Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[Ubique]

The floral design and colours of the swastika belt buckle make me think its a 1920's ladies buckle.

[AT P Sweep]

Fossick #437 ~ in search of the camp site.

Been very quiet of late ` we have hada LOT of wet weather ~ and wind~ abnormal amounts

Well~ Forecast is for rain increasing as of tomorrow ~ Wednesday and continuing for the next ten days ~

Today started out shaky but by lunch time it was fine and Sunny~ with brisk SE breeze ~

Detoured to see Jeb and see how he was going ~ before heading off to meet up with Mate Robert ~ and Dog!

We wanted to assess an area which was marked as WWII camp site`! I have looked at tis area before but we decided to go the distance this time and check the area out right to the bottom of the decline and to the creek bed.

We had barely gone five minutes in when i picked up a strong signal < 25> ~ All a little confusing as I have been playing with the settings ~ on the Minelab ~

I was not sure ~ we started to believe I we may have scored a Gold nugget as this is heavy quartz area and it seemed to be resilient and refusing to come out ~ So I am out with the pick and banging on the rough stony ground ~

I was about to give it away as mineralised soil and then I noticed it was out of the hole ! Giving it a quick hook with my boot was totally stunned.. It was a Bloody (Hat) Rising Sun !!

I could not believe it ~ the fact that I did not hammer it with the Pick alone was something else ~

So plugging along I found a lot of spent 303 shell cases and even found a spill of Bren Gun cases ~ and he had fired off the full mag of 30 ~ I gave the better ones to Robert ~

He had a good day as well as he came across Military Barbed wire loop spacers ~ He collected these and plans to tidy them up as relics, Cool find too~.

We eventually worked back to the vehicles and took a break ~ before we decided to have a look at the dump further down the track ~

Robert called it a day around 15:00 well pleased with hsi bits and pieces.

I was tempted t lug on for a while longer but stil not happy with the Minelab settings ~ so headed home about 15:45 ~

KAIRI, QLD. 1945-02-13. PRIVATE R K RUBY, BREN GUNNER, (1), WITH PTE L P SLOPER, MORTARMAN, (2), LOOKING ALONG THE ROAD FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S CAR.

THE MEN, MEMBERS OF THE 21 INFANTRY BRIGADE, ARE ENGAGED IN TRAINING MANOEUVRES.



BREN GUN PRACTICE. (NEGATIVE BY BOTTOMLEY).

Stuart SS

[AT P Sweep]

Rising Sun badges and patina

I have been experimenting with several Rising Sun badges for some 12-18 months as I was endeavouring to instil

the original Patina.

The point being too that most RS wee originally all Flat black `

But I am well pleased with the results. The Bottom badge is the one I dug this week in the "wilderness"

( An Original Badge ( Hat) I bought back from the USA ~ be interested to hear it's story !)



The badge I dug late last year ~ it is bent as can be seen and often happened withte Australian Diggers through daily wear and tear !

5,963

[AT P Sweep]

The Rising Sun hat badge recently recovered is a 'Amor Sydney'

The coins first two dated 1942 and the third is a 1917 KG V 3 Pence. over last two hunts this week ~

[AT P Sweep]

Fossick #440 ~ One Hundred and still not out ~

Wednesday ~ perfect absolute crack of aday ` early Mountain cloud disappointing by 11:00~ clear not a cloud inthe sky after 11:00 ~

S Light SE breeze which cleared to a 24 deg daay ~

On site ~ < 10:30 > ~

I did four sites ~ first I detoured to the Dam to check out a site but obviously @ 96% it just not on ~ so detoured again to a camp ground fore shore ~ 10,000 bottle tops ~ ring pulls and detritus ~ But in the past I have done well here with several Gold rings ~

This time the new Nox settings still managed to filter out an antique ~ very old solid brass oil line nut amongst all the rubbish ~ so patience still works I guess.

SO I ~ stuck the plan and left all that behind and went to an old favourite military camp and the bush ~ Pretty full and lots of rubbish and Detritus ~ including war period Water bungs and even a asthmatic puffer !!! What the ????

Managed a few take homes~ ( the rest can stay to entertain future generations ! ) but then in a rather deep hole in accord with the 800 settings ~ ( I he noticed dramatic increase in holes depths now ~

Then Bingo a Rsing Sun ~ Wo Hoo ~

( Talking to my old mate in Cairns, this week ~ and he is totally bemused ~ and certain I am definitely a Rising Sun Magnet and he has never seen any one quite like Moir'e ) ~

Then the clock was ticking ~ the temps dropping and shadows getting long and light fading~ I headed to another military favourite ~ but totally different as the recent rains have bought the grass on ~ and it was dead loss ~ but I did score a name tag ~" DV Blake Kairi "


So headed home around 16:45 ~ not a lot but some cool goodies ` No 1911 Bayonets ~ or 1900 half Crowns unfortunately ~ but then I have tweaked the 800 into fine tuning mode now and there is tomorrow and every day beyond ~ as I quit the job ~ ( Just too insane ! Too crazy !)

This tag I believe is a milk churn tag as the local farmers supplied the camps with Milk via Milk churns. This is the 3-4th one I have found.

Arendsen Melb. Official ~ #100 ~~

Flame thrower training Atherton tablelands QLD ~ 1944 January ~ ( The demonic weapon!

I had a boss in the 1970s who served in the British Royal Navy and then the British Army ~ as he told me priority targets by opposing infantry was ~ the flame Thrower ~ then the Officers and then the Radio man!

Australian Diggers used these in the Borneo campaign of 1944~

[AT P Sweep]

Fossick #442

Two man Hunt~ Long over due ~

Finally set up mate to come up fora long awaited team hunt.

Horror day on Thursday ~ but great company and at least we both scored a high light on relics each ~

Miserable day ~ raining when we got up at either end ~ blustering SE and < 17 deg>

But we had committed to the Hunt so followed thru ~ drizzle rain all the way and even to Kairi only 1 Km from the farm ~ but no rain all day ~

Plus I probably jumped the gun as I had brief but serious local Op yesterday which I was struggling with “focus” ( Figuratively ) `

Never even give the fact a thought having an op the day before ~ then going out today ~

But Hey ~ got to do what one has to do`

Number three RS for Terry ~

A Warrant Officer's rank badge for moir'e


Stuart SS

[AT P Sweep]

Fossick #444 ~ Slow day at he Office ~

A perfect day and i figured three days post (local) OP was enough ~

Perfect weather ~ topped out at 30 Deg ~

Robert and I did a recce into the Burton rod again `

Still testing the Equinox settings ~ but I had not added the Headphones and some final tweaking.. running really well ~ as I may have mentioned I am planning now to work the CTX to bring it to the same standard as the 800~

Ironically I wanted to access a third fire place on the site and headed of in the rough direction~ we hit the fire place bang on ~

But no gems ~ A lot of detritus and bullet casings.

Robert headed off to town and I kept plugging on ~ No gem in the ruff ~

But then I spotted a single spot at the base of a Gum some distance away and detoured to check it out and sure enough ` Instant quality signal ~

Okay Blokes ~ What is this? I have my own thoughts ~ Com On contributions please ~

Clearly dated 11-40

1” IM

Can’t decipher the casting pre the Date ~ Not sure if this is an insidious device ~ been researching it ~ I left it in situ ~ until we can verify it !

That is a slot ~not a raised edge!

I broke for Smoko and then decided to kick on the hill where I found the last Hat RS.

Found evidence of Bren Gun and Owen gun fire ~ the cases are all in excellent condition ~ not something I would normally bring home but being Bren and Owen cases and in such god shape I decided to bring a few home ~

The Bren gun shells are in amazing condition ~ as are the Owen Gun cases.

The firing pin is typical of the Bren gun. A slotted foot print ~ Heaps of casings ~ but no surprises ~

Home around 16:00

Stuart SS

THE VARIOUS PARTS OF AN OWEN GUN. THESE FIT TOGETHER BY SIMPLE BAYONET CATCHES. SINCE OWEN GUNS ARE PRECISION MADE, A DAMAGED PART MAY BE REPLACED IN A FEW SECONDS. (NEGATIVE BY C. BOTTOMLEY).

AITAPE-WEWAK SECTOR, NEW GUINEA. 1945-04-26. PTE R.F. GAUDRY 2/3 INFANTRY BATTALION, WITH AN OWEN GUN IN A FORWARD PIT AT KALIMBOA VILLAGE.

Corporal (Cpl) Keith Johnson, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), 22, wearing a steel helmet covered with camouflage netting and laying prone behind his .303 Bren light machine gun. Three years ago Cpl Johnson joined the 42nd Infantry Battalion, Citizen Military Force (CMF) and after nine months transferred to a machine gun unit. In 1952 he joined the Regular Army and was posted to RAR in Korea last August.

[verdammt]

The bigger metal plate is from a harmonica, so-called French harp or mouth organ.

[AT P Sweep]

verdammt

Thanks ~mate

I have quite a collection of Harmonica bits and pieces.. but never found an intact one ~ I guess the Diggers only ever discarded them if and when they fell apart.

[AT P Sweep]

DAM ~

Duplicated this post ~ Sorry Folks ~