The Truth About Lasseter

Weeks after Harry Lasseter separated in September 1930 from the failed expedition he had been hired to guide to his legendary gold reef in Central Australia, he sent word to Sydney that he had finally located his "lost" find.

Six months later, the news arrived that Lasseter had died in the Outback. Papers and diaries retrieved from his final refuge kept hopes alive for decades among Lasseter’s true believers, and made him the stuff of Australian folklore.

Now it is confirmed that the story Lasseter touted was always pure fiction. The facts of Lasseter’s life reveal that he had never been near Central Australia before 1930. More chillingly, the facts expose a pattern of personal behaviour that proves Lasseter was always a con man.

The real-life story of the man behind an enduring Australian myth.