{"id":873280,"date":"2026-08-30T01:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873280\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T01:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:26:10","slug":"new-details-on-lily-hoopers-death-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873280\/","title":{"rendered":"New details on Lily Hooper\u2019s death emerge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of Lily Hooper have revealed new details about how she died during a solo bushwalk last week.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old from Oakdale, NSW, was found dead in an isolated part of Nattai National Park, more than a week after she failed to return home from the hike.<\/p>\n

Her mother, Kirrily Hooper, told The Daily Telegraph<\/a> an SES volunteer found her laying \u201cpeacefully\u201d on August 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary reports have said Lily had a fall, she had an accident that first afternoon, she died the day she went missing and was found lying peacefully in dense bushland,\u201d Mrs Hooper said.<\/p>\n

\"Community<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a surreal time for us as a family, the waiting and not knowing, hoping each day would be the day she came out \u2026 then getting really upset every afternoon, getting close to dark, knowing it was going to be another night with her out there in the elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn hindsight we now know she passed quickly and she didn\u2019t suffer in the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the hardest part was not knowing if her daughter was out there scared.<\/p>\n

Communication mix-up<\/p>\n

Last week it was revealed that an internal investigation<\/a> will be launched into a miscommunication that led Premier Chris Minns and senior authorities to declare Lily Hooper alive.<\/p>\n

NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Joseph Cassar confirmed there was an \u201ceight to ten minute\u201d period where Lily\u2019s parents believed their girl was alive after receiving incorrect information.<\/p>\n

The focus of the investigation is the breakdown in communications between agencies working in the field. An SES code word \u2013 \u201chalf a bottle of water\u201d \u2013 was misunderstood and then broadcast to the nation by Premier Minns.<\/p>\n

SES sources told news.com.au references to water bottles are used as a code to shield anxious family members waiting at search sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt tends to be agreed at a search between cops, who are the lead, and the searches, that terminology is used so as not to distress anyone who might be in ear shot,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a full bottle, meaning someone is alive, or a bottle found in tact, or a half full bottle or an empty bottle meaning someone is deceased.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t want to be saying things like \u2018someone is found deceased\u2019 over the airwaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cprofoundly sorry\u201d Mr Minns said he would personally apologise to her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely devastated and profoundly sorry that anything I said may have added to the grief that family has gone through,\u201d Mr Minns had said.<\/p>\n

However, Lily\u2019s father Jim Hooper said the family is not angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not cross, the police threw the kitchen sink at finding Lily,\u201d Mr Hooper told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n

Lily\u2019s cause of death is yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

The teenager\u2019s parents want her death to leave a meaningful legacy, and are urging better education around bush safety<\/a> and wider use of personal locator and tracking devices for young hikers. <\/p>\n

They hope \u201cLily\u2019s Law\u201d can become a lasting campaign centred on helping others better prepare before going into the bush.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of Lily Hooper have revealed new details about how she died during a solo bushwalk last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[393841,379323,441862,441871,425202,441869,383277,380390,403118,384688,441846,441829,441825,441819,441834,441839,441843,377249,441840,428791,20378,441826,393892,441827,436172,441856,441836,441849,441860,441850,64,418263,63,441844,441867,10829,389522,24713,1545,1300,428771,3314,390524,441822,441870,441861,2582,441866,441859,379006,378844,377290,125786,388332,191,441868,441838,13307,173768,431565,441832,441830,441842,441824,441855,46358,428824,378837,44,441823,2733,150512,441833,441863,441865,165517,441820,441848,441831,441853,12628,393860,378983,426240,403012,441864,281646,441847,379738,441854,184867,377453,441841,441852,441821,441851,5884,441835,377191,188490,47666,441858,384947,441857,441845,39,11814,205101,14850,441828,441837],"class_list":["post-873280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-cause","tag-s-death","tag-s-father-jim-hooper","tag-s-law","tag-s-parents","tag-a-profoundly-sorry-mr-minns","tag-a-bottle","tag-a-code","tag-a-fall","tag-a-family","tag-a-full-bottle","tag-a-half-full-bottle","tag-a-lasting-campaign","tag-a-meaningful-legacy","tag-a-miscommunication","tag-a-search","tag-a-solo-bushwalk","tag-a-source","tag-a-surreal-time","tag-a-young-hiker","tag-agencies","tag-alive-nsw-police-force-assistant-commissioner-joseph-cassar","tag-an-accident","tag-an-empty-bottle","tag-an-internal-investigation","tag-an-isolated-part","tag-an-ses-code-word","tag-an-ses-volunteer","tag-another-night","tag-anxious-family-members","tag-au","tag-august-20","tag-australia","tag-better-education","tag-bush-safety","tag-communications","tag-cops","tag-dark","tag-day","tag-death","tag-dense-bushland","tag-devices","tag-each-day","tag-ear-shot","tag-eight-to-ten-minute-period","tag-every-afternoon","tag-family","tag-first-afternoon","tag-half-a-bottle","tag-her-daughter","tag-her-death","tag-her-family","tag-hiking","tag-hindsight","tag-home","tag-incorrect-information-the-focus","tag-kirrily-hooper","tag-last-week","tag-lily","tag-lily-hooper","tag-mix-uplast","tag-more-than-a-week","tag-mr-hooper","tag-mr-minns","tag-mrs-hooper","tag-mum","tag-nattai-national-park","tag-new-details","tag-news","tag-news-com-au-references","tag-nsw","tag-oakdale","tag-oakdale-community","tag-personal-locator","tag-preliminary-reports","tag-premier-chris-minns","tag-premier-minns-ses-sources","tag-search-sites","tag-senior-authorities","tag-tact","tag-teenager","tag-the-18-year-old","tag-the-airwaves","tag-the-breakdown","tag-the-bush","tag-the-cold","tag-the-daily-telegraph","tag-the-daily-telegraph-lily","tag-the-day","tag-the-elements","tag-the-family","tag-the-field","tag-the-grief","tag-the-grieving-family-and-friends","tag-the-hardest-part","tag-the-hike-her-mother","tag-the-investigation","tag-the-kitchen-sink","tag-the-lead","tag-the-nation","tag-the-police","tag-the-searches","tag-the-teenager","tag-the-waiting","tag-their-girl","tag-top-stories","tag-water","tag-water-bottles","tag-week","tag-wider-use","tag-young-hikers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}