Lucky find in the New Year

One man’s trash was certainly another woman’s treasure when Mt Ousley resident Suzy Duncan recently lost her $700 gold bracelet in a rubbish bag sent to the tip.

After spending the day at her brother’s New Year’s Day party in Corrimal, Ms Duncan realised she could not find the precious piece of jewellery, given to her as a birthday present by her parents.

“When we got home that night, I realised I’d lost my bracelet,” she said.

“The next day we searched my brother’s whole house and the car, and we couldn’t find it.

“I remembered I had been putting a lot of things in garbage bags at the barbecue.

“My brother’s neighbours had taken the rubbish bags to a tip or somewhere like that, and I thought ‘that’s the only place it could be’.”

As it was night by the time Ms Duncan realised the probable fate of her bracelet, the neighbours were not able to collect the rubbish bags until the next morning, two days after the party.

When the bags were returned, Ms Duncan began the laborious task of rummaging through the garbage.

“The first bag I chose to go through was the most disgusting,” she said.

“It was full of left over dip, babies’ nappies and prawn heads, and there were maggots everywhere.

“I had these big gloves on and a mask to stop the smell.”

While looking through a second, less messy bag, Ms Duncan discovered her bracelet.

“I was screaming when I found it,” she said.

“Just imagine what would have happened if we had not got the rubbish in time - it would have ended up in the ground.”

In a wise move, Ms Duncan said she was sending the bracelet to the jeweller for the clasp to be tightened before wearing it again.