We love the beauty and history of the Tasmanian high country. Why else would we brave steep mountains and valleys, difficult scrub and bad weather? We know that every time that we go into the wilderness we risk tragedy. Sudden bad weather, a slip or fall, poor preparation or sheer bad luck could ruin our adventure. This may be why we have often written about people lost in the wilderness, you can access those blogs by clicking on the little number 1.1
In this blog, we explore another incident. Our investigation started late in 2022 when Ian overheard someone talking about a grave on Mount Arrowsmith.
Ian did some research and he found that a young man had died in snow on the Linda Track in 1900. He was buried 0n Mount Arrowsmith. At that time, the track was the only direct overland route between Queenstown and the south of the state.2 It was largely abandoned once the Lyell Highway opened in the 1930s.
Nic provided additional information from his extensive records. Particularly useful were the diaries of the renowned bushwalker Jack Thwaites. He had seen and photographed the grave in 1928.3 This was enough for Ian. He wanted to find the physical reminder of the tragedy and the human story behind it.
Where was the grave?
The general location was straight forward. Jack Thwaites had found the grave ‘up on the hillside just alongside the track, on the top of Arrowsmith.’ It was near some large quartz boulders and had been marked by rocks and a cross.4
Eye witnesses to the incident gave more detail. One, a walking companion of the victim, said that they had become exhausted by walking though deep snow drifts. They sheltered for the night amongst rocks near the top of Mount Arrowsmith. The next morning, he and a second travelling companion left the young man for dead as they attempted to reach the safety of a nearby hut, known as the Iron Store.5
A newspaper writer from Queenstown accompanied police to find the young man’s body. He reported his burial near where he had been found.6
The newspapers of the day painted a vivid picture of the struggles of the travellers, the police, telegraph linesmen and rescuers. Despite the detail, questions remained. Was the grave still there and who was the unfortunate man?
Gone?
The grave had not been mentioned in decades. More concerning was that Jack Thwaites could not find it on a later trip.7 Could the body have been was taken to join his family’s graves at Cornelian Bay Cemetery in Hobart?8 Tim Jeston was co-opted for that part of the investigation. There was no sign or record of victim there. He was probably still on Mount Arrowsmith.
Who?
The young man’s story was sketchy. His companions had only known him for a few days. They called him John Larkin. So that is what the newspapers named him.9 However, a few days later, the Hobart Mercury reported that the man was John Largan and that he had family in Richmond.10 That should have ended the confusion but, to this day, the name Larkin is sometimes used.
Finding the grave
Trip 1 – October 2022 – In Jack’s footsteps
The plan was simple enough, do what Jack Thwaites had done. We would walk to Mount Arrowsmith from the east along the Linda Track. Near its top we should find the rocks that had sheltered Largan. According to Thwaites the grave would be just beside the track. It and the surroundings would match his photos.
So we did. It was a very long day. Ian reported a ‘wet and tiring expedition. We chose to go west until we crossed the highest section of the track and just beyond. Around this time and position, I was anticipating joining Largan as an easier option. Anyways obviously I found some extra energy and we continued by retracing our steps, stopping at a lone telegraph pole’.
Ian concluded; ‘The large quartzite outcrop near the pole is the general area that John Largan perished, his resting place eluded us on this trip, the vegetation growth is nasty and visibility very limited. The search zone is now between the telegraph pole and below the big quartzite rock which was the campsite for the walkers in 1900.’
After the trip, we reread the reports from the police group that had buried John Largan. They had tethered their horses in a belt of saplings, about 200 metres from Largan’s campsite beside the large rock. We called this large landmark ‘Largans’ Rock’. We believed that the grave lay just below the track somewhere between area of the rock and the one remaining telegraph pole. ‘I think we are homing in’. We planned a second trip.
Trip 2 – December 2022 – A more thorough search
Ian convinced three others, Eddie, Nic and Tom, to go for a look.
‘We had our lunch high up in the rocks presumably near to where Largan and his companions made their camp. Scouted about the thick vegetation but no obvious reminders of the camp.’
The group found an arrangement of rocks in the right area. It seemed to match Jack Thwaites’ photos. ‘Those present seem to agree with one another that it is of high probability’, but Ian wasn’t convinced. So, he planned to ‘return some day to thrash around some more’.
We studied Jack Thwaite’s photos of the grave more closely. The ridge in the background held the key. We stitched three of Thwaites’ photos together. They were taken from slightly different angles but the image seemed to make sense. It was a view looking west. If we could match it to a view in the field then we had to be near Largan’s grave.
Trip 3 –January 2023 – Jack’s photos some more
We went back. We looked at the ‘grave’ found on the previous trip. We ruled it out. We walked up and down the track with the Thwaites’ photos in hand. Ian summed the day up; ‘nothing new, nothing different was found’.
Ian concluded ‘nothing could be identified as suggesting a grave exists amongst the rocks there. Oh well that makes the tally at 3 trips, I am prepared to keep counting for a while.’
We sulked for a while and got on with other things. There wouldn’t be another trip until we had solid information that made it worthwhile.
Ian returned to the subject time and time again. Maybe the distances stated were inaccurate. ‘I am starting to sense that this location maybe a little further than a few yards off the track.’
Trip 4 – November 2023 – Grid search
We were back again. We didn’t have new information. We just went out of frustration. We would do a simple but time-consuming grid search. Largan’s grave had to be below the track and near the big rock. We must have missed it. This time we wouldn’t.
We searched for at least 50 metres downhill below the track. It was a thorough search, up and down the hill, looking under every bush and clump of scrub.
At the end of the trip Ian’s calm advice was ‘relax we have only done 4 trips thus far, in rain and drought so no surprises.’
What’s next
Ian never gives up. But we agreed that it would be pointless to return without some compelling new evidence. Whatever that might be.
In the meantime, we talk about this search regularly. We reread the accounts of the time in greater detail. We debate the meanings of single words. Perhaps we are creeping to a better understanding of where the grave may be. John Largan’s grave is still to be found and his story yet to be told.
Copyright Peter Brown 2026
1 The earlier blogs are; They will always try to find you – part 1, part 2. The missing publican – TJ Connolly part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
2 The track was known by a variety of names. Linda was a town near Queenstown at its western end. It was also called the overland track, a common name around Australia, before the track from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair existed. Refer to Nic’s blog at [https://nichaygarth.com/index.php/2026/01/18/the-other-overland-track-the-linda-track-to-tasmanias-west-coast/]
3 Jack Thwaites, Linda Track 1928 (Interview transcript) – website [http://www.jackthwaitesbushdiaries.com] – no longer active, 1928, Copyright 2008 Simon Kleinig.
4 Thwaites – Jackthwaitesbushdiaries.com
5 Mount Lyell Standard and Strahan Gazette, 27 August 1900.
6 Mount Lyell Standard and Strahan Gazette, 3 September 1900.
7 Jack Thwaites – Jackthwaitesbushdiaries.com – ‘ In about 1973, for old time’s sake, I went up on to the top of Arrowsmith and one or two of the telegraph poles had fallen down and the insulators were still on them, but I couldn’t find Largan’s grave again’.
8 Burial records
9 Tasmanian News, 27 August 1900.
10 Mercury, 29 August 1900.