Nine year-old boy finds ‘human bone’ at Barwon Heads

A mum and her nine-year-old son were shocked when they found what looked like a human bone at Barwon Heads.

Shock soon turned to curiosity for a nine-year-old Point Lonsdale boy and his mother, after they stumbled across what looked like a human bone in Barwon Heads last month.

“At first I freaked out thinking it was a real bone,” the mother, Tegan, said.

“But then I noticed it was engraved.”

The mystery deepened with the inscription; ‘I had a heart attack, it nearly took me out yet I can’t slow down because I need to provide for my family.’

Bone art: ‘I had a heart attack, it nearly took me out yet I can’t slow down because I need to provide for my family.’

The ceramic bone had a bright red dog tag with contact details attached.

“It took us a while to pluck up the courage to call, we worried it might be a scam or something more sinister, but curiosity got the best of us,” Tegan said.

On the other end of the phone was Ocean Grove artist Laine Hogarty who revealed the bone was one of 20 she made and buried around the Bellarine in 2011 as part of her Masters in Public Art.

Back then she had just moved to the area and was trying to build a community among the dog walkers in Ocean Grove, she would stop to have conversations and record a fragment of the interaction on bones which she then hid in various locations

“As an artist you put something out there, you don’t know who is going to be impacted or not … like a dog who buries a bone, who is going to dig this up?”

The bone Archer found had been left at RAFFs beach, but discovered at the Barwon Heads boat ramp 14 years later.

Other bones from Laine Hogarty's art project

Ms Hogarty said: “I was actually in shock … I did this project in 2011 and now all of a sudden it’s 2025 … this project is dead and buried for me and then I get this text message.

“It puts goosebumps on your back wondering where the bone has been for the last decade?

“It is a huge surprise for this chance discovery of the bone to happen so long after I created the artwork and had the original conversation with the man who suffered a massive heart attack.

“It was like the bones themselves are reminding me of just how relevant art is, not only to incite our curiosity, but to console our hearts in our individual challenges by renewed opportunities to connect more deeply with the experience of others.”

Archer, Tegan and daughter Layla met with Laine to look at other bones from the project.

Archer (9) and artist Laine Hogarty examine other bones

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Originally published as Nine year-old boy finds ‘human bone’ at Barwon Heads