No. The William found alive in Australian bushland this week is a 17-year-old from Victoria who went missing on a camping trip on 6 November 2026. He is not William Tyrrell (often searched as William Tyrell), the three-year-old who vanished from Kendall, New South Wales, in September 2014 and has never been found.
The two cases share a first name and a country, and that is all. Here is what we know about each.
Who is the William found in the bush?
Police have identified him only as William, aged 17. His surname has not been released. According to ABC News, he was on his first independent camping trip with a friend at Walhalla East, about 180km east of Melbourne in Victoria’s Gippsland region, when he disappeared.
He was last seen at about 4pm on Friday 6 November near Stoney Creek Road, between Cowwarr and Walhalla. AAP reports that his mother had dropped him off for the weekend and he is believed to have walked back towards the drop-off point to collect more gear. He left his phone, food and water behind and was wearing only shorts and work boots.
Where and how was he found?
On Thursday 12 November (Australian time), six days after he went missing, a Victoria Police Air Wing helicopter crew spotted his fishing tackle box about 2km from where he was last seen. They then found him asleep on a rock in a dry creek bed and winched him to safety.
Police said he had walked through extremely rugged terrain before falling down a steep embankment two days earlier, after which he stayed put and waited. Acting Inspector Jason Benbow said the area “was something we couldn’t do on foot”, and that William “had no idea police were even looking for him”.
He survived cold nights using two towels as blankets, drank creek water and rationed a family-sized bag of chicken crisps, Nine News reports.
What condition is he in?
Police said he was exhausted, unable to walk and had cuts to his legs and severe sunburn, but was talking, smiling and hugging his mother. He was taken to Latrobe Regional Hospital for monitoring, and the hospital said he could be discharged as early as the following day. His mother told reporters: “He’s never leaving the house again. He’s grounded for life,” the BBC reports.
The search involved hundreds of people over six days, including police divers, the dog squad, helicopters and more than 80 volunteers a day.
Is he related to the William Tyrrell case?
No. Nothing in any police statement or news report links the two. The teenager went missing in Victoria last week. William Tyrrell disappeared 12 years ago, hundreds of kilometres away in New South Wales. William Tyrrell would be 15 now, so he could not be the 17-year-old found this week.
What happened to William Tyrrell?
William Tyrrell was three when he vanished from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast, on 12 September 2014. The last known photograph shows him playing on the deck in a Spider-Man suit. Despite one of Australia’s largest ever missing-person investigations, no trace of him has ever been found.
No one has ever been charged over his disappearance. At the coronial inquest, NSW Police put forward a theory involving his foster mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She has consistently denied any involvement, has never been charged, and counsel assisting the coroner told the court a police officer’s belief is not evidence the coroner can act on. Former lead detective Gary Jubelin has said publicly that he does not believe she was involved.
What is the latest on the William Tyrrell case?
The case is still open. The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame began in March 2019. She closed the evidence in December 2024 and asked for written submissions. As of the latest reports, no date has been set for her findings.
In October 2025, a Spider-Man suit found at a property in nearby Dunbogan was examined by homicide detectives and ruled out as having any link to William. A $1 million reward for information that solves the case still stands. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Why are people confusing the two?
Mostly because of the headlines. “Missing William found alive in Australian bush” reads very much like the news people have waited 12 years to hear about William Tyrrell, Australia’s best-known missing child case. With the teenager’s surname withheld, many people who saw only the first name assumed it was the news so many Australians have hoped for.
It hasn’t. The Victorian teenager’s story has a happy ending. William Tyrrell’s is still unresolved.
Quick answers
- Was William Tyrell found? No. William Tyrrell, missing since 2014, has not been found.
- Who was found? A 17-year-old named William, surname withheld, found alive near Walhalla, Victoria, on 12 November 2026.
- How long was he missing? Six days, from 6 to 12 November.
- Are the cases linked? No.