Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[AIF]

C'mon mate... Pics or it didn't happen LOL

[AT P Sweep]

Well ~ Knocked off work at 09.30 and hit the hay for my Nanno nap .. and then around 13.30 i grabbed the gear and headed out to the Calvary site again .

And blow me down i pulled a superb 1940 Sixpence metres from the car ! Again I

Getting frustrated I bolted for the Officers tent site but ended up skirting the site and worked my way around to the Firing range in the hope I could pick a few mortar end caps. And blow me down i scored on almost immediately!

Then I started to "stake" the site ~ and worked back and forth . Then scored a beaut Shilling 1963 ~ obviously post War period ~


As I was getting ready to head home I picked a real strong echo near the spit drop off !

Started to it and found heaps of live 303 rounds .. heaps ~ they just kept coming ~

Then I suddenly notice there is a flat steel surface about 150 mm down ~ this turned into a standard military case. and the case was swamped in 303 rounds ~

It was then I noticed mortar fins and several larger unknown items laying beside the case. It was then that I decided this was getting just too precarious ~ and sinister ~

I momentarily assumed that the case would be packed with 303 rounds so I tried the lid and sure enough it came open ~

I noticed immediately the strong aroma of Ammonia !

I carefully took several snaps before closing the lid and burying the whole thing . Unfortunately I had left the mobile at home and had to wait till I got home before ringing the Police and then Munitions disposal in Townesville.


So end of the day ~

Another unbelievable outing ! They just keep getting better ~

The best bit that the Explosives bloke is going to pick me up Thursday and we will have a look ~ Looking at the photos it looks like there is a webbing carry strap ~ and wrapping ! I think ~ maybe~ several 2" mortars (??)

Have I over reacted ?

Three O threes anyone ~ LOL Plus a few other miscellaneous oddments ~

[Paul D]

Just out of interest what are the Metal detecting laws in Australia ??

[spotter]

"Sorry if I am little naive but what exactly is a Para Illum ~ an Illumination , flare type bomb ?"

Yes mate a parachute illumination round.

As Thantos as confirmed para illum is a parachute illumination round, basically the mortar is launched into the air and a parachute is ejected from the front with an illumination candle on to light up the area ,
I have attached an image showing the more common varients,
not shown is the bursting smoke which externally is the same as the HE round but contains phosphorous,
also the 2inch star/signal again not shown which looks the same as the para illum but is about 3/4 the size and does not contain a parachute.

[AT P Sweep]

Well the QLD gov officials turned up and couple of very conngennial blokes

We went out and raining but quote ~ "THIS could be bigger than Ben Hur!!


EIGHTEEN ~ 18 HE mortar rounds ~ But worse still the box can;t be lifted which tells us that there will be MORE cases underneath ~

As "Ray" the explosives said ~ "This is significant ~ Well done Stuart !"

Now ~ the Army is arriving on my doorstep tomorrow ~ we go back again ~ But as the site is close to residual , a Education centre and the place is a leisure centre on weekends ~ the cache HAS to be cleared by the weekend ~

And the consensus is that the dept boss will make sure tis is a publicity bonus ~

So now it is Police, Military and Media feast ~

And the blokes confirmed my theory of bullets ~ safe as long as treated with respect ~ and they simply don't want to know about 'bullets" !

[AIF]

Hopefully the news story doesn't inspire every idiot within 100 miles to come and start digging around the area... LOL

You should invest in a kinetic hammer and disarm the bullets, I've never tried it on bullets that have been under the ground but I think it would still work, that way you can clean them up and play with them as much as you like without having to worry about them.

[AT P Sweep]

Yes ~ that has already been suggested mate ~

But ironically they turned up with NO shovel .. and then the Army bloke asked me to take my MD with me so they can asess whether there are any more near by ~

???

LOL

[AIF]

Hopefully they turn up with some detectors on the weekend... The new ones are awesome, they fold right up and fit in your pocket

[DioMac]

This is beut stuff mate! If you have any spent .303 casings I'd love to buy a couple off 'ya

[Noel 1969]

Mate, if you cross Tinaroo Creek below the Dam wall and then turn left down the forestry track there is quite a bit of un-exploded ordnance lying around on the surface. It's best to go through after a fire has been through later on in the year. There also use to be the remains of a sea mine near the Dam wall on the North side, but I don't think it's there now, God only knows how it got there. My first post on this forum, a friend from Atherton put me on to it. Cheers