A man's cry for help was found written in dirt near his body in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, police say.
The man, believed to be a 53-year-old from Queensland, was discovered by people on the Meda cattle station, 40km west of Derby, at 4pm yesterday.
A police spokeswoman said today he was 15km from the residence on a remote part of the 1.25 million acre property.
He was lying near a makeshift shelter, there was an empty water bottle nearby and he had written HELP on a track near his body, the spokeswoman said.
Inland temperatures reached 40 degrees celsius last week with the town of Derby, on the coast, experiencing 42.5 degrees yesterday.
Police say the man probably died several days ago.
Aerial searches started at first light today to try and locate a vehicle or any other people in the area.
Police say the man's next of kin have not been informed.