Letters of two WWI Australian soldiers found on beach

ADELADIE: Two Australian soldiers had left the home together in 1916 for Europe during World War I. One of them died in the battlefield in France while the other survived and returned home. And more than a century later, a father and his daughter found a bottle on the Western Australia’s coast, which carried the messages the soldiers had written.

It was Peter Brown and his daughter Felicity Brown who found the Schweppes-brand bottle at Wharton Beach near Esperance in Western Australia on Oct 9.

“We do a lot of cleaning up on our beaches and so would never go past a piece of rubbish. So this little bottle was lying there waiting to be picked up,” Peter’s wife Deb said.

THE TWO PRIVATES

Meanwhile, the two privates — Malcolm Neville, 27, and William Harley, 37 – had written the letter on Aug 15, 1916.

Three days earlier, their ship HMAT A70 Ballarat had left Adelaide as the group of troops were meant to reinforce the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion on Europe’s Western Front.

Neville wasn’t lucky — killed in action a year later. However, Harley survived the war despite being injured twice. He returned home and died of cancer in Adelaide in 1934, which, according to his, family was caused by being gassed by the Germans in the trenches.

As far as Harley is concerned, was happy for the finder to keep his note. Harley’s mother was dead by 1916.

But Neville requested the finder deliver his letter to his mother Robertina Neville at Wilkawatt — a place in South Australia, which is now a virtual ghost town.

Harley wrote that “may the finder be as well as we are at present.”

Neville wrote to his mother he was “having a real good time, food is real good so far, with the exception of one meal which we buried at sea”.

He added that the ship was “heaving and rolling, but we are as happy as Larry,” using a now faded Australian colloquialism meaning very happy.

Neville also wrote that he and his comrades were, “Somewhere at Sea.”

Similarly, Harley wrote that they were, “Somewhere in the Bight,” referring to the Great Australian Bight – an open bay that begins east of Adelaide and extends to Esperance on the western edge.

‘ABSOLUTELY STUNNED’

Harley’s granddaughter Ann Turner said her family was “absolutely stunned” by the find.

“We just can’t believe it. It really does feel like a miracle and we do very much feel like our grandfather has reached out for us from the grave,” Turner told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Neville’s great nephew Herbie Neville said his family had been brought together by the “unbelievable” discovery.

“It sounds as though he was pretty happy to go to the war. It’s just so sad what happened. It’s so sad that he lost his life,” Herbie Neville said.

“Wow. What a man he was,” the great nephew added with pride.