Lewis Hubert (Harold Bell) Lasseter

The grave site of Lasseter at Alice Springs cemetery

Lewis Hubert Lasseter, or Lewis Harold Bell Lasseter as he later referred to himself, was born on 27 September 1880 at Bamganie, Victoria, Australia. Though self-educated, he was literate and well-spoken, and commonly described as eccentric and opinionated. He travelled in both Australia and the United States and worked at a variety of occupations, marrying twice and fathering five children.

Lasseter was made famous by his sensational claim, first asserted in 1929, that, as a young man, he had discovered a fabulously rich gold reef, an entity now known as “Lasseter's Reef”, in central Australia.

He perished in the desert near the Western AustraliaNorthern Territory border in early 1931 after he separated himself from an expedition that was mounted in an effort to rediscover the supposed reef. His body was found and buried in March 1931 by Bob Buck, a central Australian bushman and pastoralist sent to search for Lasseter. It was later re-interred in the Alice Springs cemetery.

However, the book Lasseter Did Not Lie by A. Stapleton (published in Adelaide, 1981) suggests that Lasseter was no more than a con-man, (The book does not state he was a conman it actually supports that he may have been telling the truth, with supporting evidence.)[1] having ripped off his investors in a clever scheme to convince them that such a gold reef existed, only to take their money with him to San Francisco, where he later died in the late 1950s.

Some of the facts pointing in that direction are as follows:

Popular culture: film and media


Lasseter is referenced in the song 'Warakurna' on the 1987 aboriginal rights themed album 'Diesel and Dust' of Australian rock band Midnight Oil.

Lasseter's Bones

Luke Walker's 2013 documentary feature Lasseter's Bones explores the life and legend of Lasseter and documents the filmmaker's many attempts to locate the notorious Lasseter's Reef.[2] 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.[3]

Lasseter's Bones was nominated for Best Documentary at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.[4]

Other things named after Lasseter

References