17-year-old Victorian teenager has been found alive after spending six days lost in dense bushland, wearing only shorts and work boots and surviving on little more than a packet of chips and water.
William disappeared on Friday the 6th of November during his first camping trip near Walhalla in Victoria’s Gippsland region, about 185 kilometres east of Melbourne. His mother dropped him and a friend off for the weekend. He walked a short distance from the campsite near Stoney Creek Road and the T2 Track to collect extra equipment, then failed to return. He left his phone, food and water behind. His friend searched the area without success.
The search involved police, the State Emergency Service, helicopters, dogs, divers and volunteers across difficult, steep and heavily vegetated terrain. Overnight temperatures dropped low enough to raise serious concerns. Authorities later appealed to hunters, campers and landowners after finding a hunting camera in the search area.
On Thursday morning, Victoria Police Air Wing spotted a tackle box in bushland roughly two kilometres from where William was last seen. Zooming in, crews found the teenager lying in a nearby creek. He had fallen a small cliff face and stayed in the same spot, waiting. Rescuers winched him out, gave him a doughnut and water, and flew him back to the command post.
Police said William had fallen a steep riverbed embankment two days earlier and had been sleeping and waiting to be found.
“He woke up to the sound of the helicopter [and] gave them a thumbs up,” Acting Inspector Jason Benbow said.
He was reunited with his mother, Elizabeth Barkley, in an emotional scene. She told reporters her son had only a few scratches and some sunburn, was in good health and good spirits, and had stayed put until help arrived. “I’m just over the moon he’s alive,” she said. She added that he is “grounded for life” and is “never leaving the house again.”
“You see these stories on TV, and you don’t think it can happen to you, but when you do, and you find them alive, it’s just … I can’t describe the words. I’m so happy, I can’t speak properly.”
William could be seen smiling and laughing with police while sitting with his legs outside the helicopter’s side door.
William was taken to hospital for monitoring. Police described the outcome as rare and emotional for the officers involved. Mild spring conditions in the area are believed to have helped his survival.
The rescue ends a six-day operation that grew progressively urgent as time passed with no sign of the teenager.
