Newry Island, Urunga message in a bottle find on Coffs Coast

A mystery love letter in a bottle has washed up on a NSW river, with four teenagers making the “one in a million” find.

One of the boys describes it as a “one in a million” find - but what they all want to know is where the message in a bottle found wedged on the side of a muddy riverbank on the Mid-North Coast came from and who wrote it.

The four teenagers are regulars on the river at Newry Island near Urunga where the Bellinger and Kalang rivers meet before heading to the ocean.

Bronx Hamilton was about to jump on his boat and head home after hanging out with brothers Marc and Sebby Tate who live on Newry Island last week when a gold lid poking out of the muddy riverbank caught his eye.

They pulled it out and realised there was a note inside and used two sticks like tweezers to get it out.

Hugo Graham was also there with them on the day and all four of them were baffled by the strange writing.

Bronx Hamilton, Marc Tate, Hugo Graham and Sebby Tate found a message in a bottle at Newry Island near Urunga on the Coffs Coast. Picture: Janine Watson.

They took it back to Marc and Sebby’s mum Paula to read and she told them it was running writing.

“They came back so excited saying please read it to us.

“They didn’t know what running writing was,” Paula said.

The message found inside a bottle on the riverbank at Newry Island near Urunga.

The boys are all 14 and go to school together at Nambucca Valley Christian School.

They’re all totally intrigued by it Paula said.

“We’ve had a great talk about it and the style of writing and the paper it’s on - it’s so terribly odd,” she said.

The letter A is scratched onto the front of the bottle but there is no name or date on the note.

The back of the message in a bottle found at Newry Island, Urunga.

Hugo thinks somebody was trying to “get something off their chest” when they wrote the note which signs off with the words ‘forever mine, forever yours, forever ours’ on the back with a heart.

The love letter, written in flowery language, appears to show a lover essentially pouring their heart out onto the page.

Marc described it as a “one in a million find”.

Newry Island at Urunga.

Paula’s theory is that a jilted lover penned the note.

“Somebody put all of their heart and soul into a relationship and it’s gone terribly wrong.

“It’s not a terribly angered person but somebody who has been totally jilted and needed to express their emotions so they put it in a message in a bottle.”

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