Australia: Buried treasure in Albany may be lost forever

ABC News (Australia): Buried treasure in Albany may be lost forever

When a 19 year-old construction worker plucked the first golden coin from the rubble at an Albany construction site, he could not have predicted the excitement it would cause.

But as workers dug coin after coin from the ground, finally counting more than 300, they probably realised they were onto something big.

The coins, found just inches under slabs of tarmac at the site of the old Freemasons Hotel, were solid gold sovereigns, dated between 1817 and 1900 and were later valued at over $130,000.

Andrew Eyden from the Albany Historical Society says his team is tremendously excited by the find.

"We are working feverishly trying to figure out how they got there," he said.

'We are trawling through old newspapers, records of meetings and the like for clues.'

Mr Eyden says the historical society has come up with one theory which could explain why a large amount of coins were buried at the site.

"There was a time in the 1880's when the townspeople were scared by the very real threat of an attack by the Russians on Australian Ports," he said.

"The British were very close to declaring war on Russia and Russian ships had been sent on a reconnaissance mission to take depth soundings and photographs of Albany's port.

"The banks in Albany were so concerned about the threat, they packed up 3,000 of the town's sovereigns and sent them to Perth for safekeeping."

Mr Eyden thinks it is completely plausible that some of the money was lost along the way.

"It's entirely possible because the banks involved were located very close to that site."

Theories abound
Other people have their theories too.

One researcher believes the coins might have been the ones stolen from notorious South Coast whaler and sealer John Williams in 1842.

John Robertson, who has studied the history of sealing and whaling on the South Coast for the past 12 years, says two men were sentenced to seven years transportation for stealing 250 gold sovereigns and a large amount of silver from Williams.

"But the money was never recovered, so there's every chance the money found in the car park belonged to Williams," he said.

"The two thieves were sent to Tasmania and we don't know what became of them after that.

"They could have buried their money and never come back for it."

Access denied
Mr Eyden says the Historical Society would love to inspect the coins and the site where they were found.

But that may never be possible.

Despite pleas from the society and archaeologists keen to study the coins, the owner of the site where the sovereigns were found, local businessman Paul Lionetti, won't show the gold to anyone.

Mr Lionetti has also made it clear he does not want people on his land.

When news of the discovery reached national audiences, Mr Lionetti employed a security company to patrol fences erected around the site.

Professor John Tarrant from the University of Western Australia's law school says he doesn't believe Mr Lionetti is breaking any laws by holding on to the find.

"As I understand the facts, he is the owner of the land," he said.

"And, as I also understand, the gold coins were discovered in the land, buried in the soil.

"That is significant because the case law indicates that in such a circumstance, the owner of the land - when something like this is found - is the owner of the discovery."

Professor Tarrant adds that he does not know of any law that governs historical finds on private property.

"I'm not aware of any law that would require the owner of the land to hand these coins over to the state or any agency of the state," he said.

"It would be a matter of looking through any of the heritage laws to see if there was anything in those types of laws that would override common law property principals.

'Of course, if there was someone that came forward and claimed that they were the true owner of the coins, then we would have a different contest."

Public interest
Marine Archaeologist Adam Wolfe disagrees that Mr Lionetti should be able to block public access to his find.

He says Western Australia is being denied its heritage.

"It's a great tragedy. Albany is the first site of European settlement and the principal port of the colony of western australia until 1900," he said.

"The things that are on that site, the information that's contained there is of great significance to Albany and the history of Western Australia and belongs to all.

"It belongs to the community and it's quite likely that it demonstrates an awful lot of information."

Mr Wolfe says archaeological sites are better protected in other parts of Australia.

"If we were in Sydney the problem wouldn't have arisen," he said.

"Part of the planning regulation would require the developer to conduct a cultural heritage and archaeological survey of the site to ensure that when works did commence, there's some understanding of what might be discovered.

"More importantly, you would have to conduct an archaeological watching brief."

He says Western Australia needs to follow Sydney's lead.

"There needs to be planning and regulations here to ensure that discoveries like this are managed properly," he said.

"Buried treasure has been found in Albany and now it is going to be lost."

"It is also a great tourism opportunity thrown in the bin."