'This is our family mountain': How one bushman found Will Callaghan - The Age

He was making his way along a single track about lunchtime on Wednesday – not far from where Will went missing while hiking with his father two days earlier – when he spotted tags left by other searchers who had covered the area before him.

Thankfully, he decided to walk further, beyond the tags and off the track.

And there he found Will, standing in the thick undergrowth, barefoot, with his hands over his ears to block the noise of a helicopter searching above.

"He was really angelic, just standing there," Mr Gibbs said.

William Callaghan after he was reunited with his mother and stepfather.Credit:Justin McManus

"I came up from the bottom of the mountain. There is a single track there I know quite well. I just followed that up and went off [the] track once I got near the top, and saw where the guys had tagged where they searched previously, and I went a bit deeper than that."

Mr Gibbs said Will was about 20 minutes from the track, relatively near the summit.

SES volunteers searching thick bushland for William Callaghan on Tuesday.Credit:Chris Hopkins

"I was just wandering through the bush; it was quite thick, just breaking my way through it. He was just 15 metres from me, just standing there."

Mr Gibbs said he tried to relax Will and speak to him calmly, and gave him chocolate and socks.

"I heard he liked Thomas the Tank Engine so I talked to him about [the character] Diesel.

"He looked in reasonable health; he wasn’t shivering too bad.

"He didn’t have socks on so I put some socks on him and a jacket and gave him some chocolate. He was just happy to get the chocolate. He just ate it. He’s not super-expressive, but he is very peaceful."

Mr Gibbs phoned searchers at the camp set up by police at the base of the mountain to call off the helicopter.

Rescuer Ben Gibbs.Credit:Justin McManus

"After he ate half the chocolate bar, I carried him out," he said.

"He walked as well. I put shoes on him. He was more comfortable walking."

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It is a lost child who inspires some of the greatest search and rescue efforts. The reunion with their parents is even more emotive.

"I am really overwhelmed here. He is as well as could be under the circumstances, he is quite calm considering," Will's mother, Penny Callaghan, said.

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihAFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3RoaXMtaXMtb3VyLWZhbWlseS1tb3VudGFpbi1ob3ctb25lLWJ1c2htYW4tZm91bmQtd2lsbGlhbS1jYWxsYWdoYW4tMjAyMDA2MTAtcDU1MWJ2Lmh0bWzSAYQBaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAudGhlYWdlLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC92aWN0b3JpYS90aGlzLWlzLW91ci1mYW1pbHktbW91bnRhaW4taG93LW9uZS1idXNobWFuLWZvdW5kLXdpbGxpYW0tY2FsbGFnaGFuLTIwMjAwNjEwLXA1NTFidi5odG1s?oc=5

2020-06-10 06:19:35Z
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