Messages in a bottle written by two Australian soldiers in 1916 have been found more than a century later on the country’s south-western coast.

The cheerful notes were penned just a few days into their voyage to join the battlefields of France during World War One.

One of the soldiers, Pte Malcolm Neville, told his mother that the food on board was “real good” and that they were “as happy as Larry”. Months later, he was killed in action at the age of 28. The other soldier, 37-year-old Pte William Harley, survived the war and returned home.

The letters have been passed on to their descendants, who have been stunned by the discovery.

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