Melbourne: More than a century after they were written, two World War I soldiers' handwritten messages sealed in a Schweppes bottle have been discovered on a beach in Western Australia.

The bottle, containing letters from Privates Malcolm Neville (27) and William Harley (37), was found on October 9 by Peter Brown and his daughter Felicity while cleaning up Wharton Beach near Esperance, Deb Brown said on Tuesday.

The messages, dated August 15, 1916, were written just days after the soldiers departed from Adelaide aboard HMAT A70 Ballarat en route to the battlefields of France.

In his note, Neville told his mother Robertina he was “having a real good time” despite rough seas, and requested that the finder deliver the message to her in Wilkawatt, South Australia. Harley, whose mother had died, wrote that the finder could keep his letter, wishing them to be “as well as we are at present.”

Neville was killed in action a year later, while Harley survived the war but died in 1934 from cancer believed to be linked to gas exposure in the trenches.

Deb Brown believes the bottle remained buried in sand dunes for over 100 years before being unearthed by coastal erosion. Remarkably, the letters remained legible, enabling contact with both soldiers' descendants.

Harley's granddaughter Ann Turner described the discovery as “a miracle,” while Neville's great-nephew called it “unbelievable,” adding, “It's so sad what happened — but what a man he was.”