and it was heard while they were still a mile from headquarters, where other searchers were resting. More than a hundred ran down the road to greet the truck.
When the truck arrived, car horns sounded enthusiastically. Detective Constable Aldridge twice fired three shots from his revolver into the air. A message was flashed to Radio 2AD which quickly relayed the good news, and then the other searchers began making their way back to headquarters. The Guyra Ambulance carried the boy to Guyra Hospital, where he asked for a tomato sandwich with salt on it, and a glass of milk. He had that and a bowl of soup and other food. Next morning he was pronounced “fine and well” and discharged.
A front page editorial on the local paper was full of praise for how well the search was conducted, with “no confusion or duplication of effort.” It is certainly worthy of recalling. Thanks to Des Bindley from Hillgrove for his help with the story.
This coming weekend will be the centenary of when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank within hours, with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew. The story itself is well known and doesn’t need to be told in this column, but next week we’ll look at how Armidale mourned the loss of the Titanic’s passengers and crew.
