An Australian family’s beach clean-up unearthed a remarkable century-old message in a bottle, connecting them to the poignant voices of two World War I soldiers and their descendants.
The Brown family discovered the antique Schweppes glass bottle on Wharton Beach near Esperance, Western Australia, during a routine outing since October 9. Inside the thick, clear glass, they found a legible, pencil-written letter dated August 15, 1916.
The message was penned by Private Malcolm Neville, 27, and William Harley, 37. Both soldiers were aboard the HMAT A70 Ballarat, which had departed Adelaide on August 12, bound for Europe to reinforce the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion on the Western Front.
Harley’s note was cheerful, stating, “May whoever finds this letter be as well as we are now.” Neville echoed a similar sentiment.
Neville wrote, “I am well, food is good, except for one meal we had to bury at sea.” He added, “The ship is rolling, but we are as happy as Larry,” using an old Australian idiom meaning extremely happy.
The discovery immediately resonated with the soldiers’ families. Ann Turner, Harley’s granddaughter, described it as a “miracle,” feeling as though her grandfather had sent a message from the grave.
Herbie Neville, Private Neville’s great-nephew, expressed pride in his ancestor. He noted that Neville’s words suggested he was happy to embark on the war, making his ultimate fate all the more poignant.
Private Neville died in battle a year after writing the letter. Harley, wounded twice, survived the war and returned to Adelaide, where he died in 1934 from cancer that his family believes resulted from inhaling German gas in the trenches.
In his letter, Neville asked the finder to deliver his message to his mother, Robertina Neville, in Wilkawatt, which is now a ghost town. Harley, whose mother had passed away, granted permission for the finder to keep his part of the letter.
Deb Brown, part of the discovering family, theorizes the bottle did not float far but remained buried under the sand for over a century. Coastal erosion likely uncovered it, leaving the bottle intact without barnacles and its paper contents wet but readable.
The soldiers had noted their location as “somewhere in the middle of the sea” and “somewhere in the Bight,” referring to the vast Great Australian Bight stretching from east of Adelaide to Esperance.