By Luke Voogt
THE 1931 premiership medal of late Geelong player Milton Lamb has finally returned to his family, after decades lost in Northern Ireland.
Irishman Seamus Mc Areavey handed the precious heirloom to Milton’s daughter Vivienne Reed in a ceremony at the Cats’ Heritage Centre on Monday.
“It’s back to where it belongs that’s the main thing,” he said.
Seamus’s older brother Billy found the medal in Belfast about two decades ago and placed it in a screw-top jar, where it remained until Seamus spotted it.
“It’s a good job Billy kept the medal all this time,” he said.
“Anybody else might have sold it for the gold content or melted it down.”
Billy couldn’t remember exactly where he found the medal and the only clue to its origin was the inscription: ‘Geelong F.C. 1931 M. Lamb’.
Seamus searched the name and discovered the medal belonged to Milton Lamb, the last player of Geelong’s 1931 premiership team to die.
“I was just a pity that we hadn’t have found out sooner,” he said. “It would have been nice to hand it personally into Milton’s hand.”
Seamus decided his upcoming trip to Australia would be the perfect chance to return the medal to the Lamb family.
He contacted the Indy in December, who tracked down Milton’s last surviving daughter.
The 72-year-old guarded the medal closer on the flight to Australia.
“I kept it in my pocket the whole time,” he said.
He returned it safely to Vivienne, who was thrilled to have it back in the family.
“I think it’s incredibly generous by both Seamus and Willy,” she said.
“We’ll have a big family gathering soon so all the grandchildren and great grandchildren can see it.”
But the mystery of how the medal reached Ireland in the first place will likely remain unsolved.
“I just wish the medal could talk,” Vivienne said. “To me it’s just astounding it’s ended up in Ireland.”
Vivienne asked her father about the medal about 20 years ago, but Milton had no idea where it went.
“He certainly didn’t sell it – he kept everything else,” she said. “It just got lost along the way.”
Vivienne presented Seamus with a book on the Lamb family’s history, while Cats vice-president Bob Gartland handed him a signed jersey.
William Milton Lamb played four years with Geelong before working in management and serving as a navigator in World War II. He died in 2006 aged 96.
