Book hidden in fireplace returned to Australian library 150 years overdue

A book borrowed 150 years ago has finally been returned to an Australian library, with the culprit linked to the Houses of Parliament in London.

Antiquities of Athens was borrowed from a local library in Kiama, a seaside town about 120km (75 miles) south of Sydney, some time in the mid-1870s.

The book on classic Greek architecture was stored in a tea chest hidden behind a boarded-up fireplace for decades before it was recently discovered by a family member.

Ross Simmons, 77, thinks his great-grandfather, John Simmons, might have borrowed the book to help with his career, having worked as an apprentice stonemason in Westminster in the mid-1800s before becoming an architect in Australia.

Simmons, a self-confessed family history buff, said his great-grandfather studied in London between 1839 to 1844.

"After his studies in London, he was apprenticed to other stonemasons to help in the construction of the Houses of Parliament," Simmons said.

In 1857, aged 27, John Simmons emigrated from the UK to Australia, first living in the Sydney suburb of Newtown before relocating to Kiama after leading the construction of a sandstone church in the coastal town.

"He had quite an interest in architecture, construction and building," Simmons said, adding that the overdue book "probably sat on a shelf at his house" and was used as a reference.