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Ming Dynasty Buddha statue found in Shark Bay, WA, handed back to China

A 15cm bronze Ming Dynasty Buddha found by two prospectors in Western Australia in 2018 was handed to Chinese consular officials at Denham on Tuesday 13 October. How it got there remains unresolved.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: ABC News (Australia)
Image: South China Morning Post

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The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2A 15-centimetre bronze Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty was formally handed to Chinese consular representatives at a ceremony on the Denham foreshore in Shark Bay, Western Australia, on Tuesday 13 October 2026. Mixed · 2Prospectors Leon Deschamps and Shayne Thomson found it in 2018 while testing metal-detecting equipment beside a roadside in the Shark Bay region, unearthing it from beneath 20cm of topsoil. Mixed · 2The pair advocated for its return to China as a gesture of peace and goodwill, and honoured their late friend, Malgana man Nick Pedrocchi, to whom they had promised its safe passage home.

Mixed · 2Asian art expert Lee Young verified the statue as dating to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Such figures were used in ceremonies for Buddha's birthday, when water was poured over the shoulders. Mixed · 2Simon Wu, president of the Australia China Friendship Society WA, called the return an extraordinarily generous gesture that showed respect and goodwill. Mixed · 2The statue will go to China with red Shark Bay earth and a golden pearl shell. It will undergo further testing to establish its history before display in a Beijing museum.

Left · 1How it reached Australia is unresolved. The finders explored with the TV program Shipwreck Hunters Australia a theory that it came from a Ming treasure ship, but said a link to the 19th-century pearling industry, which employed many Chinese workers, is more likely. Centre · 1The South China Morning Post said there is no evidence that the seafarer Zheng He ever reached Australia, called the pearler theory more plausible, and cited Western Australian Museum records of an 1886 census showing 102 Chinese among more than 200 pearling workers. It described the statue as believed to be the oldest Chinese artefact found in Australia, and noted Australia's 2023 return of other cultural relics to China. Left · 1Deschamps and Thomson are calling for a monument in the region recognising Shark Bay as the birthplace of WA's pearling industry.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Local, human-interest account of an emotional ceremony, centred on the finders and their late friend.
Emphasis
Finders' quotes, Malgana man Nick Pedrocchi, friendship and goodwill, calls for a pearling monument.
Leaves out or plays down
No wider diplomatic context such as the 2023 relic returns.
Charged language
“emotional ceremony”
For example
“It was formally handed over to Chinese consular representatives in an emotional ceremony at the Denham foreshore this morning.” — ABC News (Australia)

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Frames the return as a diplomacy story with a lingering mystery over the statue's origin.
Emphasis
Historical evidence on origin, pearling census figures, scepticism of the Zheng He theory, prior 2023 returns.
Leaves out or plays down
Little on the finders' personal story or Nick Pedrocchi; no monument call.
Charged language
“ongoing mystery”
For example
“but there is no evidence that he ever reached Australia.” — South China Morning Post
“A more plausible theory is that the statue arrived with Chinese pearlers and fishermen in the 19th century.” — South China Morning Post

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

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