Message in a Bottle from WWI Soldiers Found in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia – A message in a bottle, penned by two Australian soldiers shortly after their embarkation to a French battlefield during World War I, has been uncovered along the Australian coast over a century later.

Deb Brown shared that her family stumbled upon the Schweppes bottle, partially submerged, on October 9 at Wharton Beach near Esperance, Western Australia.

During one of their usual family outings with their quad bike aimed at cleaning up the beach, her husband Peter and daughter Felicity made the find.

“We often clean the beach to pick up litter, so this little bottle was just waiting for us,” Deb Brown noted.

Inside the sturdy, clear glass, they found a cheerful letter written in pencil by Private Malcolm Neville, 27, and Private William Hurley, 37, dated August 15, 1916.

Their troop carrier, HMAT A70 Ballarat, had departed from South Australia’s capital, Adelaide, on August 12 that year, heading to Europe to reinforce the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion on the Western Front.

Neville was killed in action a year later. Hurley, who was wounded twice, managed to survive the war but passed away from cancer in Adelaide in 1934, having been affected by gas attacks from German troops.

Neville requested that whoever found the bottle deliver the letter to his mother, Robertina Neville, in Wilkawat, now largely abandoned. Hurley, whose mother had already died by 1916, expressed relief that the finders left a note.

In his letter, Hurley wished, “May the discoverer be as well as we are now.”

Neville wrote to his mother about their good times, saying, “The food has been really good so far, except for the one meal we buried in the ocean.”

The ship was “rocking and rocking,” but they were “as happy as Larry,” he added, using a once-popular Australian phrase meaning very happy.

Neville mentioned that he and his comrades were “somewhere out at sea,” while Hurley noted they were “somewhere in the Bay,” referring to the Great Australian Bight—a vast coastal area extending from east of Adelaide to Esperance.

Deb Brown suspects the bottle likely didn’t travel far and could have been buried in sand dunes for more than a century. Recently, significant erosion from large swells at Wharton Beach may have caused it to surface.

Though the paper was wet, the message remained legible, prompting Deb to inform relatives of both soldiers about the discovery.

The bottle is still “in good condition,” Brown remarked. “There are no barnacles or anything else. If it had been in the ocean for that long, the paper would have likely disintegrated in the sun, and we wouldn’t have been able to read it.”

Anne Turner, Hurley’s granddaughter, expressed the family’s astonishment at the find. “I can’t believe it. It feels like a miracle,” she shared with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, describing it as if her grandfather had reached out from beyond.

Harvey Neville, Neville’s great-nephew, called the “incredible” discovery a unifying moment for their family.

He reflected, “He seemed very happy to be going to war. It’s tragic what occurred. It’s so sad that he lost his life.”

“Wow, what a great guy he was,” the proud great-nephew added.