Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery
Article about: Hi Blokes ~ I am posting this as an going blog for interested parties that have been following my fossicking of (extensive) WWII ~ Far North Qld Australia . This area has been described in r
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04-06-2014, 09:15 AM
#291
Just been handed this ~
I know a bloke that has an example both in his collection, deactivated of course.
Some of his other stuff, check page 2
Only 4 Bren guns . Damn
Daryl Hollo-russell's (25thapril) Bucket
Daryl Hollo-russell's (25thapril) Library | Photobucket
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04-18-2014, 06:23 AM
#292
Well after a week to ten days of rain and bizarre cyclone things have settled down again ~
( BTW the cyclone was a real Fail for us ~ thankfully ~ we had in excess of 375 mm of rain and noting else/ On the Tablelands we had little to no winds in fact ! But then it moved South and caused bedlam !!)
So in the mean time I did a little "Horse trading " when a fellow MD advocate offered to trade for some AMF buttons ~ he generously offered me some US forces relics which is greatly appreciated ~
But the story developed some what a drama when I was showing the relics to interested parties at Work . One intersted young lady spotted a tiny anchor engraved on the back of one buckle ~
Now I thought I had a same / similar webbing buckle as the one included in the trade from Barry “ in Brisbane !
I had a look when I got home!
And sure enough I have the Grand-daddy of the one sent to me ~
But now it gets interesting ~ ( I might add I may not telling some on site any thing new but then some may not be aware !)
As the first smaller buckle has an Anchor which matches with the theme of the US marine buttons ~ Mine has a tiny engraving ~
THE J E Mergott CO
So I Goggled the company ~They made a lot of stuff in the War years out of USA ~
U.S. United States Military Eagle Brass Uniform Buttons J.E. Mergott Co. Newark
So NOW ~ My quandary was that I now had to paddle through over 114 fossicking portfolios ~ to find WHERE I found this larger webbing buckle ~ so after previously digging up the USA Military dungaree button ~ I have one more relic giving evidence of USA forces presence on the Atherton Table lands ~
So I started in and found that I had dug up the larger webbing buckle in September 2013 ~ and this site was the site of the 2/ 7th armoured Cavalry Aust Batt., after they had returned to Australia from North Africa and the Middle east ~
And now the site is under water after the Cyclone topped up the dam up 90% + !!
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04-24-2014, 04:57 AM
#293
Wanted to pos this on my Blog as well as the Australian badges post ~
Been watching a Brilliant series on Channel Seven ( Australia ) "Anzacs" ~ (Made in 1961!)
( Found one on U tube ~)
But I have not seen 90% of the clips before and it is a fantastic resource for badges, equipment etc and even includes a lot of American forces ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzHu...-bbWA&index=13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But as suggested I wanted to add this post as well to my Blog~
An interesting post as my cousin , sent me photos of his indeed rare collection of Rising Suns and a NZ expeditionary Forces badge.
While I may have the (real deal on site) numbers up , he indeed has the quality ~
The Copper Rising Sun the found in the field along with the more recent Brass but the NZ service badge was given to him as a kid by his Grandmother ~
Stuart;
My collection of Rising sun badges. I actually found the copper one years ago, whilst detecting in the back yard of an old house, that was being demolished here in Bundaberg. The Brass one Grandma S gave me when I was a little lad. The other ones, I have collected over the years.
The New Zealand badge, is a World War I collar badge, Grandma also gave me this one. I think it belonged to her brother who was killed in the War.
I took it to a military fare here at Bundy a few years ago, and they all wanted to buy it. No one had seen one before. It took me ages to find one on the net. It still has the brass pin with it.
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04-24-2014, 05:29 AM
#294
Just did a quick check and Seven -2 are running 4 episodes of ANZAC from 15.30 till 17.00 ~ well worth recording ~
Opps ~ On ANZAC day ~ 25th
Last edited by AT P Sweep; 04-24-2014 at 04:35 PM.
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04-24-2014, 09:27 AM
#295
That kiwi sweet heart broach is worth about $150 to 180 mate, hang onto it for a rainy day. they are like hens teeth
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04-24-2014, 04:32 PM
#296
Thanks mate ~
I figured as much as I have never seen one ~ But I am sure Ian ~ as I would ~ being a family heirloom will never sell it ~
AND just to confirm this ~ his eldest son has already served in the Solomons and two tours in East Timor ~ and is now a Sergeant in combat training in the Australian Army ~ PLUS his wife is also a member of the Military ~ WHAT a back ground ~
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04-27-2014, 03:11 AM
#297
Managed two hunts in the last week ~
First I finally returned to "my " little known USA camp and training site which I have ignored for some 52 weeks after a nasty experience with a stinging tree ~
Dendrocnide excelsa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But this time several of us have considered that the farm next to the forest area would be an ideal site for a military camp ~ So I approached the owner and eventually talked him and he was agreeable for us to sweep the area in search of evidence of such a camp.
I actually met him and his wife for the first time as I was heading up his driveway to access the area for the first. Nice people ~
While suggested that if we found anything of substance they could have first choice of the relics as a memento, she was quick to reply that they were more interested in the Rural Myth that came with the property in that a now deceased member of the original family had lost his Gold implanted teeth in the area!
So I headed into the paddocks/ fields of interest ~ the weather was heavily peppered with showers and the grass extremely dense ~ so it was hard work right up front. I was also warned that the previous family used the fringes as a rubbish dump as far back as the 1920s.
So I headed essentially for the fence line bordering the forest area where I know the trenches and dugouts are!
I instantly had heaps of targets ! But sadly these eventually proved to be part of the detritus dumped by the original owners ~ Although much of was of interest and kept the enthusiasm up ~
But eventually the increasing rain sent me home ~ I did a short zigzag of the closest field but only managed to get saturated from the thighs down ~
But the site is ear marked for a definite return even if only to search for the Gold teeth ~
As I said, the US forces may not have even camped there ~ It is not a matter of whether they were there ~ it is a matter of WHO was there and did they camp as well as train !
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04-27-2014, 04:19 AM
#298
Finally a ( two man ) team MD recce ~
A work place lady has been "at " Ed and I to come over and work over their back yard which supposedly has WWII history ~
Weather was showery and windy ~ but we made a lazy arrival and enjoyed yet another morning 'cuppa' before gearing up.
Ed focused on the area in question ad i screened the yard. Long story short Ed's efforts were disappointing ~
Mean while I pulled a standard WWII Colgate military issue shave cream tube in good condition , a steel wood block splitter, at the end of the morning a heavy '5 lber' axe and head~
And my first fire arm ~
So as the showers continued we decided to make a Plan B and visit a WWII camp site we have never visited previously.
While it is no secret we made a plan and after quick lunch we decided the first choice was too close to the currently active rifle range and the cemetery! which both sort vied for a warning of sorts !~
So we did a short drive around before sticking the tail on the donkey and took a stab at a random site and headed off again, this time armed with the UHF radios as we always split up!
The hits came reasonably quickly but nothing outstanding. The heavy grass made it hard work ~ but there were some areas which were rewarding and much easier to work.
The trap was that the area was rife with drainage trenches much to my fall late in the day . Fortunately I was able to "walk off " a sprained ankle over night, after falling foul of one of the drains! I was concerned last night as i have five days off and want to make the best of the time ~
Fortunately I was wearing my hiking boots ~ as I always do!~ which would have surely minimised any damage !
So we spent some 3 hours working the area ~ I was well pleased with the day overall ~ and plan a return visit or fifteen ~
The small item is a Match box toy chassis ! (??)
And Ironically the match box toy was a #72 ~ A Jeep ~
Last edited by AT P Sweep; 04-27-2014 at 09:10 AM.
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05-10-2014, 11:15 AM
#299
Well Saturday Ed and I headed the rough country about 08.00 ~ Perfect day ~ peaked out about 27 deg and an occasional cooling breeze ~
Had good day ~ Bloody hard work though !
Our plan panned out exactly as we figured with the 6 lbers ~
Bloody rough country ~
They made mining shovels tough in the 1900s !
Ed scared off a feral pig ~ not sure who got the biggest scare.. the pig or Ed ~
But as I said on the radio ~ I got the pan ~ you get the pork , Ed ~
We ended up at the hill top site I discovered when I took the Rocky blokes to our original now flogged and heavily over grown areas ~
Ed and I went even further from where I left off previously ~ ( on the opposite side of the road ~ ) and found heaps more dugs outs , fox holes and gun pits ~ some extremely well built and stead fast after 70 plus years ~ They really did “defend this hill”!
There were a lot spent 303 LE and Bren cartridges in the dug outs ~
Also included brackets and buckles ~ Plus Ed found several very tidy 2” mortar caps !
Since last years brush fire the ( harsh ) grass has regenerated and makes life more than little hard going ~ But it is the screw grass seeds that get to the fossicker ! They even penetrated my new boots ~
The old pioneer shovel is a ripper ~
More vintage tobacco lids
Unbelievable ~ a ( cowboy- station hand) Wringer/ Wranglers buckle ~ in a war zone !!
With inscriptions ~ ( I have plenty of rifling strips and will fit some ~ )
AP6 PR CWT M7
CHP BS12/41
Ironically as we headed home around 15.30 hrs the distant clouds soon turned into rain as we descended into the lower country ~
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05-14-2014, 07:24 AM
#300
Can any one advise exactly what this shell case is ~
B178 E 12L
12 " / 300 mm L * 37 MM dia (?) I am thinking the 37 mm may be a give away !?
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