Australian finds fragrant fortune

An Australian couple could reap a fragrant fortune after what they thought was an odd-looking tree stump turned out to be a rare lump of ambergris, a whale excretion used in perfumes and known as “floating gold”.

Loralee and Leon Wright were walking along a remote beach near Streaky Bay in western South Australia state on a fishing trip three weeks ago when they saw the strange object. They took a closer look and Leon, thinking it could have been some kind of cyst from a large marine animal, suggested they take the 14.75 kg lump home. Curiosity eventually got the better of the Wrights. Unable to find an answer on the Internet, they went back and got it two weeks later and described it to marine ecologist Ken Jury.

“It immediately struck me as being ambergris — it couldn’t be anything else,” Jury said. “It’s actually belched out by the animal, would you believe, and those few across the world that have witnessed that or heard it say it’s quite remarkable … apparently the sound of it travels for miles across the water,” he said.

Jury, who is acting for the family, said ambergris can fetch between $20-$65 a gram, The Age newspaper reported on Wednesday that it would make the Wrights’ find worth at least $295,000. Used in perfumes by ancient Egyptians and mythologised in literary classics like Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, ambergris is spewed out of the intestines of sperm whales.