Ming Dynasty statue unearthed in WA back in Chinese hands

A Ming Dynasty Buddha statue discovered by two prospectors beside a remote highway in WA has been formally handed over to Chinese officials.

Indigenous readers are advised that this story contains the name of a person who has died.

Leon Deschamps and Shayne Thomson were testing prospecting equipment on a roadside in the Shark Bay region in 2018 when their instruments made the distinctive tone indicating the presence of precious metals.

The prospectors were recording as they unearthed the rare 15-centimetre bronze statue from beneath 20cm of topsoil.

After spending considerable time and money investigating the Buddha, the pair advocated for it to be formally returned to the Chinese government as a gesture of peace and goodwill.

It was formally handed over to Chinese consular representatives in an emotional ceremony at the Denham foreshore this morning.

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

At the ceremony Mr Deschamps and Mr Thomson honoured their late friend, Malgana man Nick Pedrocchi. They had promised him they would ensure the Buddha's safe passage home.

"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."

Statue's history still a mystery

Asian art expert Lee Young verified the Buddha dated back to the Ming Dynasty, a period of rule in China from 1368 to 1644 recognised for its trade and architecture.

Such statues were used in ceremonies to celebrate Buddha's birthday. Water was poured over its shoulders while people recited the mantra to do good deeds, speak good words and think good thoughts.

But Mr Deschamps and Mr Thomson never definitively solved the mystery of who left the statue in Shark Bay and why they were there.

The pair even worked with the Shipwreck Hunters Australia TV program to explore the theory that it came from a Ming treasure ship.

They say it is more likely linked to the beginnings of WA's pearling industry, which was pioneered, in part, by Chinese people in the 1850s.

Pearlers used Malay, Chinese and Aboriginal people as labourers, but eventually Chinese people established their own operations and camps in the region.

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

Mr Deschamps and Mr Thomson are calling for a monument to be erected in the region to acknowledge Shark Bay as the birthplace of WA's pearling industry.