Feeling very sad for this poor young lady.
There but the grace of God.. etc etc having spent the early 80's flying in Tassie and a fair bit of it to the west coast and far south west, also in Islanders, albeit a fair bit older than this one. (Anyone remember EQT?)
It is incredibly inhospitable terrain-Take a look at photos on Google Earth. When you are down on the far south west coast on your own in the aircraft, trying to pick your way up valleys shrouded in cloud, with nobody to ask what the conditions ahead are like, there is an overwhelming sense of remoteness.
What about a young pilot who has flown into a corner and not been able to escape - has that ever happened before in Australia?
I daresay you are right Horatio.
The FlightAware data (ADS-B gaps notwithstanding)
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/.../YBHB/tracklog appears to show a course reversal a few miles west of Federation Peak. The last minute or so as the aircraft approaches West Portal is the most upsetting- a rapid climb and speed reduction back to 90kts with a course change of almost 60 degrees, no doubt in a vain attempt to avoid the terrain or perhaps in IMC and hoping to out-climb whatever was in the immediate vicinity.
I put myself in that situation once - trying to get an ABC TV crew down to Matsuyker to film a cargo ship that had lost its rudder in appalling conditions. Biggest scare I ever gave myself. I was lucky enough to get away with it. Its a long time to hold your breath waiting to get to the LSALT of 6400 ft. Poor Ms Walker was not so fortunate.
The learning curve is so steep in the those early years of your GA career and you are excited to be presented with opportunities to show your worth so you can go on to bigger and better things.
Its just so sad that those opportunities are probably the most dangerous you will come across in your flying career.
RIP