Uplifting Message in a Bottle Found in Australia
If you or someone you love has ever battled cancer, you know well the power of uplifting moments happening in the midst of that struggle. Laura Barnard of Australia is in the midst of treatment to fight her breast cancer, and had just finished a few important stages of that when she stumbled upon a lovely, uplifting message in a bottle at Entrance Beach in New South Wales, Australia. She tells me she was “Just walking the dog, relaxing after another long week of radiation” when she found the uplifting message in a bottle. And then, the search for Flynn began! Laura hopes that anyone reading this will help spread the word to find him.

Flynn Bettison’s uplifting message in a bottle lying on the beach just as Laura Barnard found it. Photo: Laura Barnard.
Uplifting Message in a Bottle “Came at the Right Time”
Messages in bottles may not be medicine, but they can feel practically magical. Connecting this way seems almost impossible, and the power of this human connection can be priceless.
That is why Laura is looking for 5-year-old Flynn Bettison who sent his uplifting message in a bottle at Shelly Beach in Australia sometime in 2018. She simply wants to thank this young boy for bringing a little light into her life at the end of a darker stretch.

Laura Barnard found an uplifting message in a bottle at Entrance Beach in New South Wales, Australia. Photo: Laura Barnard.
“It was very strange,” Laura told me, “as it sort of came at the right time as I’m going through breast cancer at the moment and only have two more weeks of treatment left and I’m done. So for me it was a sort of sign to say all is going to be ok. I just want to thank the little fella for brightening up my day.”
You might think it would be easy to find Flynn Bettison, since his whole name is in the message, but it can be trickier than you think. Young kids, especially, are not as easy to locate as adults, who may have social media accounts, or official / government documents that are publicly available.
So if you want to help find Flynn, the best thing will be to share this story among your friends and family until word reaches Flynn’s family.
And then? Well, I suspect that the little boy behind this uplifting message in a bottle, and the young woman who found it exactly when she needed to will have a very special friendship indeed.

Flynn Bettison’s message in a bottle (front). Photo: Laura Barnard.
More Australian Message in a Bottle Stories
- Australian Soldiers Write Home Via Message in a Bottle for Christmas 1915
- The World’s Oldest Message in a Bottle
- 1967 Message in a Bottle Discovered in Concrete Slab in Australia
- The Mysterious Message from Australian Nigel Hanlon

Flynn Bettison’s message in a bottle (back). Photo: Laura Barnard.
More Messages in Bottles
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Hi. I guess it’s “captain obvious” that you checked out the Koalapublishing.com.au to see if there was a Bettison working there. Wow. You kept my details. Ha. All the best. Reading MIABH is MY way of being calm. I guess there’s a beach fairly close, but no ocean. (Lake Ontario). And a bit on the chilly side now.