A demolition in Victoria has uncovered a decades‑old message in a bottle hidden within the wall of an old shed.

Brent Taylor found the bottle three years ago during works on his St Albans Park home in Geelong, but set it aside, only rediscovering it recently while sorting through boxes.

It prompted him to attempt to identify anyone linked to the note, which is dated ‘18th June 1972’ and has five signatures beneath the handwriting: ‘Pat Finn’s birthday’.

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He uploaded a photo of the bottle and the note to community groups on Facebook and was shocked at what he discovered.

“I’ve actually found the son of the person ‘Pat’ whose birthday it was,” Taylor told 7NEWS.com.au.

“Pat’s wife Laura has also signed it, sadly Pat has passed but she is now in her 90s”.

Four of the five signatures have now been solved and Taylor hopes the families can decide together what happens next.

“I’m hoping they can come to an agreement as to what happens with the bottle as I’m sure it would be something the families would like,” Taylor said.

four out of the five names have been solved Credit: Brent Taylor

Laura and Pat’s son, Damian Finn, said he wasn’t even born when the note was written, but he remembered living next door to the Fox family who signed the note.

“Dad passed away 16 years ago and hadn’t mentioned this to me. I’m calling in on mum who has also signed the paper. She’s now 90 and not going great,” Finn told 7NEWS.com.au.

“My parents were always in for a bit of fun. Dad would sign his name and date on every house he ever worked on. In wall cavities etc, so this may be the start of more finds.”

Barry Fox’s father Maurice also signed the note and said he believes the bottle was placed inside the wall cavity as “a sort of time capsule to remember the building of the garage.”

Taylor says the discovery has an uncanny personal twist, as he himself, was involved when a message in a bottle was found in Australia’s southwest.

“Funnily enough a message in a bottle from a relative of mine was found a year ago which was dropped overboard on his way to WW1,” he said.

That bottle was found on Wharton Beach, near Esperance in Western Australia, where experts believe it remained buried for over 100 years. It was from two Australian soldiers in 1916 and was dropped in the ocean as the soldiers made their way to France.