Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[Ubique]

Good hunt!
Small R/S maybe sweetheart pin?

Oz.

[AT P Sweep]

Cheers Oz

Yes ~ a nice surprise this site ~ and exclusive access ~

But the ironic part is we have another one coming up very shortly ~ exclusive access and virtually untouched ~ and no where near this one ~ So the MD & relic Gods are smiling on us ~ we hope ~

[AT P Sweep]

Well after last Weds new site hunt ~ Saturday I found I was ready and inspired at Midday Sat ~ and in true form decided to do yet another lazy couple of hours ~

( I like to spend some time with my partner Merete as she does not see a lot of me between 9 1/2 hour work days ~ and occasionally MD hunts ~so I endeavour to do" do the right thing!" )


So I headed off for a Solo in nearby old ground ~ well sort of ~ I actually visited a well worn area and expanded my hunt literally across the road ~ and to my surprise I found strong evidence of another camp site !

Heaps of signals and lot s of ferrous detritus ~ but I soon came on a brilliant 12:45 signal ~ and shallow ~ amongst a lot ferrous iron signals ~

"You Bewty!" ~ turned out to NOT be a tent steel joiner but an intact 40 mm - 2 pounder shell case ~

Do me any day of the week ~

So pressing on I circumnavigated the area and discounted a lot of the surrounding bush as a fail ~ but did find more evidence of occupancy ~'

The steel pickets are definitely WWI Military and notably by the type if mount~ as this was designed to accommodate coiled barbed wire ~ ( probably still waiting for the roll of wire int he last report .)
I took both home and will renovate ~ cool relics as I see ~

A few buttons ~ a Mills grenade base screw ~ battered ~ obviously expelled from an exploding Mills bomb !

But I covered in a short distance a lot of extremely rugged ground ~ more suited to Alpine troops of WWII ~

I did come across a road culvert which suggested the original road/s descended into some very steep and deep gullies ~ Had to be murder to ravel in the wet season ~

A few hours wel spent ~

The shell after soaking in "Terry's Snake oil" and a littel elbow grease !

Received an intriguing email from fellow collector and War relics member last night !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Stuart

Interestingly, it's a Canadian case. RM/C is for Robert Mitchell/Canada. Nice one.

Matt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Matt

None of us even considered that aspect ~ Canadian ~

Intriguing how a Canadian shell ended up here ~

ALTHOUGH the site is ‘dated’ 1944 ~ and as I have pondered ~previously a lot of stuff of UK manufacture started flowing into Australian shores ~

I personally think that the Allies in Europe ~ well~ as we know ~ they figured it was all going to be done and dusted by Xmas 1944 ~and such items were shipped onto Australia and the Pacific campaign ~

I have already found items such as 1944 manufacturer 303 UK rounds and UK stamped buttons ~


After all a two pounder was of little value in the European front ~

I did some research on the Robert Mitchell and came up with these two photos ~

Ammunition workers put on their clothes probably at the Robert Mitchell Co. ammunition factory_ March 1941.



WWII Canadian Woman Munitions Worker Covered in Ammunition Belts Robert Mitchell Munitions Co, Canada

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[lithgow]

A great deal of Canadian made stuff ended up here, particularly the webbing as there was still no capacity to make it here at the start of WW2-leather equivalents were made here as they had been in WW1-the 2 lb gun was utterly obsolete by 1944 in Europe-limited use in some British armoured cars but that was rapidly diminishing as the weapon was pretty useless against German armour by then-Japanese tanks were still vulnerable as they couldn't build new designs in any numbers due to limited industrial capacity, and the small a/t gun was easy to move about in jungle conditions-also useful as a bunker busting super 'sniper rifle' (was still being replaced by the 6 lb gun which was much more powerful).

[AT P Sweep]

Cheers Lithgow

I watched a series on History channel about two years ago ~ I think it called "Heroes of WWII" ~ and they talked to an vet who was part of a Bofors AA gun crew ~

After D-Day there was little for the gun to do ~ so they put them on the front line ~ and they would 'hammer" suspect a barn or hay stack ~ and the 40 mm was guaranteed to get a reaction if there were any Germans lurking ~

( They also used US 50 cal. BMG to literally dismantle a church steeple if there was a snip in hiding ~ Intriguing film demonstrating just how it was done ~ )

[Ubique]

Good observations Sweep.
BTW, those military-pattern star pickets are still used today. I think I have a couple in my back fence.

Cheers,
Oz.

[AT P Sweep]

BTW, those military-pattern star pickets are still used today. I think I have a couple in my back fence.

Don't tell my better half as she went to great lengths on Google trying to find 'modern ' versions of the same thing ~ She could not find reference to them and accepted "my answer " !

The first time I saw them was in a WWII training ground west of us ~ ~ they were placed in front a trench line and 4" mortar tail fin protruding from the ground ~

[AT P Sweep]

Okay ~ as usual I decided late in the morning to do a few hours hunt ~ ( just fortunate I have the option to access sites close by ~ ( as opposed to a fellow hunter interstate who often drives 3-4 hours one way !!! ~ )

AS typical I hit a local hammered site ~ with a plan t look at a high ground obscure road now over grown ~


As I pushed thru heavy over grown ground ~ I was waylaid by a patches of signals ~ `


I eventually made it to the top of the hill and there was strong suggestion- evidence of those WWII guns crews dragging their heavy artillery to the top of the hill!

Walked mass kilometers up hill and dale ~ with some rewards ~

The first tie I think I have ever 'munched' a relic!! Breaking the Safety triangle ~

Another 6 pounder drill round ~ ( will clean up with TLC ~ actually already traded !)

Two KG VI pennies and a KG VI Roo 1/2 penny ~

A large~ slim ~silver, man's wedding ring .

My current 6pdr collection from grubby to resto and standard ~

[inka]

Nice finds!

[AT P Sweep]

On a weeks leave and just lazing it ~

Did two hutns already and pulled off a 'research' recce on Tuesday ~ Perfect weather and in fact very warm at around 25 deg c. ~ not bad for Winter ~

Skies were clear and plenty of opportunities ~ Can only hope that al the "Joe Blakes" ( snakes know it is still Winter ~

First up went looking for a theoretical runaway as seen in a post war aerial photo ~ but the area was full on and very heavy going ~

The only thing I found was a dirt road ~ the area and track was totally unsuitable as a runway and as my partner's research showed as being too short ~

But still worth a look, after all it may well have been discarded as a runway or temporary airfield post 1945 ~

SO after soem recce I moved otnot eh second site nearby ~ There wa scamp site listed enarby but my research shows the supposed positon of the camp was totally unrealistc as the correct site ~ SO I cehcekd out the area not so far away ~

It is ideal and camp site written all over it ~ a near by water source ~ brao flat area and looked perfect ~but my walk about revealed nothing ~ The key being ~ including not a stump ~ not atree ~ not a boulder ~ It is clean as a whistle ~

In fact ~ way -way TOO CLEAN ~ as I see it the nearby pine forest and this area was cleared and totally bulldozed ~ Post WWII ~

Not even a ferrous signal unlike the previous site ~ at least I found iron signals there ~

Sp pressing onto site three which was an extension of a recce hunt some weeks back ~ and despite an evident road through the rain forest ~ I found nothing more ~

So ~ it was around 14:00 hrs and I thought ~ to early to call it a day and a great day weather wise ~

So I headed to another site which has recently shown positive results ~ but I took it one step further outside what we anticipated as viable ground ~ and the result was a great result ~

A Rising Sun ~ ( early find )

Primer flash tubes

1943 3 d.

1942 KG VI Penny

Webbly 380 round.

Three ~ Lee Enfield ID discs (separate finds) ~ 2 with Lithgow Logo ~

Plus a LOT of scrap brass ~

So a nice end to a different day ~

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