Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

[AT P Sweep]

Well based on the research we have done and the mere fact of the word of the bloke that gave the mate the propeller blade we are taking it as read that the prop was in fact from the above mentioned B17 that crashed in 1942 ~

The bloke that gave it to him is a full time WWII aircraft restorer and is currently building a FU 4 Corsair, at the Mareeba airfield ! He most recently completed a Kitty Hawk which was retrieved from Papua !

[AT P Sweep]

Did a solo hunt last weekend ~ dodging the oncoming monsoonal weather I took the chance via 'a window of opportunity' to visit a well worn site ~
Using the new CoilTek I found a lot more targets signals than the old original coil for sure ~

Spent a few pleasant hours scouting the area ~

made a few modest fines ~ the intriguing find of the day was an version of Pope Co. product "Aussie" toy cap gun ~ in the middle of a WWII camp site ~

Two issues here ~ was the 1930-40s toy gun lost by a child ~ or was it a well meant luck charm given by a child to his Dad or relative who had joined the military during the war years..

The second par is that ironically this version was the lesser model of two which he Pope company made ~ The first was a "Ned Kelly version and if you refer to Post 318 I found the other model several years ago ~

I thought the tube for one moment was a < 30 mm> cannon shell but not to be!

The crushed item is in fact a Forces issue Pepper shaker ~ sadly beyond repair ~

1943-06-28. Members of the 2/11TH AUSTRALIAN FIELD REGIMENT RESETTING A 25-POUNDER IN A NEW POSITION DURING A PRACTICE SHOOT.


# 318

Australian WWII - Far North Queensland Metal detecting and recovery

( Ironically the only web site that lists the pope cap guns ~ the admin has 'borrowed' my image of the Ned Kelly cap gun i found and posted on this site ~ )

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[AT P Sweep]

Intriguing development on the Halbert ID Tag ~

There was a "Sapper" E. Halbert from Kulara, that enlisted for service on the 11th of June 1941 at Cairns, in the Fixed Defences & Fortress Engineers:

Edmund Halbert - Service Dossier https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sear...aspx?B=4474493

Turns out that he married in 1938 to one Ms Reta Fox ~

He passed away < 1988 > ~

but Get this ~ She is still going strong. In fact she is 100 this year and STILL remains independent and living in her own home in Tolga which is 'just down the road' !!!

Built the Souls to last back then ~ Wow!!

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[AT P Sweep]

With recent rains increasing two of us decided to visit a well worked local park and camp site ~ the soil is traditionally hard as but after weeks of static rain we figured we would visit on Weds.

The results were very positive ~ but to my surprise the known military camp also accommodated a pre-war II or not Victorian site as well with a lot of rubble from a residence and stables ~

A real mix of coins to boot ~ included ~ 1924 right through ~ 1947~ 1950 ~ 1951 ~ and modern coins to 1988!

I also dug two 18 pounder primer guards ~ a 'sawn off' .50 cal projectile in very nice shape !

I also detoured to visit mate with the B17 Prop blade ... 90% straightened ~ ( I am not so sure I would have straightened it all but rather left the damaged prop as it was !?)

August 1942. A crew of five man this highly mobile Australian 18 pounder Howitzer gun in a practice rapid fire shoot during an exercise at a forward battle station.

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[AT P Sweep]

As suggested the forecast for the weeknd and Sunday was 100% thunderstorms and extensive rain for most fo the week ~ and Sunday night the heavens opened up with Monsoonal drenching rain and only now Tuesday afternoon ha it receded to showers ~

The rain never appeared till sunday noght ~ and Hell has it rained ~

SO ~ as Sunday was a overcast but fien day I invited 'ROb' and DM for a few hunts hunt over the same area I had worked previous Weds and Saturday~

Rob came along as a technical adviser ad observer ~

Rob an intriguing observation which we had never considered ~ As I dig several pieces of brass he inquired as to whether they were "tapered" (?)

On closer examination they all were in 'tapered' ~ which meant that in fact these brass pieceeeees had been cut from 'large' calibre artillery shells ~

Good call!

As I was heading into another week of Night shift I promised to home, to get organised for a very early night ~ by 13:00 ~ ( starting work at 01:00 Hr !)

Not a lot of goodies but a few hours ~

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briggs_%26_Stratton

A little puzzling as to what this may have fitted being a Briggs and Stratton / GM ~ I do believe that B&S did make ignition switches ~

The site was the site of the 2/7 th Cavalry and they originally ran Bren Gun carriers ~

Maybe some one on site would be aware of whether the Bren Gun carriers ran with USA/ Canadian electrical gear or it was simply a GM/ Buick lorry ~

Meanwhile Robert generously presented me with a U-bewt 18 Pdr shell case ~ dated 1940

18 Pdr 167 W MF CF 1940

18-pr Gun Mk 4 on Carriage 18-pr Mk5P

http://nigelef.tripod.com/18-prMk5P.jpg

August 1942. A crew of five man this highly mobile Australian 18 pounder Howitzer gun. 3916839

[AT P Sweep]

Seems I jumped the gun here and neglected to report on the day before ~ as I did a hunt on Saturday

Followed by Sunday ~

Actually ~ after Weds team and after being rained out I decided on a (Solo) Saturday to do another hunt in the same area~ as the forecast is / was for Monsoonal low descending upon us by Sunday ~ and as some know a Monsoonal low is serious stuff as far as water goes.

And in anticipation of the approaching weather Saturday was extremely hot and balmy ~

But I hooked in ~ I found the old "Victorian" site was full of detritus ~ ranging from stove fixtures to misc ferrous junk ~ including what looked like a very large gudgeon pin from an old single cylinder tractor or even a steam engine ~

An Old stove leg ~

I also found some cracker signals, ( even to silver coins ) but as we found earlier the ground was armour plated with blue metal stones as a road base and it was pure Hell trying to break thorough ~

After an hour of detritus I bailed an headed to the WWII camp site area ~

Then I found the original :small: trash heap was much larger and in fact the finds coming out suggested a bivouac area close by ~

I stunned purely by the fact this is a very well Public access / used area but the fact this had never been worked by a MD ~ I mean I have seen Interlopers with MDs often int he overall area !

Just goes to show ~

But a pleasant surprise Merete my partner decided to drive out and she was able to simply sit in her car mere meters from and seemed she bought all good luck ~

There were a lot of signals but also a lot of ferrous iron signals~ But as we all know it pays to dig iron signals some days and there it is a 25 Pdr. shell rack ~ * this will clean up beautifully as it is extremely robust .

And the Rising Sun was almost as big a thrill as the first one ever and I have not seen one for ` Hmm ! > 3 weeks ~

Plus a single KG VI Roo ~

The padlock is a Pearler ~

By 15:00 hrs I had enough of the scorching Sun and humidity ~ and I find the focus tends to drop off ~

( Maybe a short Hunt Sunday IF the forecast is wrong ~ and it was !!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

[AT P Sweep]

The first clean up ~

I was pleasantly surprised by the pieces including the Risng Sun and the KG VI 43 peny as all the other coins in the area were pretty Sad!

[AT P Sweep]

Post repeated ~ Opps

[AT P Sweep]

More Clean up ~

A conversation ndeveloped about a European mate's finds and the bands ~ I recalled I had foudn three of these and discounted them purely based on the place i found them ~ but n reconsidering the pieces turns out these were / are securing bands for 25 Pdr. smoke type shells

[CENTER]


Intriguing that the European front line bands are in fact steel ferrous metal and Australia variants are Brass!

Mine cleaned up~









Seems I repeated the below details regarding the 18 Pdr. shell~ but unable to delete the photos so will simply leave in place ~

[AT P Sweep]

Well seems a long time between drinks ~

A lot of research ~ an encroaching Wet season and high temps and high humidity ~

Poem will Selassie the implications of a high UV and the tropical wet~

Anyway ~ first up one of the member on site and part of our team posted a report on his workplace notice board related to the ADF and got a surprising fed back regarding the Italian Fascist flag and medallions I posted before Xmas,

Seems a member of the ADF reported that his grandfather and his brother were attached to the 2/7th Cavalry based here in WWII before being shipped to Port Morseby ~

Seems the flag and medallions were part of the Battalion's trophies taken in North Africa ~ and subsequently 'stolen' by a member of the unit ~

It is reported that the solider was identified and was 'counselled' by members of the unit rather than charged ~

( After all Australian Soldiers are renowned light fingered and often called "Hydraulics' as they would 'Lift' anything not tied down !)

( I have an issue with this is as much as the relics were not returned to the Battalion ? Rather discovered < seventy five years later ~ )

Subsequently the solider was hospitalised and died ~ even to the point that "we" know where eh buried ~

So while the story makes complete sense ~ the saga has a few 'holes' in it ~

SANANANDA, PAPUA. 1943. AN AUSTRALIAN, PROBABLY FROM 2/7TH CAVALRY REGIMENT, WOUNDED ON THE LEG, ROLLS A CIGARETTE FOR A JAPANESE PRISONER CAPTURED AT SANANANDA.





2/7TH DIVISIONAL CAVALRY REGIMENT, AN AUSTRALIAN ARMOURED UNIT, ON MANOEUVRES NEAR ALEPPO IN NORTHERN SYRIA. THE CITADEL AND TOWN CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND. NOTE THE WINTER SNOW ON THE GROUND. (NEGATIVE BY F. HURLEY).

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