Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[michael77]

Great finds mate great thread.

[AT P Sweep]

Cheers M-77

Glad to know folks enjoy ~ and as an (official) Military type said to me some time back ~ "There is a WHOLE lot more to come!!"

[AT P Sweep]

Well a bizarre day to say the least ~


My 'great lady' Merete was still in hospital ~ and she had to be feeling a bit like the Bali Nine~ that is as long as she stayed in Atherton Hospital we knew her toe would remain intact ~

I fronted up at the hospital around 09,00 and spent an hour with her waiting for the Doctors to make a decision ~ Not happening so I rang Ed and requested if my presence be acceptable ~

I finally arrived on site around 11.15 ~ Terry and Ed had rallied by 08.00 ~~

Perfect day ~ and they had been on site for some three hours and doing quite well~

I rigged up and headed off and promptly walked into the Paper Wasp nest~ one stung me on the bridge of my Nose ~ I thought well that’s going to be bloody great by tonight! ~ but it is fine now ~

But worse still I was focused on digging a target hole with multiple targets ~ I managed one webbing buckle but the rest were ‘inching’ to close toward the wasp nest for my comfort zone !

And I have NO doubt that my Camo gear ‘hid’ my presence of any (further) threat as they ignored me after I had backed off ~ One to Camo gear ~ LOL

I worked on, and soon found an array of 303 shells and misc. trash.. then I hit another ammunition cache! This time there were masses of 303 rounds ~ but in a very sad state ~

By the time we broke for a smoko it proved that Ed and Terry were doing far better than Moiré ~ but then I never expected to score big time straight up with the new CTX ~ although I feel I have done reasonably well in a short time I have a long way to go yet before I master the Minelab ~

Ed scored a really nice (hat) rising Sun with both pins intact amongst his booty ~

No photos today as I was not even expecting to join ranks with Terry and Ed until Merete suggested I should do so ! So I neglected to take the GPS, the Camera and other misc., equipment ~

Terry donated some of the items here in as he feels he only needs two of every item ~ as opposed to me ~ who would save the entire Relic World if I could ~ LOL

Oh~ not forgetting Ed donating several Water drum bungs ~ Thanks mate!

Not sure what calibre the primer safety triangles suit but sure as Hell they were large calibre shells ~ One humble 303 blank cartridge.. But there dozens of 'live' cartridges and cases 303 and even 9 mm ~

Left the camera and the GPS at home ~ no added photos ~

[AT P Sweep]

Put in another solo Hunt ~ three stage operation.

Drove to site #1 ~ all new site of two ~ but turned out to be a fizzer as the grass was just way too high ~

So after a scant and fail sweep in what low areas there were I packed up and went stage 2

This is the same area I found my first hand grenade ~ found a few small misc , clips and buckles from Aust Slouch hat/s ~ a couple of Lee Enfield sight adjusters.

But I was hunting against the clock and time was running out ~ so I headed to yet another old favourite site ~

Mainly because I have been working with the new Minelab CTX and running over old ground and the results are showing the CTX is galaxies ahead of the Garrett~

On ground I have hunted numerous times I was getting many many misc targets previously missed ~

Impressive result and I am still coming to grips with the new Minelab,

Nice surprise in a WWII site and quite deep ~ a modern 50 cent coin ~

The disc I believe is a separation plate for a artillery shell ~ (??) Being 110 mm in diameter I suggest a large calibre piece ~ 155 mm maybe (??)



Not a huge day or spectacular as the previous week but a great test period for the new MD ~

[AT P Sweep]

Doing a little restoration work on the Webbly .380 rounds ~

Brilliant result ~ Electrolysis on very low voltage for 4-5 days and then buff and polish !

(Just shows how well these puppies were so well preserved even after 70 years ~ in a now long gone wooden crate ~ hinges were stil in situ ~ and then the deteriorating cardboard cartons~

Before and after ~ the 'black one' has just been removed from the electrolysis vat.)

[AT P Sweep]

About time for an update of sorts ~

Done two lots of the .380-200 Webbly revolver bullets ~ STUNNING RESULT thus far ~

More Buckles, Bullets, badges and Buttons ~ and a WHOLE lot more to come ~ ( note the 9mm round which was a solo find in the dirt rather the .380 found the cartons ~ )

The 380's were made in 1943 ~ I have yet to ID the factory ~

Plus several small hunts which were more about familiarisation of the new CTX ~

Total rsto includes ~ Bullets, badges, buckles and buttons...

[AT P Sweep]

The three hunt results ~ modest but satisfying ~

Pity about the Spark plug as it is definitely 1930-40s design !

The second hunt revealed an Officer's cap AMF button and a 'crunched' mortar base fuse protector ~ Plus a mystery disc embossed with ' English Make'

The third hunt of last Saturday included a very tidy 1942 1/2 penny KG VI.

The button WILL clean superbly ~ bet my cattle station on it !




As suggested more about getting to grips with the new Minelab CTX ~

[AT P Sweep]

FINALLY after some 4-5 weeks of rain and showers with sprinkles of Sunshine at the wrong time ~ we finally got in a serious Hunt on Saturday ~


Early start ~ and it was &^& cold..we drove to the latest Bush site ~

Southerly wind would cut bread ~ but out of the wind it was superb day ~ ( I ditched the woolies and under shirt within 30 minutes ~ )

Anyway ~ the targets started ringing very quickly and we were off and running ~ the open areas are heavy going with a lot of Singapore daisy and tall grass patches ~

( Keeping in mind we do have “the Winter Snake” here and ‘he’ is nasty if stepped on ~ so it was long duds and even gaiters ~ )

So much for our theory of no interlopers in this remote area since WWII and 1945 !?????

*Modern decimal coin~ post 1966!



Aust Military forces button



A solid shot 2 lber ~ surprise find on site ~




We worked through till around 10.30 and broke for smoko ~

Smoko head count ~

Ed’s






My 'mornings' gatherings


The solid practice shell stayed in our ‘dump stump’ on site




No shortage of “live rounds “ in this site ~ including caches ~

We scattered after smoko

There is also no shortage of ‘rubbish holes’

Officer’s mess dump ~ lots of fancy broken china plates ~ The beer glass centre was once a cracker but sadly the top half was broken ~




Working the “VJ grave yard” hole at day’s end !

Massive dump hole ~ We can only assume that this was the final salute and dump of webbing and fixtures post August 1945!

( This seems to be growing in size each time we come back ~ )



Huge day ~ on site ~ < 7.45> Head home 15.30 !

Ed’s tally ~ his morning tally NOT included ~ another humiliation for me ! LOL

Note superb Six pounder shell primer and fuze cap ~ top – right!

Ed even scored several medicinal vial's centre left







I cannot complain I have pulled one Rising Sun badge myself on this site ~


My Total for the day ~ (Either Ed tunes in far better than me or maybe I am still coming to terms with the new Minelab CTX ! ???)

Two officer’s webbing ( config ?) buckles

The calibrated piece is a tyre pressure gauge extension

The large flat piece is a high carbon tensile steel piece and shows little rust so high quality ~ plus a 1943 1/2 penny ~ KGV



A great day with a mate and promise of much much more to come ~ plus even more sites to be investiagted ~

I am hoping to see some Boys anti tank rifle shots out of this site ! Especially in view of the 6 lber primer fuze and the solid shot round ~

[AT P Sweep]

Can anyone help ID the Primer and fuze we found last Saturday ~

[Torch]

Hey Stu,got this reply from a bloke on BOCN Sean,

No. 15 Mk II Primer, QF
Primer for 6 Pr 10 cwt, 6 Pr 7 cwt, 3 & 6 Pr
Filled by RY - Risley in March 42
Manufactured by GES (don't have my list to hand at the moment)

TimG