A medal which was found on the side of a road by a couple travelling around Australia has been returned to its family members in Port Macquarie.
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The medal belonged to Gabriel Ambrose Gulliver who enlisted in the war when he was 29-years-old and left Sydney on January 24, 1917.
He would have received the medal on his return to Australia to acknowledge his service.
Bob Gulliver who is Gabriel’s great nephew has done thorough research into the history of the family’s involvement in the war.
Judi Raven and Pete Mercer located Gabriel’s service medal on the side of the road during a stop between Grafton and Jackagery, NSW on their way to Coonabarabran to visit friends on November 11.
The couple are travelling around Australia from Gelorup which is near Bunbury in WA.
Ms Raven said her husband was at the side of the caravan when he spotted what he thought was a 50 cent piece.
The couple cleaned up the item when they were at Tamworth and noticed that it also had a small hole in the top of it.
“We knew then that it wasn’t a 50 cent piece,” Ms Raven said.
“I did a quick google search and that’s how we found out it was a war service medal.”
The couple travelled to the War Memorial in Canberra to see if they could find out any further information.
Ms Raven said the Gulliver family in Port Macquarie were located by using the whitepages based on the information from the Reveille, which was the RSL magazine from April, 1941.
Ms Raven rang Bob Gulliver to let him know about the discovery.
She said it was ‘wonderful to locate the family’ so that they can pass on this important part of history.
Mr Gulliver said the find was ‘spooky’ as the couple made the discovery at about 11am on Remembrance Day.
The family have no idea how the medal ended up on the side of the road in the first place.
Mr Gulliver said he looked up the location where the medal was found and described it as ‘harder than finding a needle in a haystack’.
He said if anyone else had of found it then they probably would have left it, or thrown it away.
When Gabriel returned from the war he lived with his brothers above a boathouse on the Hastings River.
“They lived reclusive lives but they had been through all that horror,” Mr Gulliver said.
Mr Gulliver said he intends to get replica ribbons to keep with the medal and it would be kept in the family and passed on to future generations.
Gabriel died in Port Macquarie aged 54 years in 1940.
