Darwin Area

[qotd]

G'day All,

I was posted to Darwin for nearly ten years when serving in the army and there is a lot of WW2 sites in the Northern Territory of Auatralia. Everything from Airfields, hospitals, camp sites,AA batteries and dumps. I have found everything from Machine gun barrels, 20 mm spitfire projectiles, ammo can lids, and other bits and pieces, One Airfeild called Fenton has a aircraft graveyard with wrecked B25 and B17 parts scattred for miles. Will post some pics of what is up there. Darwin was bombed by the Japanese by the same carrier group that bombed Pearl Harbour and was a major US and Australian staging area. You can still find bomb damage and bullet holes in bulidings around Darwin to this day!

[snoage]

they had midget jap subs come into the harbour during the raids wouldn,t mind getting over there one day to have a look

[qotd]

There is so much stuff still out in the bush.....We used to use the old airfields as staging posts for our Transpot unit, we found Bren gun carriers, old aircraft and when we dug in some paces you'd find 50 cal shell casings and all sorts of rubbish.. And most of it is easily accesible and there is a lot in Darwin city itself.

[tampalam]

What are the laws like in Australia pertaining to digging for war relics?

[snoage]

sounds interesting hope to travel up there gets humid & very hot & sticky i recently purchased a ww2 national geographic with a big story on Darwin in war time some good pics in it

[qotd]

I have no idea what the laws are regarding war relics, anything I found I took home, though when I found the two 50 cal barrels in a puddle, I rang the police and asked them. I told them it was only a rusty barrel, and they pretty much said, no worries. i only found the barrels and the recievers, they were no where near complete or could ever be made to fire again, so I kept one and gave one to the local Airforce museum. There are a lot of airfields on private land so gaining permision first is a must, a lot of them have their mobile phone numbers on the front gate and you ring it, let them know you want to see the airfield and the let you in....One airfield in northern Western Australia is so remote that EVERYTHING the yanks left behind is still there, vehicles, aircraft even tools on workshop benches. Tha is on private land and you cant take anything as the owner wants to keep it as is...fair enuf....

[tampalam]

I have no idea what the laws are regarding war relics, anything I found I took home, though when I found the two 50 cal barrels in a puddle, I rang the police and asked them. I told them it was only a rusty barrel, and they pretty much said, no worries. i only found the barrels and the recievers, they were no where near complete or could ever be made to fire again, so I kept one and gave one to the local Airforce museum. There are a lot of airfields on private land so gaining permision first is a must, a lot of them have their mobile phone numbers on the front gate and you ring it, let them know you want to see the airfield and the let you in....One airfield in northern Western Australia is so remote that EVERYTHING the yanks left behind is still there, vehicles, aircraft even tools on workshop benches. Tha is on private land and you cant take anything as the owner wants to keep it as is...fair enuf....

That airfield sounds interesting. I would love to see a news article or documentary about the place. Maybe the owner could open it as a sort of museum even though it is remote. Somebody would probably pay well for a tour by helicopter.

[mad_ideas]

id love to see some photos of the aircraft, dumps and bren carrier, by the sounds of it, it would be my kinda place, mabey i'll have to come out for a poke around in auz someday
thanks for posting
regards Mad_ideas

[Steve T]

<----waiting for the pictures !!!



Steve T

[mad_ideas]

gotta love pictures, im a firm believer that a picture speaks louder than a thousand words.........well most do anyway!!!
Mad_ideas