Lamont H. Young (1851–1880) was an Australian assistant geological surveyor for the New South Wales Mines Department. He mysteriously disappeared while on field-work at

Bermagui, New South Wales Bermagui is a town on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Bega Valley Shire. It lies on the shores of the southern end of Horseshoe Bay. The name is derived from the Dyirringanj word, ''permageua'', possibly meaning "canoe with ...

Disappearance

Young was inspecting the new goldfields at Bermagui in 1880. To investigate possible sites further north, Young and his assistant travelled on a small boat with the boat's owner, Thomas Towers of

Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town on the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...

, and two of Towers' friends. All five disappeared on 10 October. In the morning the boat was observed, but stationary and with apparently only one man on board. Later in the day the vessel was seen stranded on the rocks with no-one on board. The boat was found to contain five bags full of clothing, Young's books and papers, a bullet in its starboard side and some vomit. The men were not found despite subsequent searches, rewards, government inquiries and wide media coverage. The remnants of a fire, some food and three shirt studs were the only traces. The mystery was never solved. Unusual aspects of the wreck were that the planks of the boat were

stove A stove or range is a device that burns fuel or uses electricity to generate heat inside or on top of the apparatus, to be used for general warming or cooking. It has evolved highly over time, with cast-iron and induction versions being develope ...

-out rather than stove-in, the boat contained several large rocks and the anchor and stern ropes were missing. Apart from Thomas Towers and Lamont Young, the other men who disappeared were Young's assistant Max Schneider and the other two boatmen, William Lloyd and Daniel Casey. (page 26)

Memorial

Mystery Bay received its name because of the disappearance. The bay is 15 kilometres north of Bermagui, midway between Bermagui and

Narooma Narooma is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Central Tilba is nearby to the south. The name Naro ...

, near Tilba. There is a park and a road at Mystery Bay named after Lamont Young. A monument was erected at Mystery Bay in 1980 to mark the centenary of the disappearance. The wrong names are recorded on the monument. The accompanying boatmen were Daniel Casey and William Henry Lloyd. Bartholomew Casey was the son of Daniel Casey and lived to be 82 years old. Daniel's wife Anne Casey was buried at Moruya. Her gravestone correctly records that it was her husband Daniel that disappeared. Anne Casey (née Franklin) was the sister of Joseph Franklin, the grandfather of (Stella Maria)

Miles Franklin Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While ...

who wrote ''

My Brilliant Career ''My Brilliant Career'' is a 1901 novel written by Miles Franklin. It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879–1954), one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, ...

''.

The disappearance in literature

The plot of

Arthur Upfield Arthur William Upfield (1 September 1890 – 12 February 1964) was an English-Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a mixed-race ...

's detective novel, ''The Mystery of Swordfish Reef'', is based on Young's disappearance. The Australian author,

Cyril Pearl Cyril Alston Pearl (11 April 1904 – 3 March 1987) was an Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality. Life and career He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria on 11 April 1904, to Je ...

also wrote of the mystery in his 1978 book, ''Five Men Vanished: The Bermagui Mystery''. A 1910 article, "Bermagui – In a Strange Sunset", by

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

published in '' The Bulletin'', describes a steamer journey from Bermagui to Sydney. Lawson mentions the disappearance of Young 30 years before.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Lamont 1851 births 1880 deaths 1880s missing person cases Australian surveyors Missing person cases in Australia People lost at sea

Disappearance

Memorial

The disappearance in literature

See also

References