Spring Gully and Marong fossickers uncover century-old items

“I was looking for parts I had taken of this 1921 Delahaye truck and thought what’s that medal doing there?” he said.

The 1919 Peace Medal that Mr Bush found is believed to have belong to his uncle – Albert M Bush.

It features a figure wearing a flowing robe on one side and the words “Victory. The Triumph of Liberty and Justice. The peace of 1919.” on the other side.

“My dad was executor of Albert Bush (estate) and I remember helping clean up his stuff when he died. I remember his light horse medallions,” Mr Bush said.

“Uncle Bert lived in View Point and was a dentist with the forces in World War One. Then he was a dentist at the prison camp in Rushworh in World War Two.”

Mr Bush said he can’t remember ever seeing the medal before. 

“It was a surprising find when I was cleaning the truck and putting it back together. That’s when I found the medal,” he said.

“On the shelf where parts were it was by itself, this silver medal. 

“If I have ever taken notice of it, I have forgotten it. The staff at jeweller's put through their cleaning thing (device) and now it’s nice and clean.”

The medal will be fitted onto Mr Bush’s 1921 Delahaye truck when it is complete.

Mr Bush’s find follows another quirky find by Allan Valentine.

Mr Valentine was metal detecting in Spring Gully when he found a 19^th century copper button inscribed with “M Colgan, Bendigo”.

Mr Colgan was a tailor who arrived in Australian in 1851 from Ireland. He had a store in Hargreaves Street until his death in 1908.

“I was fossicking out towards Diamond Hill and found this button where you could see a name. I looked him out and found a whole story about him,” Mr Valentine said.

“I haven't found the ‘yellow stuff’ yet. It's just fun, I don't care if find any gold or not. But to find something with a history to Bendigo from so early on was interesting.”

Mr Valentine plans to donate the button to the collection at Bendigo Trust.