Husband accidently throws away $50,000 worth of wife's jewellery

It might be the last time an Australian man ever offers to take out the rubbish. A Caloundra man is petitioning his local council to scour local tips after accidentally throwing out $50,000 (£32,000) worth of his wife's jewellery before their 23rd anniversary last week. Geoffrey of Caloundra, who doesn't want his last name printed, had split up the couple's uninsured gold collection of charm bracelets, bangles and pure gold bars into three garbage bags to try to fool potential robbers.

But in a mix-up during a house clean-up, the bags - which also contained family heirlooms - went straight to the wheelie bin and, most likely, the Nambour tip. Geoffrey, who works as a truck driver, said he was frightened his family would be a target of robbers after his GPS navigation system with his home address installed was stolen along with his keys. "I had this great idea to split the gold into three rubbish bags, so if the thieves did come, they're not going to find it," he said. "We're moving house, and I told the kids to give me any garbage lying around for me to throw out.



"My wife rang me up when I was at work and said 'where are the bags?' You know that sick feeling you get? Wow." He frantically called Sunshine Coast Regional Council who said he had next to no chance of regaining his loot. "Caloundra landfill receives approximately 1400 tonnes of waste per week - the equivalent of over half the volume of water in an Olympic swimming pool," said a council spokesman.

"To locate the lost items, this decaying compacted waste would need to be systematically excavated and sorted mechanically by the contractor. While council sympathises with the owners . . . unfortunately any attempts to search for the lost items would be extremely difficult, and would pose serious safety risks." Geoffrey said the majority of the gold was bought as an investment while the couple lived in the UK more than 25 years ago.