{"id":292804,"date":"2021-01-25T13:16:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T03:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=292804"},"modified":"2021-01-25T16:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T06:37:54","slug":"gympie-mp-finds-missing-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/01\/25\/gympie-mp-finds-missing-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Gympie MP Finds Missing Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Member for Gympie Tony Perrett and Robert Weber on Sunday morning (Photo: Michele Perrett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mr Perrett, right, and QAS paramedics attend to Mr Weber on Sunday morning (Photo: QPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 25, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gympie MP Tony Perrett and his wife Michele have been revealed as the property owners who located a 58-year-old man who had been missing in the Tansey area since January 6.<\/p>\n

Robert Weber, from Narangba, was found barefoot and dishevelled, sitting near a dam on Mr Perrett’s property, ‘Tye’, on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

He was last seen leaving the Kilkivan Hotel on January 6 in a white Ford Falcon sedan with his dog, “Sid”.\u00a0\u00a0He was expected to arrive at Dululu the following day.<\/p>\n

Mr Perrett told ABC-TV on Monday that workmen out mustering found Mr Weber’s abandoned car wedged on rocks on his property on January 17.<\/p>\n

“It was quite extraordinary that we found the vehicle in such a remote location,” Mr Perrett said.<\/p>\n

He believed the car had been on the property for at least a week, or maybe longer, before it was located.<\/p>\n

Police were alerted and a large search of the area began involving SES volunteers, a\u00a0rescue helicopter, the Stock Squad and other police.<\/p>\n

The search was officially suspended on Friday after no sign of Mr Weber was found,\u00a0however the Perrett family continued searching the 15,000 acre property, checking and rechecking dams and watercourses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We set out (again) early yesterday morning just hoping that we could find him,” Mr Perrett told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“We were searching every possible water point thinking that the only chance he would have of survival in this country was that if he got himself next to a dam or water point somewhere.”<\/p>\n

After about two hours, the Perretts spotted Mr Weber near a stock watering dam.<\/p>\n

“We’d actually searched this dam previously,” Mr Perrett said.<\/p>\n

“We’d been there nearly every day prior but we were determined to go back out and check all these water points again just in the hope of finding him.<\/p>\n

“We just couldn’t believe it when we went through this small set of stockyards, crested this hill and went down towards this dam and there he was, frantically waving at us.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs Perrett told southburnett.com.au<\/strong>\u00a0it was an incredible feeling when they found him, especially as they had checked this dam previously.<\/p>\n

“He was very pleased to see us!” she said.<\/p>\n

She said the dam was about three kilometres from where the Falcon had been found abandoned.<\/p>\n

Mr Perrett said Mr Weber was in “surprisingly good” condition for the amount of time he had been in the bush and his underlying medical conditions. He had also endured a storm while lost which dumped 36mm of rain on the property.<\/p>\n

The Perretts believe Mr Weber stayed with his car for the first three days before leaving his dog behind and walking off to get help.<\/p>\n

“I suspect he has been wandering around this country, obviously in a disorientated state, for some time,” Mr Perrett said.<\/p>\n

“He then just made the decision to sit beside this dam until help came … it’s quite a tale of survival.”<\/p>\n

The dog still has not been found.<\/p>\n

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