Prospectors call for permanent memorial after handing over Ming dynasty buddha

A rare 15-centimetre bronze statue of a Ming dynasty buddha, discovered by two prospectors in a remote area of Western Australia, has been formally handed over to Chinese officials in a ceremony at the Denham foreshore.

Leon Deschamps and Shayne Thomson were testing prospecting equipment on a roadside in the Shark Bay region in 2018 when they unearthed the statue, which is at least 500 years old, from beneath 20cm of topsoil.

The pair advocated for the statue to be returned to the Chinese government as a gesture of peace and goodwill. At the ceremony, they honoured their late friend, Malgana man Nick Pedrocchi, to whom they had promised to ensure the buddha's safe passage home.

"This is a story that not many Australians know and we feel proud to share it," Mr Deschamps said.

"I remember the moment we passed the buddha into Nick's hands … the instant he held it, his body got covered in goosebumps," Mr Deschamps said.

"We are not religious men, but there has been a very spiritual element to this. It's been very Yin and Yang today. There's been joy and sadness — joy in knowing buddha is going back to people who will treat it property, and sadness thinking about Nick. But mostly I have this great sense of relief off my shoulders. We did the thing we told our brother we would do."

The buddha will return to China with red dirt from Shark Bay, as well as a golden pearl shell. Australia China Friendship Society WA president Simon Wu said the repatriation of the buddha was an incredibly generous and significant gesture.

"Today is an example of how we can bring cultures, countries and people together through a small object. It's showing respect and goodwill," he said.

"For something like this to come home, for the Chinese people in China, they will be happy and welcoming. When it starts its new journey in China it will always be connected back to Shark Bay, so that our next generation can learn about how the Australian people and Chinese people have a friendship that can continue for generations."

Deschamps and Thomson are now calling for a permanent memorial to be erected in the region to acknowledge Shark Bay's pearling history, and its significance as the birthplace of Western Australia's pearling industry.

"Shark Bay, for 100 years, was a pearling port. At times there was more Chinese here than Europeans," Mr Thomson said.

"They lived here, they worked here, they died here. I think bridge is the perfect metaphor to use with this. Today the bridge was everybody coming together with the same feeling and passion we are feeling, and it is a little metal object that has brought us together."