Over-Century-Old WWI Messages in a Bottle Found on Remote Australian Shore
Letters from two Australian soldiers en route to the Western Front wash up near Esperance after 109 years
On 9 October 2025 a glass bottle containing hand-written letters from two Australian soldiers aboard HMAT A70 Ballarat in 1916 was discovered on Wharton Beach near Esperance in Western Australia.
The bottles were found by the Brown family during a beach clean-up and revealed two neatly rolled pencil-written messages dated 15 August 1916 from Privates Malcolm Alexander Neville and William Kirk Harley.
Neville addressed the note to his mother in Wilkawatt, South Australia, signed off “Your loving son Malcolm … Somewhere at Sea,” and declared: “Food is real good so far, with the exception of one meal which we buried at sea…” He added: “We are as happy as Larry,” despite the ship “heaving and rolling.” Harley’s note, addressed more generally to the finder, said: “May the finder be as well as we are at present … Somewhere in the Bight.”
Private Neville, aged 28, was later killed in action on 11 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Bullecourt in France.
Harley survived the war, returning home to Australia; his family say he later died in 1934 from complications linked to wartime gassing.
The bottle, branded Schweppes, appeared extremely well-preserved, with minimal barnacle growth and intact cork, suggesting it may have remained buried in sand dunes for much of the past century after being cast into the Great Australian Bight shortly after the troopship departed Adelaide.
Coastal erosion from recent winter storms likely exposed the dunes, enabling the discovery.
The Brown family used surgical tweezers to retrieve the two‐page letters.
They subsequently traced Neville’s great-nephew, Herbie Neville of Alice Springs, and Harley’s granddaughter, Ann Turner, informing them of the find.
Both families described the moment as deeply moving—Herbie calling his great-uncle “what a man he was.”
Historical records at the Australian War Memorial list Neville as having initially been rejected for enlistment due to height and vision issues, but later joining the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion and entering the Western Front in February 1917—just two months before his death.
The discovery adds to a rare collection of century-old messages in bottles found on Australian beaches and underscores the intersection of personal war-time stories and remote coastal history.
The bottle is to be retained by the finders, while the original letters are being prepared for return to the soldiers’ families for preservation and archival display.
The bottles were found by the Brown family during a beach clean-up and revealed two neatly rolled pencil-written messages dated 15 August 1916 from Privates Malcolm Alexander Neville and William Kirk Harley.
Neville addressed the note to his mother in Wilkawatt, South Australia, signed off “Your loving son Malcolm … Somewhere at Sea,” and declared: “Food is real good so far, with the exception of one meal which we buried at sea…” He added: “We are as happy as Larry,” despite the ship “heaving and rolling.” Harley’s note, addressed more generally to the finder, said: “May the finder be as well as we are at present … Somewhere in the Bight.”
Private Neville, aged 28, was later killed in action on 11 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Bullecourt in France.
Harley survived the war, returning home to Australia; his family say he later died in 1934 from complications linked to wartime gassing.
The bottle, branded Schweppes, appeared extremely well-preserved, with minimal barnacle growth and intact cork, suggesting it may have remained buried in sand dunes for much of the past century after being cast into the Great Australian Bight shortly after the troopship departed Adelaide.
Coastal erosion from recent winter storms likely exposed the dunes, enabling the discovery.
The Brown family used surgical tweezers to retrieve the two‐page letters.
They subsequently traced Neville’s great-nephew, Herbie Neville of Alice Springs, and Harley’s granddaughter, Ann Turner, informing them of the find.
Both families described the moment as deeply moving—Herbie calling his great-uncle “what a man he was.”
Historical records at the Australian War Memorial list Neville as having initially been rejected for enlistment due to height and vision issues, but later joining the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion and entering the Western Front in February 1917—just two months before his death.
The discovery adds to a rare collection of century-old messages in bottles found on Australian beaches and underscores the intersection of personal war-time stories and remote coastal history.
The bottle is to be retained by the finders, while the original letters are being prepared for return to the soldiers’ families for preservation and archival display.
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