Here’s a mystery better than any book Armand Sukhla may have on the shelves of his Penrith bookshop.
Six months ago, a customer visited Elizabeth Arcade Books in High Street and donated 12 boxes of unused books.
However, only 11 of those boxes had books inside.
To the store owner’s surprise, the other box was full of 15 photo albums dating back decades.
Now, Mr Sukhla wants to reunite those precious photo albums with their rightful owner, however he’s having a little trouble doing so.
“I remember a man coming in and asking us if we wanted a donation of books… then when they were long gone we decided go through the boxes,” he said.
“Each photo album is very different. One features holiday snaps, another family snaps. There was also an album of historical documents plus photos dating back to pre-war times.”
Mr Sukhla said the owners couldn’t have possibly left the albums there intentionally due to the nature of the important memories left behind.
“I think they dropped them off by mistake,” he said.
“It’s been about six months since they were here, I’m surprised they haven’t missed them. They could’ve moved out of the area but I’m hoping a neighbour, work colleague or friends know the family.”
Fortunately, to make things a little bit easier for Weekender readers to track down the owners, there were a few key clues left inside the box.
Mr Sukhla discovered that the family names of Wilmshurst and Mott feature throughout some of the documents.
In addition, there’s an album of photos from Motts Cottage in Port Fairy, Victoria.
But perhaps the biggest clue left inside the box was an ID card belonging to a St Clair High School student, who was born in 1989.
As his book shop continues to grow, Mr Sukhla said he doesn’t want to throw out the box of memories but will need the extra space eventually and needs to solve the mystery in the near future.
Can you help Elizabeth Arcade Books solve this mystery? If so, contact us here at the Weekender. Send an email to [email protected] or give us a call on 4722 2998 to tell us what you know.
