I am based in the Latrobe Valley Victoria. Some time ago I was on a gold prospecting trip near Laverton Western Australia. We were detecting old gold fields over a number of days looking for the bits of gold that may have been missed. On this particular warm afternoon I had not had any success and had been digging lots of junk metal. I then came a across a very loud target When I scrapped the ground a small golden brooch appeared, it was about the size of a $2 coin. It was very old and metallic attaching pin had long since corroded away. The brooch appeared to feature a cannon mounted on Wagon Wheels. When I returned home I forwarded a photo of the Brooch to the Australian War memorial, as thought it may have a military origin. Shortly afterwards I received an email from the War Memorial stating that it was what is known as a "Sweet Heart Brooch" of World War 1 era and it was of French origin. Apparently soldiers would purchase these items and mail them to there loved ones back home as a memento. They provided me with a link to a web site that featured numerous brooches including the one I found. Why this brooch would be located in a very remote part of the Western Australian gold fields will always remain a mystery.