Inside the hidden milk bottle was a letter from two plasterers who built the walls in 1974. Photo / NBN News
Inside the hidden milk bottle was a letter from two plasterers who built the walls in 1974. Photo / NBN News
A man has discovered a message in a bottle from 1974 during home renovations.
Matt Streatfeild, from Newcastle, New South Wales, was in the middle of knocking down walls when he came across a glass milk bottle from nearly 50 years ago.
Inside it was a letter dated April 5,1974, from the then plasterers who had built the walls – giving an insight to what life was like in Australia at the time.
"You always hear the legend of messages in a bottle, but you never think you'll find one in between two walls in your own house," Streatfeild told NBN News.
Inside it was a letter from two plasterers who built the walls. Photo / NBN News
The handwritten letter said the plasterers from Newcastle Interior Linings, which still exists today, earned $106 each week.
And because the workers were still listed, a curious Streatfeild was able to track down one of them – Ron Niddrie – in the hopes of learning more about the contents of the note.
"One of these little mementos has paid off," Niddrie told NBN News.
"The fact that it was 47 years ago was even more of a shock."
A Newcastle homeowner was in the middle of home renovations when he came across a milk bottle from 1974, wedged between two walls. Photo / NBN News
The tradies had written the letter when Australia was in the process of converting from the imperial to the metric measuring system, and the milk bottle itself was one of the first to have millimetres listed on the label.
Matt Streatfeild found the note. Photo / NBN News
He tracked down one of the builders, Ron Niddrie, who placed the note inside the milk bottle that was one of the first to have millimetres listed on the label. Photo / NBN News
Streatfeild said once he completes his renovations and finishes reconstructing the wall, he will continue the tradition for future generations by hiding the original bottle and adding a memento of his own to represent life in Australia in 2021.
"When we resheet this wall we're going to place the old bottle that we found from 1974 with that piece of history, and we're going to add our own," he said.
"Little face mask from 2021 and a bit of a description of how life's been for the last couple of years."
