CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After record-breaking bushfires, the cancellation of all live sport and hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia can today finally take in the first feel good news story of 2020.
This comes after news broke that an autistic teenager who spent two almost-freezing nights missing in dense bushland has been found alive, ending a search that involved hundreds of police and volunteers.
Will Callaghan, 14, who is non-verbal was found conscious and breathing just before midday today, two days after he walked off ahead of his father as they trekked to the summit of a bushwalking hotspot north of Melbourne.
As Australia enters it’s second economic recession in 12 years, and the world is gripped by the Black Lives Matters protests triggered by a renewed focus on the tragic and alarming rates of black deaths in custody – the story of Will Callaghan could not come at a better time for a disaster-weary Australia.
The fact that the dense bushland at the centre of this rescue effort is known as ‘Mount Disappointment’ is also not lost on those reading the updates at home.
The young bloke, who is believed to be in a stable condition, was reunited with his parents shortly after 1pm, in a tent at the base camp where police had set up a marshalling area to co-ordinate the search.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he is now considering renaming the 800-metre mountain, located on the southern end of the Great Dividing Range.
Early frontrunners for the new name include “Mount Hell Yeah” and “William’s Mountain”
