Teenager survives six nights in Australian bush with chips, creek water and a familiar song

A 17-year-old boy rescued after six nights in dense bushland in eastern Victoria survived by rationing chicken-flavoured chips and drinking creek water, while singing a favourite childhood song helped him cope with the isolation. William, whose surname has been withheld, was found by a police helicopter crew on Thursday morning near Walhalla, 130km east of Melbourne.

His mother had dropped him off the previous Friday for a weekend camping trip with a friend. He was reported missing at about 4pm after failing to return from collecting additional camping equipment. Wearing shorts and work boots, he had left behind his phone, food supplies and water. He became lost after taking a wrong turn on a track and later slipped down a cliff.

More than 100 people took part in the search, including police dog and rescue squads. William endured cold nights, some rain and hot days that left him badly sunburnt. A packet of chips provided food that he stretched over several days, and he drank from the creek beside his shelter.

Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise from his hospital bed in Traralgon on Friday morning, William said singing John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads had brought reassurance during the nights. The song was a childhood favourite, and after finding that it helped him feel better one evening, he continued singing it. He said he had doubted whether he could survive six days.

The police air wing found William lying in a creek. Sheltering on a rock beneath towels, he waved and made a fist-bump gesture after spotting the helicopter overhead, before being airlifted to safety. He described his feelings as “pure euphoria”, saying he was grateful that a rescue he had feared might never come meant he would see his mother again.

Pilot Dave Wylie said thick vegetation had made the search particularly difficult because crews could not see the forest floor in many places. William’s position in an open area was crucial to spotting him. Wylie said the helicopter could otherwise have passed without the crew seeing the teenager.

William was reunited with his mother, Elizabeth Barkley, shortly after his rescue, describing their embrace as the best moment of his life. Barkley tearfully told reporters on Thursday that he would never leave the house again. On Friday, William joked that her firm expression from across the hospital room suggested she intended to keep that promise.

After a comfortable night’s sleep and meals that included McDonald’s, William thanked the paramedics, nurses and search teams. He had suffered dehydration and was being transferred to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital for specialist observation and testing. His condition was stable on Friday afternoon.

Barkley told Nine’s A Current Affair she was amazed by her son’s endurance, describing him as a tough, very fit footballer with considerable agility. She said he had sheltered beneath bushes when darkness fell on the first night, and that throughout his disappearance she had believed he was still alive.