Australia joined World War I (1914–1918) as part of the British Empire, which went to the defense of Belgium after it was invaded by Germany.

Australian conscripts sailed to France, some 16,000 kilometers away, to fight against the Germans. Among troops were Privates Malcolm Neville, 27, and William Harley, 37.

Neville left a note for his mother when he and Harley sailed to Europe aboard a troop ship on 15 August 1916. In the note, he wrote that it be handed to Robertina Neville in Wilkawatt, South Australia.

Harley also wrote a separate note, saying that their ship was in an open bay east of Adelaide City.

Harley’s granddaughter, Ann Turner, received his note early this month after it was found by Deb Brown inside a bottle above the waterline at Wharton Beach near Esperance in Western Australia on 9 October, according to ABC News.

Brown, her husband, and their daughter were cleaning the beach when Deb stumbled upon the message in a bottle. After reading the note, she informed the families of Harley and Neville.

Turner described to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the feeling of reading the 109-year-old note that her “grandfather has reached out for us from the grave.”

Harley died of cancer in 1934, while Neville was killed in battle in 1917, according to ABC News.

Meanwhile, an Australian surfer has found his lost surfboard that drifted across the Tasman Sea after falling from his boat off the south coast of Tasmania.

Frenchman Alvaro Bon was kitesurfing in Raglan Harbor on New Zealand’s North Island on 15 October when he spotted the board covered in barnacles and mussels, BBC reported.

Bon posted a photo of the board on several online surfing groups, and days later, a friend of the owner, Liam, recognized it and connected the two, according to the report.

The board was turned over to Liam’s family in Auckland and will be shipped back to him in Australia.

The surfboard went missing in May 2024 — about 18 months ago — and drifted roughly 2,400 kilometers to New Zealand.