She Took One Wrong Turn Before Dark. A Chain of Tiny Errors Left Belgian Hiker Celine Cremer D.e.a.d in Tasmania’s Frozen Wilderness
On 17 June 2023, four days before the winter solstice, Belgian backpacker Celine Cremer, 31, set out alone for Philosopher Falls in Tasmania’s remote north-west. She never returned. More than two and a half years later, a coroner has ruled that her death was an accident — not the result of another person’s involvement — and that it followed what she described as a confluence of errors.
Cremer had been living in Tasmania on a working holiday and planned to leave for the mainland within days. After reaching the lookout, she did not walk straight back to the car park. She continued toward Magnet Dam on a poorly defined track. Light was already failing. The surface was degraded and uneven. She left the path and became lost.
Phone data later recovered from the device, found by volunteers in December 2025, showed photos and videos between 2.21pm and 2.42pm and Google Maps use until 4.18pm. Investigators believe she became lost around 3.49pm. She then lost the phone — her only means of communication in an area with patchy or no reception. Without it, she is thought to have turned the wrong way and moved toward the Arthur River, either by mistake or in the hope of following water to safety.
Overnight temperatures were close to freezing. She had insufficient clothing and nothing waterproof. She had not told anyone her exact plan, had not packed standard safety gear, and was walking alone. The coroner found she failed to follow well-known bushwalking precautions issued by Tasmania Police and Parks and Wildlife: map and torch, weather-ready clothing, walking within one’s limits, and leaving a trip plan with another person.
She was reported missing almost ten days later. Police and emergency services searched for about ten days. Weather and high river levels limited what ground teams could see. The official search was later suspended after experts concluded survival in those conditions was unlikely. Family and friends then funded a private effort led by investigator Ken Gamble. Volunteers found the phone, then other items. In late January 2026, volunteer Jarrod Boys found human remains near the river. Police later recovered more bones, clothing and Cremer’s car key. Identity was confirmed. Death was placed between 17 and 21 June 2023. How she entered the river — a slip from the bank, a failed crossing, or collapse from cold — cannot be proven.
A glass bottle and plastic bags found near a fallen tree, once thought to mark a possible shelter, carried male DNA and were not accepted as proof she had camped there. The coroner said police followed accepted search methods and that the first response was appropriate, though winter floodwaters hid what later became visible. She praised the private team’s planning and vetting of volunteers, and recommended Tasmania Police formalise rules for working with such groups, including evidence handling and information sharing. The force has agreed to review that. She also urged Waratah-Wynyard Council to add signs at the track entrance stating the route is not managed for recreation and that the surface can be hazardous. Some markers and a closure sign have already been added since 2023.
The case is a hard reminder that Tasmania’s short walks can turn lethal in winter. Fading light, a vague track, a dropped phone and thin clothing were each survivable alone. Together, they closed every exit.
