Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[lithgow]

The badges weren't polished though-whole point of blackening them for field service was a low profile effect-and damaging HM's property would incur the wrath of the CSM!

[AT P Sweep]

Good call ~ as I am forgetting that the Aust. badges were black ~ So an intriguing scenario again ~ why was this groudn or polished off ~

And yes I am pretty sure the seniors would not be impressed with Folks grinding or polishing off the fine detail!

[lithgow]

People do some strange things when they're bored-ever fed a whole pencil into an electric sharpener?

[VERSUCH]

Unfinished Trench Art for "Sweetheart"or "Mother badge ?

[AT P Sweep]

Fossick #559

The Four slot stop ~

Perfect day ~ FINALLY ~ 24 deg UV-8 SSE breeze chilly ~

Headed off mid morning ~ Headed to the Kairi ~Saw mill site as Robert reported that they had slashed the slope for the saw mill to the Creek .

Rocked up to the office and quizzed the site office Jock, Ian ~ and he grumbled out that the slashed paddock was nothing to do with their property . That is now other property owners.

So thanked him and headed off ~ and found that the (historical ) horse paddock used for the for the by local school' many decades ago and used was also slashed ~

So I dropped in and did a few sweeps ~ but all I found was trash ~ alco cans and a modern SS steak knife less the handle ~

So detoured onto the stage three some distance away ~ the #2 Rubbish dump ~ IF I could find it!

I searched for some 20 mins. before I actually located the #2 Dump hiding in the grass ~

I spent some 45 Mins scanning the site and in hindsight I totally believe that his was a "Cookies" dump!

As it has large amounts, including HEAPS of fragmented ~ rusted and deteriorated cans ~ such as preserved fruit veg. etc ~

with NO positive results but more intact bottles ~ I decided to head back to the #1 Dump ~

I spent a good 1 1/2 -2 hours scanning and digging the dump with some great results ~ More bottles of course and some good signals ~

The cache of bottles grows every tiem I visit this site ~

I was amazed at just HOW DEEP the detritus goes ~ I am talking < 50 cm.>

Same diggers as the previous ID tag ~ so he dumped both tags ~ assume at the ned of Hostilities ~

So I eventually called it a day and headed back to the Car. I was intrigued to see a drainage trench on the Southern slope which tells me that they actually camped in the South side of the hill as well ~ Some fractured signals and some evidence but no finds ~

Two unseen bottle peviously ~

Richmond Breweries pty ltd

Pick me up Sauce large ~ with extensive and heavily embossed print.



KAIRI, QLD, AUSTRALIA. 1945-02-15.

AN AUSTRALIAN ARMY JEEP BEING DRIVEN DOWN THE RAMP AFTER CROSSING THE BARRON RIVER OVER A 300 FOOT ARC WIRE MESH BRIDGE BUILT BY THE TROOPS OF THE 2/9TH FIELD COMPANY

(These particular bridges are or were at the bottom of what is now Tinaroo dam ~ on the Barron river !)

[Ubique]

Leonard eventually settled in the Melbourne suburb of Resevoir with his wife Kathleen and worked as a metal worker before his passing in 2009.

[AT P Sweep]

BTW

The two above WWII period images ~ today ae approximately here ~

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[AT P Sweep]

Bloody Miserable in FNQ again ~ wind rain and freezing ~ for us ~ @12,deg>

So ~ my first real attempt at Before ~ 1944 ~ and 2017 overlay ~ but went one better and did it on Google earth marking the exact spot. !

Glenn Allyn Road ~ about one Km from our front door ~

[AT P Sweep]

Perfect day ~ clear and cool early ~ 24 Deg Humidity 55%. UV; 7

I headed out mid morning ~ at a usual leisurely pace as of recent.
Met up with Rob ~ The 2 /4th field company~

After chewing the fat I launched into the fringes of the huge WWII rubbish dump ~

This HAS to be the biggest and hardest hammered site on the entire region..

Robert joked about me getting stuck on this site ~ little did he realize that is what happened!

I had mixed results and dug some intriguing relics including ferrous i

C Spanner??

The most interesting was a Steel tea mug typical of the Aust Military issue but with a glass bottle protruding from the top and a unknown steel item sharing the container ~

When I removed the bottle discarded the rest but then though I should at least see what was in the mug ~

It turned out to be a Military issue Clasp knife ~

Any suggestion on the six Medicine (one serve) capsule/ bottles?

( Very disappointing that some Digger discarded this into container along with a bottle ~ )

Additionally I scooped up some 6 glass medico bottles ~

I plugged along until < 12:30> and broke for Smoko ~ before deciding next stage.

But by then it was warming up again ~ crazy ~ cold an raining~ next day hot and balmy ~

A Matilda tank of 7 Troop, B Squadron, 2/4th Armoured Regiment, moving along the Toko-Barara Road, crossing the 24 ton box girder bridge replaced by engineers of 15th Field Company,

8,013

[lithgow]

Is the knife still serviceable? That model is still issued-the curved spikey thing is for splicing rope ends which very few people can actually do now. The pill tubes could be for quinine, charcoal for upset tummies (very common in the field especially the Tropics!) etc.