Lasseter’s final chance to rediscover his El Dorado came in March 1930, when Australia was gripped by the Great Depression. He went to John Bailey, president of the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), and described how, 33 years earlier (1897 was again his favoured date) he had found an immense fortune in gold. The reef contained enough to make the AWU the richest union in the world, able to build cooperatives to employ its members and rescue them from poverty.
pinkney, john (2012-10-23). Australia's Strangest Mysteries #2 (Kindle Locations 1798-1802). . Kindle Edition.
Lasseter’s surviving writings and inventions demonstrate that he was a talented, insightful man whose interests extended far beyond prospecting for gold. He invented speed bumps—and designed Sydney’s first multi-storey carpark, at a time when A-model Fords had just begun to appear on the roads. He was the first Australian to propose and design an arched bridge over Sydney Harbour. He campaigned to have an industrial centre built at Welshpool on Victoria’s Gippsland coast. No-one was interested at the time, but BHP acted on the idea 50 years later.
pinkney, john (2012-10-23). Australia's Strangest Mysteries #2 (Kindle Locations 1778-1783). . Kindle Edition.
