WHAT started as a regular Easter beach day for a curious two-year-old at Blairgowrie beach has turned into a remarkable moment in Indigenous archaeology – although the pint-sized explorer has no idea.
Brooke Murray and her husband Reece Murray had been enjoying time at the beach with their son Victor on 19 April when he found a rock in shallow water and began playing with it. To him, it was just a “fun rock,” with Brooke thinking nothing more of it with Victor taking it home as part of his beach treasures.
But the rock’s distinct shape later caught Brook’s attention and out of curiosity, she posted a photo of it on social media which attracted widespread attention. “There were a few people saying it’s definitely an artefact. So I thought, ‘oh, what should I be doing with this now that it is something?’” she said. The family decided to take the rock to the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation in Frankston. And what happened next blew them away.
Experts at the council confirmed it was a greenstone ground edge tool, which were commonly used by Indigenous Australians for various tasks like tool making, food procurement, and woodworking. “They were excited. They said it is a round edge stone tool, which is very rare and could be 200 to 5000 years old,” Brooke said. To celebrate the historic occasion, Victor joined a council staff member for a photo as he handed over the artefact on Monday 26 May.
While the small but significant find will go down in the history books, Brooke said Victor “didn’t understand” and laughed that “he was too busy with his mandarin in the photo”. But she was proud to say, “My son was officially put down as the finder in the files, and I’ve actually got pictures of when he found it”. “They said it was a very random spot to find it … he was just picking it up from the water, throwing it back in again, and picking it up. That went on for about half an hour,” she said.
She said the location at the beach was close to the Blairgowrie Café, next to a pedestrian crossing.
Asked how she was feeling about playing a small role in uncovering a piece of Australia’s Indigenous history, she said, “I thought it was special; the historians were pretty pleased and excited”.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 3 June 2025
