When young Rory Gardiner went outside to play around in a pile of dirt, he probably expected his most exciting finds to be a few worms or insects.
Instead he fossicked through some dirt containing a British Royal Navy World War I service medal that had been buried deep in the soil of Robertson, New South Wales, for nearly 100 years.
"When they were putting the new sewerage line in through town, we saw them carting the soil back and forth and asked if we can have some," Rory's mum Simone Gardiner said.
"We had soil put on our property to level out some areas, and it's been sitting there a while.
"Rory was kicking around in the dirt on the weekend and he said, 'Hey dad, what's this?'"
Meeting F.H Rogers, the 'scoundrel' wanted for deserting his wife
In faint writing on the back of the medal was engraved "F.H Rogers", along with a service number and rank.
Ms Gardiner immediately started researching war history records online and soon discovered the medal belonged to Frank Horace Rogers, who was born in London in 1891.
He held the rank of Leading Stoker and came to Australia after WWI.
It is here that his story joins up with the NSW Southern Highlands.
"He was located in Moss Vale for a while, and people have been sending me information about him because there was a warrant out for him for abandoning his wife," Ms Gardiner said.
She posted a photo of the war medal on a Robertson community Facebook group, prompting locals to share their own research.
David Baxter wrote:
"1928 Police Gazette. Moss Vale. A warrant issued by the Moss Vale Bench for the arrest of Frank Horace Rogers, charged with wife desertion. He is 36 years old, 5'6"high etc. An Ex-Publican and Navy man. Last heard of in Adelaide where he was said to have embarked for England.
Complainant Kathleen Rogers. 1930 Police Gazette. The warrant for his arrest was cancelled. An order was made ex-parte for him to pay GBP 1/10/- per week to support his wife. He had previously in 1920 deserted from HMAS "Brisbane" at Hobart. He married Kathleen Napier in 1921 in Randwick.
"I have a bit more on him and his war record but it seems he was a publican and a bit of a scoundrel."
Connection leads back to town pub
Ms Gardiner's research led her to believe Frank Rogers ran the local pub.
"It looks like he may have been the publican at the Robertson hotel when it was called the Criterion Hotel, and he was living here before he got married," she said.
"On the Robertson Public House website it says it was renovated in 1928 by a former Navy man."
But at some point it seems Rogers dropped his WW1 service medal.
Now Ms Gardiner wants to return it to the man's family.
"We want to find the man's family and return it," she said.
"My son was bummed out because he thought it was cool and he wanted to keep it."
She said she had an appreciation for war history because her grandfather was a historian who fought in World War II and traced the family bloodline back to William the Conqueror.
"I know it's so interesting to put yourself back into history and we've treasured what he found in our past," Ms Gardiner said.
"So if there is a family out there he hasn't abandoned, we can connect it to somewhere where we can put it."
