{"id":75442,"date":"2026-08-19T06:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T06:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/75442\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T06:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T06:24:08","slug":"adf-joins-nattai-national-park-search-for-missing-bushwalker-lily-hooper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/75442\/","title":{"rendered":"ADF joins Nattai National Park search for missing bushwalker Lily Hooper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 100 members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) are helping to search for a bushwalker who has been missing for a week in a national park south-west of Sydney.<\/p>\n

The multi-agency search effort for Lily Hooper, 18, started in Nattai National Park on August 12.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Lilly Hooper, 18, has been missing for a week after failing to return from a hike in Nattai National Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n

Reservists from 5th Brigade stationed at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney joined the effort today.<\/p>\n

Army survival instructor Gordon Dedman said many soldiers from the base would be familiar with the difficult terrain.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got personnel, depending on what units are used, familiar with that area south of Holsworthy,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s very steep ravines, thick bush, and it can get really cold in winter.<\/p>\n

“Even just basic soldiers will have the ability to know that terrain, going through on foot and doing extensive line searches.”<\/p>\n

Search reaches seven days<\/p>\n

Police discovered Ms Hooper’s car at the Bonnum Pic Walking Trail on the evening she went missing, but have found no trace of her in the area since.<\/p>\n

Mr Dedman said the ready availability of water in the national park worked in the experienced bushwalker’s favour.<\/p>\n

“It’s still early days,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There is water in the creeks there.<\/p>\n

“First-aid issues and clothing are the two big things, because with the proper clothing you can even hug against a tree [to stay warm].”<\/p>\n

\"Gordan<\/p>\n

Survival expert Gordan Dedman said the survival training given to the ADF would help teams navigate the terrain today.\u00a0 (Supplied.)<\/p>\n

Police estimate approximately 200 people from the State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue NSW, VRA Rescue are part of the search effort.<\/p>\n

Police have deployed resources including trail bikes, horses, dogs and helicopters.<\/p>\n

VRA Rescue NSW Deputy Commissioner Alix Thom said eight volunteers had been sent to camp in the area.<\/p>\n

\"mittagong<\/p>\n

The Nattai National park has dense bushland, deep ravines and high cliffs.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

“They have a lot of navigation skills, rugged terrain experience, and they’re very skilled individuals that we’ve deployed to that area to assist,” she said.<\/p>\n

“No matter what the weather is, they won’t come back in for the night. They stay out there.”<\/p>\n

The search continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 100 members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) are helping to search for a bushwalker who has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31771,22,13485,21,32733,76632,99945,1513,10566,110857,1057,2036],"class_list":["post-75442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-31771","tag-au","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-austrlia","tag-bushwalker","tag-hiker","tag-lily-hooper","tag-missing","tag-national-park","tag-nattai","tag-search","tag-teenager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}