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Six-decade war secret unearthed

For 60 years Albany man Lyall Wilkinson knew where his grandfather’s World War I medals were hiding – he had buried them deep into the soil underneath a jarrah tree on his family’s Cranbrook farm when he was seven.

Mr Wilkinson, now 67, had found them when exploring as a young boy – they were sitting in a tin box inside a chest in the spare room – and as adventurous boys do, he decided he’d bury them as treasure.

For six decades, he kept his treasure a secret.

“It was something little boys did in those days,” he said.

“Treasure Island was on the radio … that’s probably why I did it.”

The medals belonged to Walter James Wilkinson, who enlisted for service at the Western Front in 1915 at age 44 and served for two years.

Mr Wilkinson was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April this year, and it was on the night of Anzac Day when sharing memories of days gone by with his children and grandchildren that he decided it was time to spill his long-held secret.

“It was only a few days before that I’d been diagnosed with cancer and my granddaughters wanted to march in the Anzac parade,” he said.

“That night I told them about the story that I’d buried the treasure, so my son told me that they’d find them, and that’s exactly what they did.”

Lyall Wilkinson with the long lost medals. Picture: Simon Wilkinson

Mr Wilkinson said the in the 1950s, war medals were not as significant as they are today, and his own father never questioned where they had disappeared to.

“I probably wouldn’t have told them anyway,” he said.

“I might not have got a very warm reception.

“I did have a crack at finding them once or twice over the years, but I couldn’t find them.”

Last Saturday, Mr Wilkinson’s son Simon along with his wife Rebecca and friend Keith Righton headed to the former Wilkinson family farm of 99 years in Cranbrook, which is now owned by Perin and Tony Warham.

In a modern-day treasure hunt, with a trusty metal detector and some elbow grease, they uncovered service medals from the Western Front, two rising sun lapels, a RSL medal and infantry medal, about 45cm underground.

“We got to the farm and started fossicking roughly where he had told us and two hours later we discovered the treasure,” Simon said.

“There was an overwhelming feeling of history, of success, almost relief.”

Mr Wilkinson said he broke down when Simon delivered the rusted, but intact medals to his Albany home.

“It was absolutely unbelievable … I was absolutely amazed that it was there,” he said.

The family plans to have the medals restored to their former glory to be handed down to future generations.

“I’ve made my son promise that he will always look after them and I know he will,” Mr Wilkinson said.