Lamont Young

Who was Lamont Young?

Lamont H. Young was an assistant geological surveyor for the New South Wales Mines Department. He mysteriously disappeared while on field-work at Bermagui, New South Wales.

Young was inspecting the new goldfields at Bermagui in 1880. In order 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, 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-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 Samuel Casey.