A keen eye and some dedicated amateur detectives have seen a box of treasured family memories reunited with their owner.
Volunteering at the Bullsbrook Recycling Centre, Isabelle Murray came across a box of unique items she knew couldn’t have been destined for the bin.
“It is amazing the stuff that comes in to that place!” Isabelle said. “This gentleman brought this box and other bits in, dropped it and left. On top of the box was a photo with a man in an Army uniform. I thought, ‘What’s that doing there, that’s not right’.”
It’s not unusual for the recycling centre to receive old photos and generally they would just make their way to landfill. The thought of that happening to these items just didn’t sit right with Isabelle, so she bundled up the box and took it home.
“My husband I went through it and I was gobsmacked what was in it – little tins of leather-coated buttons, rings and military medallions. I did feel very uncomfortable going through such personal belongings.”
As Isabelle delved further, she found cards and photos from a twenty-first birthday which referenced five men — all with the Taylor surname. Isabelle suspected they might be related to Eric Taylor, a descendent of one of Bullsbrook’s founding families, but on conferring with him it showed they were no relation.
Isabelle then handed the box over to Bullsbrook RSL branch in the hopes they could connect the dots.
Bullsbrook RSL member Greg Hughes says, “I was tasked with the job of finding the owner. I scanned a lot of the photos and the medals and posted them to the Bullsbrook Residents and Ratepayer’s Association Facebook group, in the hope that someone would recognise the people in the photos.”
Greg’s post gained traction on social media and was shared more than 130 times. It caught the eye of Geraldton resident Nicole Edwards, Vice President of the Geraldton Family History Society and Volunteer Researcher RSLWA. Browsing the scanned items, she spotted a clue in the notice celebrating the 70th wedding anniversary of Ronald and Rosellen Martin – the people in the photos. The article referenced Ron and Rose moving into a care centre in the Perth suburb of Menora, so Nicole made a phone call to the centre. Unfortunately, both Ron and Rose have passed away, but the centre were happy to pass on Nicole’s details to their son, Lee Martin, to hopefully place the last piece in the puzzle.
Lee was both shocked to realise the items had ended up at the recycling centre, and relieved that they were safe.
“I didn’t notice it was missing!” he said. “I’ve been in the process of trying to rationalise a lot of history that has collected in my house. When my parents died, and my brother-in-law died and my sister was put into care, my small house in Aveley got quite full.
“Among a lot of stuff that had ended up at the recycling centre, this particular box was taken quite inadvertently. I’m staggered that first of all, Isabelle went to the trouble of bringing it in, and then the amount of work Greg and Nicole have gone to, to track me down from the minor clues in the photographs and press cuttings in the box.”
Lee joined Greg and members of the Bullsbrook RSL branch at their hall on Friday 18 March to be reunited with his belongings.
Lee said, “I’m glad to be able to retrieve them — a detailed detective operation.”
It was a lovely surprise for Isabelle to learn the outcome of her altruistic actions. She said, “I hadn’t heard anything more since dropping off the items until out of the blue I got a call from Leigh to thank me!
“I was over the moon to think that someone handled it nicely and actually found the owner. It wasn’t meant to be destroyed.”
