Toddler found wandering Greenbank Training Area rescued by good Samaritans

A toddler has been reunited with her mum after being found wandering through a military base by a member of the public, covered in bites.

A toddler found wandering Greenbank Military Range has been reunited with her mother after being rescued by people driving by.

A toddler has been reunited with her mum after being found wandering through a closed military base by a member of the public.

The three-year-old girl was spotted by a good Samaritan at around 8.40am, wandering along the fence line of the Greenbank Army Training Area on Springfield Greenbank Arterial Road — freezing, covered in mud and chewing on rocks.

Kylie Hey was driving to work from her home in the Spring Mountain Estate when she saw the girl and immediately knew something was wrong.

“I found her wandering inside the fence and I’ve driven past and I just looked and then I did a double take,” she said.

“She was just picking up rocks and putting them in her mouth. She was covered in mud and she had ants all over her.”

The toddler was seen wandering by herself on the inside of a closed military base.

Ms Hey was immediately concerned she wouldn’t be able to get behind the fence to catch the girl so wasted no time in reaching through to grab the girl’s hand.

“I didn’t give her a second chance, I just grabbed her hand and held her close to the fence, which made her get quite upset,” she said.

“I called the police and I couldn’t even hear what they were saying because she was screaming.”

Another local resident, Sarah Ransley was driving her children to school when she saw Ms Hey by the side of the road but initially brushed it off as someone letting their child go for a wee on the side of the road.

But her kids alerted her to the fact the child was behind the fence and she turned around to offer her assistance.

“I just held her hand and tried to keep her calm while Kylie spoke with police. Then more people stopped to help,” Ms Ransley said.

“Then there were a few other people who stopped with ladders and stuff like that.”

Police at the scene.

When she was rescued from behind the fence her soaked clothes were removed and she was covered in ant bites, so the residents wrapped her up in a towel and she was taken into Ms Ransley’s heated car.

“She sat in the car with me and my kids with the heater on and just snuggling up and she was eating my kids lunch boxes and stuff like that, just to warm her up and give her a good feed,” Ms Ransley said.

Ms Hey said the company responsible for security on the fence line believed she may have crawled in one of the wildlife holes in the fence and just wandered.

She also believed the girl must have walked quite a distance, as she believed the nearest homes were several kilometres away and across several creeks.

Emergency services arrived and the girl was cleared of any significant injuries and was eventually transported to Ipswich Hospital.

Police doorknocked throughout the area to attempt to find the parents of the girl without luck.

Social media was flooded with messages of support and pleas for help locating the parent, as residents attempted to assist the police in their search.

They then received a report from a mother who had slept in and woken up in the morning to find her toddler missing and she was eventually identified as the parent of the three-year-old.

The pair was reunited shortly after 1pm.

Police confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident and that the child had simply gone for “a big adventure”.

A spokesman for West Moreton Health declined to comment on the child’s condition.