Overview
- Deb Brown and her family discovered the bottle during an Oct. 9 cleanup at Wharton Beach near Esperance, finding two handwritten letters dated 1916 inside.
- The messages were penned by Privates Malcolm Alexander Neville, 27, and William Kirk Harley, 37, while sailing on HMAT A70 Ballarat, with Neville addressing his mother in Wilkawatt and Harley writing from “somewhere in the Bight.”
- The Browns traced relatives via social media and have delivered the letters to family members in Adelaide and Alice Springs, who called the unexpected reunion a miracle.
- Official records confirm Neville of the 48th Battalion was killed in action in France in April 1917, while Harley completed his service and returned to Australia.
- Despite water in the bottle, the handwriting remained clear, likely preserved by burial in dunes, and families are now considering conservation as the Australian War Memorial notes such finds are rare.