Bushman hailed a hero as William Callaghan found on Mt Disappointment
Volunteer Ben Gibbs travelled 60km from home to join the rescue effort for William Callaghan at Mt Disappointment. He reveals how his “gut feeling” led to him finding the autistic boy after a desperate 46-hour search involving hundreds of people.
VIC News
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Cheers echoed around Mt Disappointment on Wednesday as an autistic boy was reunited with his elated mum after he miraculously survived two freezing nights lost and alone in dense mountain bushland.
William Callaghan, 14, went missing on Monday afternoon, prompting a huge search across the summit of Mt Disappointment, 60km north of Melbourne.
Anguish turned to joy yesterday when he was found standing in thick undergrowth just 300m from where he was last seen.
Volunteer Ben Gibbs, who “stumbled across” the boy, said it was an “angelic” moment.
William’s mother, Penny Callaghan, said she was “overwhelmed” when police told her he had been found alive after spending 46 hours alone.
“I’m immensely relieved, I can’t imagine what he has been feeling,” she said.
“He is as well as can be expected under the circumstances. He’s just so special.”
Outside Royal Children’s Hospital this morning, Ms Callaghan said William may have suffered a broken foot and that he could remain in hospital for a little while as doctors think he has an insect stuck in his ear.
“There are difficulties with that, he is not going to be compliant,” she said.
“He doesn’t understand what is going on, why people are trying to touch him.
“These are just some of the issues with kids on the spectrum, any little medical procedure is a big event.”
She said one of the difficulties of William’s autism was that he couldn’t tell his parents what had happened.
“This was a massive ordeal for him,” she said.
“He slept pretty well last night, a lot better than I did.
“What do I do now, tether him to me so this doesn’t happen again?”
She said the broken foot could potentially will mean he will require a cast.
“I don’t know how he will cope with that,” she said.
Ms Callaghan said her son “didn’t go too far” from where he was found.
“He was clearly waiting to be rescued,” she said.
“Luckily, he just got through it.”
“I want to give him a million hugs, but he won’t like that.
“He was very aware of all the people around him, I was aware of that too.”
Ms Callaghan said she was “incredibly thankful” to hero Ben Gibbs who found William and looks forward to meeting him one day.
“I am looking forward to that moment, I would love to give him a hug,” she said.
“I am incredibly thankful. It was great to hear his family connection to the mountain.”
She revealed her son had four large chips and some nuggets from McDonald’s last night.
Yesterday, Ms Callaghan thanked the search party of 450 — made up of both professionals and volunteers — for their dedicated efforts.
“I’m so grateful. What an amazing community,” she said.
Hours earlier, she had made a desperate plea for the safe return of her “beautiful” boy.
“Will is loved by everyone who comes across him,” she said.
“I’m not really the praying type but I’m praying because I want him home.
“Sometimes being the mum of an autistic child is really tough.
“What’s going through my mind, all sorts of things, any parent I’m sure would be thinking the worst-case scenario.
“He’s never spent a night outside by himself, he’s never been camping. He’s going to be hungry and scared.”
Mr Gibbs was hailed a hero for finding William.
“The reunion with the family was so happy,” the humble father said.
“It was really angelic, (him) just standing there.”
Mr Gibbs fed the boy chocolate and gave him a jacket and socks while search and rescue crews made their way to the scene.
When William was reunited with his mum and her partner Nathan Ezard, he used a communication board to say he was hungry and in urgent need of McDonald’s.
When the happy news filtered through to family and friends at the staging area, many hugged while others wiped away tears.
Cheers echoed throughout the staging area once it was confirmed William was healthy and uninjured.
Inspector Christine Lalor, who managed the search operation, said it was an “amazing result”. On Tuesday he said the harsh terrain combined with the weather made it a challenging search.
“When we have someone lost in the bush, we are fighting against time,” Sen-Sgt Paul said.
“It can take a long time to find someone if they are lost in this terrain.”
Over the two nights William — dressed only in a hoodie and tracksuit pants — was in the bush, temperatures plummeted to below zero.
Due to his vulnerability as a non-verbal child with autism, search crews continued their meticulous work throughout both nights.
William was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital on Wednesday afternoon with doctors saying he was in “good spirits” in the emergency room.
They said he had done “remarkably well” to only have suffered a couple of superficial cuts to his feet.
“It is quite incredible to survive the elements in the cold,” emergency registrar Dani Bersin said. “Given his age, things could have been a lot worse.”
HERO BUSHMAN DELIVERS WILLIAM’S FAMILY A MIRACLE
Hero volunteer Ben Gibbs travelled 60km from his home in Melbourne’s northeastern suburbs to join the search for missing teenager William Callaghan because he had a “gut feeling” about the rescue mission.
Mr Gibbs, a father himself, arrived at the mountain alone, was on foot and didn’t register his details with the police.
But the experienced bushwalker had a feeling he would find William on Wednesday.
Noting the areas that had already been scoured by the official search crews, Mr Gibbs decided to push on deeper into the dense bush to try to find the 14-year-old.
“This is kind of my family mountain. I’ve been going here since I was a boy,” Mr Gibbs said.
“I saw where the (search and rescue) guys had tagged, where they searched previously and I went a bit deeper than that.
“I’m the one who stumbled across him but everybody found him.”
Mr Gibbs ploughed along a single track on Wednesday morning — not far from where William, who has autism, was last seen near the summit of Mount Disappointment.
The teen had been on a long-weekend camping trip with his dad, Phil, and younger brother Robin when he ran off about 2.20pm on Monday.
Mr Gibbs saw markers left by search and rescue teams and decided to walk beyond the tags, farther into the woods.
He found William barefoot and standing in the bush, with his hands over his ears trying to block out the noise of a helicopter’s rotor blades overhead.
“It wasn’t too far down (the summit), about 20 minutes from the main track,” Mr Gibbs said.
“I was just wandering through the bush, it was quite thick, just breaking my way through it; he was just another 15 metres just standing there. It was a surprise.
“Everyone combed the main line, I just went deeper.”
Mr Gibbs, who lives in Research, had read reports that William was an avid fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, so started talking about trains.
“He was singing about Diesel (a character in the show),” Mr Gibbs said.
“I was trying to relax him, I guess.
“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 didn’t seem bothered by me.”
Mr Gibbs said he eventually managed to get phone reception and called in the good news.
“I tried to make a call and eventually got a signal,” he said.
“He was just happy to get the chocolate.
“He just ate it. He wasn’t super expressive but he was very peaceful.
“After he ate half the chocolate bar, I carried him out.”
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