How a classic song and a packet of chips helped Will survive six nights in the bush

Sunburnt, shirtless, and curled up on a rock beside a creek, 17-year-old William was using two towels as makeshift blankets, and had no idea when – or if – help would arrive.

Then he heard the helicopter.

In extraordinary footage captured by the Victoria Police air wing, William, also known as Will, looks up as the helicopter hovers overhead.

As he realises rescuers have spotted him, relief washes over his face. He pumps his fist in celebration and then brings his hand to his chest as he realises his six-day ordeal in the bush is finally over.

The Morwell teenager survived six days alone in remote bushland in Victoria’s Gippsland region after falling down a cliff and becoming lost while camping with a friend.

He suffered a small tear in his windpipe, and was being treated for air trapped around his lungs and neck. He also sustained significant scratches to his back after falling roughly two storeys down a cliff.

Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise from his hospital bed on Friday morning, Will described the moment he realised he had been found, followed by the long-awaited reunion with his mum.

“Just pure euphoria – happiness, gratefulness, that the moment that, I thought, might never happen has happened, and I’m finally going to see everyone again,” he said.

“[It was the] best moment of my life. Mum was super emotional, I was super emotional … it was a very strong bonding moment and I got to see that she’s happy again.”

Will admitted the cold nights were scary at times, but singing John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads brought him comfort in the dark.

With just a packet of chips and water from a nearby creek to sustain him, Will endured freezing nights, using two towels he had with him to keep warm as he waited to be found.

His remarkable survival came after a massive search operation involving more than 100 emergency services personnel, including police, the dog squad, water police, the SES and bush search and rescue volunteers.

Speaking from the police air wing hangar on Friday, tactical flight officer Emma Quick, part of the team that rescued Will, said the moment they realised he was alive would stay with her forever.

“I don’t think any of us in the aircraft could actually believe that it was him. And then he seems to put his head up and that was another moment where we were just like, ‘oh my gosh, he’s alive, we got him’,” she said.

“We were hopeful that we would find him, and we’d find him alive. There was no reason why we wouldn’t, we just had to look in the right spot, and yesterday we did.”

Quick said seeing Will reunited with his emotional mother was another moment that brought home the significance of the rescue.

“It’s a cliché, but we’re still people underneath the uniform, and when you see something like that, I think anybody would find it hard not to feel emotional,” she said.

Will had last been seen about 4pm on November 6, near Stoney Creek Road, close to the T2 Track, in the Walhalla East area, north of Traralgon.

He had been camping with another teenager for the weekend when he walked a short distance to another part of the campsite and failed to return.

His friend searched the surrounding area but was unable to find him, sparking a six-day search of the rugged bushland.

Will’s mother, Elizabeth Barkley, said her son became frightened on the first night after getting lost, before eventually lying down to sleep and setting off on foot the following day.

The breakthrough came on Thursday when the police air wing began searching the Cowwarr area, a section of steep terrain that had not yet been thoroughly scoured.

While flying over bushland about two kilometres east of Stoney Creek, officers spotted a tackle box. After zooming in on the area, they spotted Will lying on rocks beside a creek.

For Barkley, who had spent days holding out hope for her son, the moment she learned her son was alive was nothing short of a miracle.

She was at the search operation’s command post in Cowwarr, where police and search-and-rescue personnel were briefing her on the areas already covered and the remaining sections they wanted to check.

Barkley said the SES had worked tirelessly for days, with volunteers becoming exhausted and increasingly difficult to find, but police assured her the search would continue.

“They said: ‘Our job, we get paid to do this, so we will still stay up here’,” she said.

Rescuers were showing her the remaining areas they wanted to tick off when the first of those searches led them to her son.

Barkley was then given the news she had been desperately hoping to hear. William had been found safe, was already in the helicopter and would be with her in five minutes.

“It was fantastic. I was over the moon,” she said.

“My phone was just blowing up. A lot of my friends were just as upset as me. They couldn’t sleep, crying and upset. You’d think it was their son who had gone missing.”

During his ordeal, Will managed to make a family packet of chicken-flavoured Smith’s chips last two days.

Despite having gone almost six days with barely anything to eat, Will was told he could not eat or drink while doctors monitored the tear – a decision the hungry teenager was less than impressed with, Barkley told radio station 3AW on Friday morning.

Barkley had even made a special McDonald’s run for her son the night before, only for his recovery plan to put those plans on hold.

“He’s doing fine. He’s talkative and bright, [but] a bit grumpy … they [doctors] just want to be cautious, so they said he can’t eat or drink anything, and he was not happy,” she said.

Barkley also praised the Morwell Football Club, particularly Will’s under-18s coach, who was overcome with emotion when he heard the teenager had been found.

“I’ve never seen a coach cry so much. When I rang up and told him he’d been found, he was just bawling his eyes out,” Barkley said.

Barkley says her son is keen to return to football training when he is well enough, although it could be a few weeks before he is back on the field.

As for another camping trip, that is firmly off the cards.

“He doesn’t want to go camping. He never wants to see the bush again,” Barkley said.

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