A three-year-old girl who went missing in bushland in Australia was rescued after the family dog followed her, stayed by her side overnight and then helped searchers to find her.

The girl, Aurora, wandered off from her family’s remote rural home in the state of Queensland at about 3pm on Friday.

She was followed into the bushland by the family’s trusted dog, named Max, a 17-year-old cattle dog which is partially deaf and blind.

Max stayed beside her for about sixteen hours as the overnight temperatures dropped and rain fell. The pair apparently sheltered under a rock.

In the morning, about 100 emergency workers and local volunteers set off at first light to try to find Aurora.

She was discovered at about 7.30am after Leisa Marie Bennett, the girl’s grandmother, heard her crying faintly “Granny” from the top of a mountain, about a mile from home.

As Ms Bennett approached, Max went out and met her and led her to Aurora.

"When I heard her yell 'Grammy' I knew it was her," Ms Bennett told ABC News.