Carolina Wilga rescue turns spotlight on search for missing prospector Barry Podmore

Australia Broadcast Center

17-07-2025

As Western Australia's north-eastern Wheatbelt returns to its usual calm after the miracle survival of backpacker Caroline Wilga, a lone tracker continues his months-long search in the same area for a missing prospector.
Barry Podmore, 73, was last seen in December, believed to have gone gold prospecting in the Karroun Hill area, 310km north-east of Perth.
His car was found seven months later, locked and abandoned, by independent missing persons tracker Rick Heaton.
The tracker and wilderness expert was engaged by the Podmore family, frustrated by the lack of progress in the ongoing search effort.
Barry Podmore's daughter, Lauren, has described that find as "an absolute godsend", helping to narrow the search area and bringing the family one step closer to finding her father.
"It's a constant grief and struggle that is hard to describe as, without finding him, there isn't that closure," Ms Podmore said.
Prior to his disappearance, Ms Podmore said she and her father spoke twice a week.
Her last contact was on December 5, the day before he left.
His last message to her read: "Lauren dear Gal, I'm going out for the day tomorrow. So if you want, you can call me on your way home today."
"It ended with a beer cheers emoji, a peace sign, and a laughing face," Ms Podmore said.
Mr Heaton has spent months scouring the reserve for any signs of the missing prospector, focusing on an area about 70 kilometres east of where Ms Wilga was found last week.
He said the bush around Karroun Hill holds unique elements to be wary of, including venomous snakes, boiling hot days in summer, and nights below freezing in winter.
He said fallen woody vegetation in the area became sun hardened "like it's been in a kiln", and a fall or wrong step could cause injury.
In the past week, one of Mr Heaton's vehicle tyres was spiked by a branch, and he has had many near-misses to his eyes.
"You could end up on a mulga stick impaling yourself, you could get flicked in the eye by some of the timbers," he said.
"The terrain in some areas is very thick, very slow going, very painful, it's very condensed desert oak."
Mr Heaton believed the most likely explanation for Mr Podmore's disappearance was that the prospector made a simple mistake.
"Generally, I think he's just walked away from his vehicle to do some prospecting, maybe collecting rocks, whatever his activity was," he said.
"Then he may have gotten disoriented coming back."
He said becoming disoriented and losing your car or campsite was easily done.
"If you walk in the bush maybe 20 or 30 metres, you turn around once or twice and there's a bit of slope involved, you could be lost straight away," he said.
"The further you walk, the further you're getting away from your vehicle."
It is a warning echoed by Wheatbelt Police, who were in the area to search for Mr Podmore last week.
Acting Inspector Martin Glynn described the terrain as "hostile", where the vegetation could reach 1.5 metres high, restricting visibility to only a few metres and making getting lost "easy".
"Everything sort of looks the same but different, everywhere," he said.
"You can try to navigate by the sun, but it's a very skilled and learned experience that most of us don't have."
Mr Heaton said Mr Podmore's disappearance and Ms Wilga's ordeal should not discourage travel in isolated areas.
But he said preparation and taking precautions were critical.
The tracker highlighted basics such as up-to-date first aid, protective clothing, including safety glasses, as well as the right technology.
"Do you have a personal locating beacon (PLB)? Satellite phones are great, however, they don't tell you where you are if you're lost," he said.
"A PLB is a cheap device to save your life. Just activate it, sit in the open, and then the helicopter will come and get you."