Mr Challand’s great-grandfather was a volunteer from Kurri Kurri who came to Australia from the UK with his brother.

“My great-granddad joined the Australian Army, serving with the 105th Howitzer Battery,” Mr Challand said.

“He didn’t talk a lot about the war, but I remember him telling me how he had been in Egypt and on the Western Front in Europe.

“He came out of the war uninjured and he lived in Weston for many years.

“As a young kid, I was always interested to hear his stories – and in particular to see a German bayonet he had brought back from France,” Mr Challand said.

“Of course I asked him how he got it. But he would only say he ‘got it off a German soldier.’

““I wondered if granddad had killed the enemy or wounded him, but he never told me any more,” Mr Challand said.

“After my grandfather died, I found the bayonet in a bag in his shed and remembered the story about it.

“An inscription on the blade says it was made by J A Henckels but there are no other marks on it.

“However, it still has its fine leather scabbard which is in good condition.”

Mr Challand said he was proud of his great grandfather’s war service and he realised the mystery of how he acquired the bayonet might never be solved.

But the item of which he is most proud is a big portrait of his great-grandfather in uniform.

“I have two sons and a daughter,” he said. “I will keep my great grandfather’s picture, his bayonet and the newspaper cuttings so they can learn something of our family history when they get a bit older.”

Mr Challand has also found several newspapers from the Hunter about World War I which his grandfather had kept.

A typical section was the list of casualties.

Mr Challand has one for October 12, 1917 that reads: “Killed in Action: Lieutenant JC Burgess, East Maitland.

“He was a staff member of Maitland High School for seven years.”

“It is one of so many thousands of brief, heartbreaking reports read by families everywhere,” Mr Challand said.

“Just a few lines can contain so much pain.”