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TWO Bendigo historians have revealed the identities of "Billy" and "Birdie", the couple connected by a message in a bottle thrown off a ship 100 years ago.
Historian Bev Hanson and member of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies in Bendigo, David Cotton, approached the Bendigo Advertiser this week after it published the intriguing story revealed by a World War I collector in Gippsland.
Rick Cove found the love letter wedged in the pages of an old book and has been trying to find out the couple's identity for 15 years.
Earlier this week, Mr Cove asked the public for help to identify three people: "Billy", the writer of the letter, "Birdie" the recipient, and the person who sent the letter to Birdie when they found it in a bottle on the West Australian coastline near Albany.
After following the couple's history through online archives Bev Hanson and David Cotton both concluded that "Billy" was Bendigo-born William Edgar Gordon Paul. The "Miss A Bird" to whom he addressed his letter was Annie Bird.
Annie was born in 1893 to William and Anne Bird nee Uren and William in 1894 to Solomon and Emily Jane Paul nee Rogers. William was one of 12 children, only eight of whom survived into adulthood.
Mrs Hanson found Solomon and Emily Paul's gravestone at Bendigo cemetery, along with a few of their children.
William Paul was a law clerk living in Footscray, Melbourne before he enlisted for the Great War.
Mr Cotton said he found that William was injured at Gallipoli in 1915.
It is unclear when William returned to Australia, but he clearly did because the couple married in 1917.
William and Annie Paul had a son named Maxwell William Elliot Paul in 1918 in Elsternwick, Melbourne.
William died aged 68 in 1962 and Annie died in 1977 aged 84. Both died in Heidelberg and were cremated at Springvale.
Their son, Maxwell, died before his parents during World War II in 1942. Mr Cotton said Maxwell was with the RAAF.
It is unclear who picked up the letter on the West Australian coast near Albany and sent it on to Annie in Bendigo, but Mr Cotton's expertise in the postal system sheds light on the journey the letter took once it was found.
Mr Cotton said the letter would have travelled first to Perth, then by ship to Adelaide, then by train to Melbourne before it reached Annie in Bendigo.
William's departure from Melbourne on board the HMAT Hororata on 19 October, 1914 and the fact that Annie's receipt of the letter was published in the Bendigo Advertiser on December 9, 1914, suggests the letter took just under two months to get to her.
Mrs Hanson said she was 99 per cent sure her findings were correct.
The remaining question: Do William and Annie Paul have descendants? If so, who are they and how can they be tracked down?
Mrs Hanson said she would look for any people with the surname Paul to see if she could find them.
Mrs Hanson and Mr Cotton's sources include digital archive Trove, the Australian War Memorial website and The AIF Project website.
If you have any information on the couple's living descendants please contact Andi Yu at andi.yu@fairfaxmedia.com.au or on 5434 4465.
