This article from SMH 6 May 1954 has an unusual search method – three pet crows were used.
BOY LOST IN MOUNTAINS – 200 Search In Rugged Country
More than 200 police and civilians searched last night in rugged bush country around Linden, in the Blue Mountains, for a missing 2½-year-old boy. Police fear for the safety of the boy, Timothy Farmer, who is wearing only a jumper and overalls.
WANDERED FROM HOME
The temperature at Linden last night dropped below 40 degrees. The search was abandoned soon after midnight and will be resumed at dawn today. Twelve experienced bush- men will act as guides to search parties. At 11.30 last night, police said the search was the biggest night search ever organised on the mountains. Timothy’s mother, Mrs. Mary Farmer, of Glossop Road, Linden, told police that he disappeared from home about 11 a.m. yesterday while she was hanging washing in the back yard. She said she had left him playing on the front verandah with her other son, Christopher, aged 14 months. When she returned 10 minutes later he had gone.
TRACKS FOUND
About 10.30 p.m. searchers found tracks in the sand in a gully about half-a-mile from the boy’s home. The tracks, which appeared to have been made by a child, were near a railway bulldozer. The boy’s father, Mr. Arthur Farmer, said last night that he had taken Timothy to see the bulldozer last week. Searchers lit a fire where they found the tracks to direct others. About 50 searchers led by inspector N. J. Scholtz, of Parramatta, began combing the vicinity in a triangle formation. Shortly after dark, police began to drag a pool on a nearby property. Constable C. J. Elliott and Constable W. Power, of Springwood, began the search for the boy soon after mid- day. Later, police from No. 21 division and Katoomba and Penrith joined them. Police ordered an appeal for volunteers to be broadcast over radio station 2KA, Katoomba.
SEARCHERS SHIVER
Scores of searchers arrived from Sydney in cars after they had heard the broadcast. Cars bumper to bumper lined the half-mile-long Glossop Road. Watchers at Linden could see scores of lanterns bobbing among the trees like fireflies. Searchers, some wearing overcoats and polo neck sweaters, shivered in the bitter cold. Shortly before midnight weary searchers returned to the search base in Glossop Road. Women gave them tea which they had boiled over a camp fire. As the searchers came back, fresh parties left to comb the gully.
POLICE WARNING
Police ordered searchers to travel in groups of at least four because they feared that parties of two or three might become separated. Two trucks from the Blue Mountains City Council, fitted with two-way radio, assisted in the search. One truck in the gully re- ported progress of the search to the truck at the base in Glossop Road. Mr. Fred Whitburn, of Wallacia, who heard the radio call for volunteers, took his Alsa- tian, Dell, to assist in the search. He said last night: “Dell is a pretty keen tracker. “I saw Timothy’s father and got one of the lad’s shirts for Dell to sniff. “We went into the gully, and Dell left with a party of searchers where the boy’s tracks had been seen.” A search party led by Mr. Kenneth Beames, 64, an amateur astronomer of Linden Observatory, and Mr. Barney Turley, a railway fettler, of Linden, reported finding fresh tracks in a gully. They followed these for two miles before giving up the search for the night. Mr. Beames said: “We measured the footprints, which were five and a half inches in length. This checked with the size of the shoe worn by the missing boy. “I think we will find him alive this morning somewhere in the area, which is rugged and practically impassable,” he said. Mr. Beames said there was a grave danger of the child becoming frightened and running through the bush in the night. “There are so many cliffs over which he could fall,” he said. Mr. Beames said that in the search to-day he would use three pet crows, which he trains at the observatory. The crows would settle over anything strange in the bush, he said.
“TERRIBLE SHOCK”
Mr. Farmer said last night: “This is a terrible shock to us. Timothy has not wandered away from home before. “His mother seems to think he might have walked about 200 yards to the main highway -the Great Western Highway. “She thinks he might have been picked up by a passing motorist. “We are worried sick about him. His mother is in a state of near collapse. If he should be in the bush, and is not found soon, God only knows what will happen.” Inspector Scholtz last night discounted suggestions that a passing motorist might have picked up the boy. The country around Linden is some of the most rugged on the Blue Mountains. Local residents say that many of the early explorers were forced to turn back be- cause of the rugged country in the district.
(The story continues the next day….)
DOG FINDS BOY IN CAVE
Safe After Night In Mountains
KATOOMBA, Thursday.- A German shepherd dog this morning found 2½-year-old Timothy Farmer who had been lost all night in the Blue Mountains. Timothy, who lives at Glossop Road, Linden, was found in a narrow cave. The entrance was hidden by ferns behind a waterfall at the bottom of a 50 foot cliff a mile and a half from his home. Timothy was reported missing at 11 a.m. yesterday. The search for him was one of the biggest ever undertaken in the Blue Mountains. Some searchers were in the bush all night with lanterns and torches. At 7 a.m. today Mr. Alfred Sully, of Faulconbridge, found a brown sandshoe in long grass threequarters of a mile south of the Farmer home. He returned to the searchers’ base and handed the shoe to a police officer who took it to the boy’s father. The father, Mr. Arthur Farmer, ran from his home with the shoe crying out: “Tell them that’s definitely his shoe.” The searchers were immediately recalled by blowing car horns, and about 150 followed Mr. Sully into the gorge to where he had picked up the shoe.
Mr. Fred Whitburn, aged 36, a bus driver, of Wallacia, and his German shepherd bitch Dell went in a different direction.
BEGAN BARKING
After travelling for nearly a mile from the point where the shoe was found, Dell suddenly began barking near a waterfall. Mr. Whitburn said later: “When Dell continued to bark and jump up and down, I made a closer inspection and could see a cave, partly hidden by ferns, at the back of the waterfall. “I parted the ferns and was amazed to see the boy curled up like a possum in the cave. “At first I thought he was dead by the way he was staring, but when he said ‘puppy’ and waved his hand, I knew he was alive and I rushed forward and picked him up.” Mr. Whitburn said Timothy clung to him and kept saying “daddy” and waving his hands. He gave him some chocolate and massaged his legs and hands, which were blue with cold. Other searchers arrived and carried the boy up out of the gorge.
Timothy’s mother ran for 300 yards to meet the party returning with him. Timothy, was examined by a Springwood doctor who later reported that he had suffered slightly from his ordeal but that he expected the boy to be all right after a good rest. Mrs. Farmer later collapsed and could not be interviewed. Mr. Farmer told reporters: “It is hard to find appropriate words to express my appreciation and gratitude to the police and volunteers. I particularly would like to thank the chap with the dog. “I intend to reward the dog with a large, juicy bone.”
RUGGED COUNTRY
When Mr. Farmer saw the country into which his son had wandered, he said: “He must be a tough kid. I think we will now call him ‘Butch.’ ” Police and searchers were amazed that Timothy had made the rugged journey without serious injury. Police and bushmen, as well as the dog Dell had to receive assistance to climb down to the bottom of the gorge. They said that only for the dog they may never have found the boy alive. Inspector N. J. Schultz, who was in charge of the search, thanked the volunteers for the part they had played.