In a remarkable discovery, two messages in a bottle written by Australian soldiers during World War I have been found on the south-western coast of Australia, more than a century after they were penned. The letters, written in 1916 by Privates Malcolm Neville and William Harley, were unearthed earlier this month on Wharton Beach near Esperance, Western Australia, by local resident Deb Brown and her family. The Browns, who regularly clean up litter on the beach during their quad bike trips, spotted the thick glass bottle partially buried in the sand. Despite the paper being wet, the messages remained legible. The cheerful notes were written just days into the soldiers’ voyage to the battlefields of France. Private Neville, who was killed in action at the age of 28, wrote to his mother, describing the food on board as ‘real good’ and expressing his happiness. Private Harley, who survived the war and returned home, addressed his letter to whoever might find the bottle, as his mother had already passed away. Ms. Brown, determined to return the letters to the soldiers’ descendants, successfully traced Private Neville’s great-nephew, Herbie Neville, through online research. The discovery has deeply moved the families, particularly Private Neville’s 101-year-old niece, Marian Davies, who remembers her uncle leaving for war and never returning. Private Harley’s granddaughter, Ann Turner, described the find as a ‘miracle,’ feeling as though her grandfather had reached out from the grave. An oceanography professor suggested the bottle may have been in the water for only a few weeks before washing ashore, where it likely remained buried for a century. The letters, now in the hands of the soldiers’ descendants, serve as a poignant reminder of the personal stories behind the global conflict of World War I.