Police don't deploy Aboriginal trackers at lost people's peril

By ERWIN CHLANDA

Two German tourists who got lost and died in the East MacDonnells, a local woman who perished south of Alice Springs and a man who went missing west of the town and miraculously survived a week in the bush, had one thing in common: They walked away from a vehicle.

That scenario would be a piece of cake for Aboriginal trackers, world renowned for their skills. The chances of finding missing people would be further enhanced by keeping the known departure points undisturbed.

But police are clearly not interested in routinely engaging “black trackers” as they were called in the past, despite the compelling logic of doing so.

Ted Egan, who has many decades of experience with Aboriginal people, in 2017 told a local Rotary Club that a permanent panel of trackers should be formed who would be the first searchers on the scene. Police keeps ignoring that advice.

German tourists Wilfred and Gisela Thor died in the Trephina Gorge national park (pictured at top) in 2017. Claire Hockridge perished south of Alice Springs in 2019. Sudanese man Gach Top went missing west of the town on July 28 this year.

Mr Egan suggested trackers could be urgently flown or driven to the search locations, perhaps a panel of 10 trackers from around the Territory. They would be paid an annual retainer to be on call at all times.

He says people in communities such as Yuendumu, Lajamanu and Hermannsburg should be asked to nominate "people recognised in their own community as experts".

Police must cordon off the scene until the tracker arrives, Mr Egan said.

He recalled the tragic failed search back in October 1993 for a little boy lost in the bush near the Dunmarra roadhouse, which his parents ran. He had gone out riding on a child’s motorbike and wasn’t missed until evening.

When the word went out, 1200 people went to Dunmarra, on motorbikes, in utes, in aeroplanes. They conducted a grid search, walking through the bush: For all their good will, it was the “worst possible eventuality,” said Mr Egan. The searchers would have covered up all the signs on the ground.

He says similarly the area near Barrow Creek where Peter Falconio disappeared was trampled by dozens of police before they called in Tracker Ted Egan, who took Mr Egan’s name, 10 days later. Even so the legendary tracker was able to tell them that the assailant’s car had a soft tyre on one wheel.

Today Mr Egan is again stressing the importance of the scheme, commenting on Mr Gach’s week-long ordeal.

The trackers' wage would be money well spent.

This, according to a police media report, was the massively expensive five-day search for Mr Gach (pictured above): “Extensive search efforts, coordinated by the NT Police Force’s Search and Rescue Section (SRS) … at its peak involved more than 50 personnel from NT Police, NT Emergency Services, NT Fire and Rescue Service, and Parks and Wildlife NT.

“The search was conducted by personnel on foot, on ATVs and flying drones.

“The NT Police Dog Operations Unit, a Jet Ranger helicopter and a Challenger jet aircraft, deployed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, have also been involved in the search effort, which covered more than 500km² of difficult terrain.”

No trackers were mentioned in the release and police did not respond to a question from the Alice Springs News.

After all that the search was suspended without having found Mr Gach. He was later discovered alive by two Aboriginal women who happened to be passing.

A pastoralist not police found Ms Hockridge’s vehicle and two of her companions survived. Ms Hockridge had wandered off and a helicopter search failed to find her. No Aboriginal tracker was deployed.

UPDATE 4.30pm

The police provided the following statement at 3.15pm today: "We can confirm a Senior Aboriginal Liaison Officer (ALO) from NTPF did some tracking on Day 1 of the search."

We put the following questions to the police: What is the ALO's name? Which community is he from? What is his record and experience in tracking? Please state what did his tracking on Day 1 involve? What did he find?