Monuments & Guards

We went on a recent 4 day sojourn to monuments & monument guards as sadly time has marched on for the latter and they are very few and far between now.
A friend planned out a trip visiting what we could find but along the way we discovered a couple of unknown ones which we pictured.

We covered 2272.7 klms going up to Northampton on the inland road then down to Dumbleyung (Donald Campbell set the world water speed record here) which we visited.
We also called into allot of these little towns in one spot it was like the ppl just up and left photo's books ephemera just left as it was in the day.

So it will be a good journey for some and I'll try and remember the places but there were so many areas we went to,
I have included the plaques to share how some of these isolated and very small communities answered the call to arms in the worlds conflicts.
With the men gone women had to do the farming work with the deaths of so many this had a profound effect on these small towns, whose populations may of amounted to just a few families.

This lots Brunswick Junction at the start sadly the 25 pounder pics did not appear but my wife got a few which I'll post later.

Lest we forget.

Collie RSL Hall, Leopard 1 & APC condition of getting the Leopards was they are to be welded shut and filled with concrete not sure on the latter West AU got 3 L 1's Collie, Bunbury & Geraldton.

(Some muppet stood there with their Oakley sunnies on!)

You make the Leopard look small...

What is a monument guard? To me, that means a physical person, like at Buckingham Palace or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

[What is a monument guard?]

I thought the acronym would fit as these pieces are normally found near our ANZAC monuments I could change it to silent sentinels but felt the first one a better fit.
They are getting fewer and farther between and it was planned to get as many as we could find in a reasonable scope of time we did discover 2 more a bonus for us.
We did 2272.7 klms in 4 days which is not a bad effort with allot of small backwater country towns gone through.

We found the only converted tank for farm use on display which I will get to again it's my wording on the trip we embarked on just trying to share some of our history with ppl who understand it and have an affinity with it, just trying to do my bit to honor all of those that never came home and all those that have served and still do.
Cheers.

Sorry for being dense but I still don't understand what a monument guard is. Statues or those metal cutouts of soldiers in the first pic? I think this is one of those instances where we aren't speaking the same English LOL.

A guard can be anything that protects. It may also symbolise protection.

This is the Narrogin memorial I took quite alot of pics here as it is such a beautiful monument and area so will be in 2 lots.

I have a question on the spelling of one area of conflict where the Aussies pretty much told HQ to get stuffed after being severely decimated I feel it may be the French way of spelling it but those of you in France or speaking its language may be able to enlighten us as to the spelling.
Cheers
CINDERS

Narrogin Pt II

The spelling I queried was Pozieres as on the monument it is Pozifres as to me it seemed odd anyone have input into this.

Pic # 1 ~ A small country town called Popyanining (Pop - ya - nin - ing) where monuments feature in these sorts localities for those that went away, a bit of countryside, open plain but not that open more to follow on that one.

The black bird at 3:00 in Pic # 3 is a crow (Raven for you guys) they are opportunistic scavengers that I take great pleasure in dusting I have personally witnessed them pecking the eyes out of a ewe still alive that has gone down with a lamb in a breach birth.
Any sick animal they like the foxes go for the soft areas eyes, lips, rear areas of animals does not matter if dead or alive also crows are very adept at stealing eggs from chook runs and know the difference between a rifle and a stick which has been proven many times by me and hunting buddies.
And like a fox do not miss because they become even more gun shy best results I had was at a sheep shed, winged one then kept him there poked the barrel out of the louvered window picked 5 out of the trees who came to see ol' squawking mate!

Then the 25Pdr at Brookton (2 parts to this stop)

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Pic # 1 ~ A small country town called Popyanining (Pop - ya - nin - ing) where monuments feature in these sorts localities for those that went away, a bit of countryside, open plain but not that open more to follow on that one.

The black bird at 3:00 in Pic # 3 is a crow (Raven for you guys) they are opportunistic scavengers that I take great pleasure in dusting I have personally witnessed them pecking the eyes out of a ewe still alive that has gone down with a lamb in a breach birth.

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"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

a crow (Raven for you guys)

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Very different birds. We have them both here as natural habitat. The crows can be big but the ravens are huge and unmistakable. You can hear the hiss of their wings as they fly and they don't "Caw" but instead chortle. The two don't co-mingle either.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Sorry for being dense but I still don't understand what a monument guard is.

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In the UK we have "Gate Guardians" which are normally obsolete military vehicles or aircraft parked on display at the main gate of a base and we have "War Memorials" which are often, but not always, in the form of a stone cross. Many of these were constructed following WW1 and later the names of the WW2 fallen were often added. I believe that there is only one place in the UK with no memorial to the fallen of WW1. The cut out bits of metal are a recent thing which are laser cut bits of steel but I wasn't aware that anyone had come up with a fancy name for them.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

I wasn't aware that anyone had come up with a fancy name for them.

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Not a fancy name F10 just my take on the matter and what they represent to me.
I will never forget that in 1914 Australia was a fledgling country of some 5 million souls notwithstanding our wounded the 60,000 KIA touched many families across the land the same may be said of the Boer war and WWII still a small nation.
Even now in 2023 we have only a population of 26,439,111 million people some cities in the world have that population alone !

So I jumped at the chance to document and share with the wider community some of the monuments what we found in our short travels if you google Western Australia's land mass you'll see its bigger than some European countries it would take years to go around getting them all.

(Western Australia's land mass 2.646 million km², Italy's 302,073 km², Germany's 357,592 km², United Kingdom 243,610 km²,
Switzerland 41,285 km², U.S.A 9,826,675 km2 so West Au makes up 26.92% the landmass of the entire U.S.A.)

Here's Brookton Pt II. (Use the magnify feature to better view the pics)

Cheers :thup:

CINDERS, I noticed all the artillery pieces are painted the same color which appears to be a shade of 'Battleship Grey". It's the same in Canada so I suspect that when these pieces were put in place they wanted a resilient and long lasting paint to protect them from deteriorating. I imagine there is no paint as tough what the Navy's of the world used. Similar to you, I set out to catalogue all the statues, cenotaphs and guardians in and around Vancouver, B.C. and environs. This was decades ago, pre-digital cameras and all my prints from then have vanished unfortunately so no pics. I do remember my favorite piece was an Ordnance QF 17 pdr anti-tank gun which I found in Cloverdale B.C., painted grey, of course.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Not a fancy name F10 just my take on the matter and what they represent to me.

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A question was asked and I attempted to answer it. I wasn't aware that anyone had come up with a name for the laser cut bits of steel springing up all over the place.

There are monuments everywhere in the states although the idiots are tearing a lot of them down these days, especially in the south. In my town, there is an artillery piece in the park although it disappeared a couple months ago, hopefully to be repainted. A tank on one of the main streets and a Memorial to Dick Winters on the rail trail, this is the most recent addition. Probably others but I can't think of them at present. There are four veterans' organizations in town, and I think each has their own something, just can't remember what two of them are. I live in a high Mennonite area, so war memorials aren't as prominent here as in most other places. We don't have a Civil War soldier in the square which is pretty standard everywhere else.

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Originally Posted by Sapper740

I noticed all the artillery pieces are painted the same color which appears to be a shade of 'Battleship Grey"

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The B Ship grey I think refers to captured weapons where as you'll see our gear is OD green that's how I feel it works.

Not in real good nik but at least covered plus and airline disaster that claimed all on board.

I also managed to sit in a few of these 2 seater Vampires at RAAF base Pearce when I was a young lad with my brother when he was on duty crew weekends.

Also got to tour a C130 as well and to me being so young I thought the Herc was huge until my brother told me about the Starlifter......!

Sadly getting out after 20 years in the RAAF as an Engine fitter and Flt Sgt within weeks and just before he started with Qantas.
He died on his wifes b/day at 43 years of age far to young......

He was so well regarded in the service they did a guard of honour for him at the church and cemetery.
And to cap it all the missing man formation of Macchi's* over his grave site at the cemetery as we lowered his coffin into the ground.
* The aircraft No.04 which he had worked on was being retired from service that very day so had its final flight leading that formation as a tribute to my brother.

RIP Barry thanks for your memories still missed today 33 years on.

Pics
# 5 Macchi 04 taking off on the flight.
# 6 Barry 3rd from left leaning against aircraft Amberley? (Might be Pearce A/B)
# 7 GOH at Karrakatta cemetery and yep it was raining.

You can just see me mid pic with green shirt on in the distance.

Another nice memorial in a wheatbelt town, part II to follow.

In the plaque picture never noticed the battle damage to the gun shield at @ 1 o'clock and the barrel cover can see it at 3 o'clock just in view looks like a rifle rounds & something a bit bigger penetrated the barrel cover.

As I understand it following WW1 a number of towns across the UK were "given a tank" as a memorial to the fallen. I know that at least one town still has their tank, Ashford, but am not sure if any of the others have survived.

Ashford - Tank WW1 | War Imperial War Museums

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

As I understand it following WW1 a number of towns across the UK were "given a tank"

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All we got was usually an MG'08. I was privy to seeing a pair about 30 years back still standing freely unanchored in a small Alberta town. I went back some time later and they had walked off...after 60 years of standing there.

Bit more of the wheatbelt town Moora (More - a )


So I did a quick bit of math's on the 1914 - 1918 plaque;

There were from this district 433 enlistments (Remember this is a rural farming community not a city) of these enlistments 62 were KIA representing a 14.31% death rate among the group.

14.31% may not be a large % but to a farming community the impact on the farms was keenly felt as we are talking a generational father to son for the farm not saying city's did not suffer but rural areas felt the costs far more.

I'll never lose sight of this fact having worked on the land as a farmhand dairy and broad acre wheat & sheep for some years after Agricultural College.

If you use the magnify action you get better view of the pictures.
Cheers,
CINDERS

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

a generational father to son

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Leaving no man to take over the farm later...

Thanks

Later 42rocker

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

All we got was usually an MG'08. I was privy to seeing a pair about 30 years back still standing freely unanchored in a small Alberta town. I went back some time later and they had walked off...after 60 years of standing there.

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I had a MG '08 mit schlitten unt ruckstarkverstarker back in the day. It was in good condition so probably not one of the many that were purloined.

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Originally Posted by Sapper740

It was in good condition

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Lots came back as war trophies, there was a complete MG08 named and marked to the 10th Calgary owned by a guy in Wainwright for instance. Nice piece.

Camp night at a small place called Watheroo (Wath - er - roo) it was packed as it is wildflower season in our state right now.
So all the sites were full at the pub but no probs we went up one end of the car park and set up there.
Of note in the night pic the tree on the left had a bull ants nest my wife (in pic) was not to worried about them although I don't think she has been bitten by one I have!
Our bullant can deliver a very nasty bite and sting and swarm attack when disturbed, they will chase you and can jump!
(The lump on the back of my hand from ones sting took 3 months to go down.)
We left them alone as one friend suggested because 2 of us were going to give them a dose of diesel but in fairness live and let live none of us were bitten but had a few close squeeks.

The DARCHE camper we have on the back of our 4 x 4, these are the top of the line as the Kings brand can at times have condensation issues.
Ours has the fly but the added feature of folding the cab end fly back and unzipping the top cover for a sky light for the stars, the window hoods are down in the pic as we were packing up got the billy on but. (Held open by 2 flexible rods usually)
The windows also have an internal stormy weather sheet that can be closed on the inside of the bug mesh along with the windows outer cover dogged down.
Entry has a storm cover and storm flap as well the mesh on all openings is of a size that even midges cannot get through it, I have installed 2 x 1m LED light strips in there for night reading.
Takes about 10 minutes to set up and about 15 to pack up with 2 people it is mounted flush with the roof line so as not to get up in the airflow plus keeps the CG low but the ute still rolls a little more than standard.

Anyone in West Au going to Watheroo I highly recommend their food was bloody scrumptious they have powered sites/share ablutions and self contained units as well.

This is the Large monument opposite our house in Italy, the smaller one is in the neighbouring Village of Atina. The larger one does has some bomb damage and the rear has been machine gunned when the village was occupied by the Germans

The One in Atina is made from a bomb casing & is in memory of the Civilian's killed there.

It wasnt just the monastery that was bombed, all the surrounding villages near Monte Cassino suffered the same fate.

This one was a discovery made as it is under cover so does not show up on Google Earth.

Its another small obscure town (Coo as in pigeon - Row - as in boat) plenty of webs and the RSL hall looks pretty ancient.

I may ask Peter Laidler if he could please chime in with his expertise and explain to us the markings on the top of the barrel for the 25 Pdr.
MO = ?
Jacket = ?
QF = quick firing ? thats about all I gather.
Mk II = Mark 2
8 0 - 4 = ?

Also if you could also please explain the nuances of the carrier plaques please.

Cheers.

Missed the name of this one unfortunately.

This APC was another discovery on the run as being undercover as said it did not show up on Google Earth.
You'll also notice that the numbers of personnel is lower on the monuments in WWI than the second WW when WWI began Australia had only @5 million people living here.
This is why the war had such a profound effect on these small rural places in Australia young men going away sometimes with their father as well leaving it to the women.

I'm doing my best to show these little places and some bigger ones coming up to show like other countries dotted all over the landscape are the testaments to those that gave everything for us.

Can't help with the rear barrel-jacket markings Cinders except that the QF is for Quick Firing. It's an old set of initials, alongside BL - or breech loading. The BL uses just a projectile and b ag charges and a primer cartridge, like the .55" howitzer. Whereas a QF uses a shell and projectile. All that stuff was in the realm of the Gun Fitters.

Thank you for the input Peter much appreciated.

The barrel jacket covered the rear half of the barrel [so the gunners couldn't easily interfere with the recoil mechanism]. The M O and year with the Jacket with squiggle would indicate when and by who the jacket/gun was manufactured and probably the specific mark. There were several different models 25Pdr from different factories and improvements.
Not sure about the 8 but the 0 4 probably indicates how good the barrel is. The life of the barrel was indicated in quarters and this possibly indicates it is in very good condition or worn out, the 0...
In South Africa the artillery used the 25Pdr guns for initial training as the distance easily fits in with the ranges and ammunition was relatively inexpensive compared to the larger guns. In the late seventies these guns were still in their first quarter of use IIRC, although all dating to WWII. Some of the ammunition were still vintage too, I believe.

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Originally Posted by Daan Kemp

Some of the ammunition were still vintage too, I believe.

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Easy to believe, in the '70s I shot 81mm mortar ammo dated from 1940s. WW2 issue...

In 1972 shot 303 ammo, nuwest date 1942, with the last of the 303 Brens still in the SADF. All worked but the fall of the shot was erratic, anywhere from about 100m to 300m, the targets at 300m. The trajectory of the tracer was impressive, many curving anywhere except the backstop - left, right, up and inbetween.

The 3rd Leopard 1 we received in the state and as such that Geraldton is very close to the coast the tank has suffered with the salt air, a 105mm also there.
There is 3 parts to Geraldton as there is a very poignant memorial there, pretty moving to stand there to take it all in, along the lines of the USA's Arizona memorial.

A poignant memorial to a part of our naval history which saw one of our finest vessels that was lost with all hands, however she finished her adversary off though mortally hit.
(A detailed survey of her wreck showed the German raiders initial salvo's to be devastating to the Sydney)

So much to this story why she got so close, the captains failure, the carley raft at Christmas Island with the unknown sailor, the japanese submarine theory.

What I liked is the monument of the bow section showing you the depth of her deck to keel in relation to the stone wall gives a good reference.
Then the black wall (Not unlike the US VN war casualties) which has the name of all the sailors and their rankings on board.
The bronze woman eternally scanning for her lost love and finally the dome of the memorial it felt just like when I stood on the Arizona memorial a great sense of loss!

I spoke of our states size in comparison to some other places on earth.
Here is a 1920's map showing our state with known mineral deposits at the time with England and Wales shown in the same scale, so yeah to see all the memorials may take years!

Couple more pics finishing off here with pic #1 the view that the bronze woman statue looking out towards the ocean for the ship and her husband/brother/lover wishing its return.
The shadows cast by the dome give a nice representation of the propellor in the memorial (Not from the Sydney).
Lastly a bit of info on the wall I did however manage to jag the Australian flag nicely in pic #3 pretty chuffed on that one.

Next stop is Northampton where I'm sure some of you tankers would have spent a bit of time in one of these belting round bashing things up! :yikes:

Again another rather small rural town with the monument, this time they are under cover which has protected the displays somewhat from the salt air.

The verse on the obelisk is not one I am familiar with only "We shall remember them" one so any enlightenment would be welcomed on this could it be a local govt-shire thing!

And the good ol' Centurion no doubt some Aussies here and in the UK would have had a time bashing around in these brutes, love the nickname !
There was a 105mm there as well but everybody pretty much has seen plenty of 105's in their journey.
I have a 2 volume set of Australia's tankers in Vietnam which I have yet to read it's called
Cannister! On!, FIRE! By Bruce Cameron so you can get you own copies if you wish.

Tired old veteran Centurion, with a 105. It was 50 years ago now I was doing battle drills off the back of one of those. Glad I had the chance now, not many around can still say they did.

I always look at those monuments for related guys. I see three sets of kin there, likely three sets of brothers gone. Would have made things hard around the sheep farm after...

Just some pics to give you a bit of an idea of the farms for wheat etc some may be a few hundred thousand acres over the horizon and beyond.
These farms pale in size with regards to some of Australia's cattle stations some of which are oooo's of square kilometers.

Odd shot of a truck as an ornament and a small church in the middle of nowhere nothing else there where farming families in the day would come on Sundays, it may still be used !

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

A poignant memorial to a part of our naval history which saw one of our finest vessels that was lost with all hands, however she finished her adversary off though mortally hit.
(A detailed survey of her wreck showed the German raiders initial salvo's to be devastating to the Sydney)

So much to this story why she got so close, the captains failure, the carley raft at Christmas Island with the unknown sailor, the japanese submarine theory.

What I liked is the monument of the bow section showing you the depth of her deck to keel in relation to the stone wall gives a good reference.
Then the black wall (Not unlike the US VN war casualties) which has the name of all the sailors and their rankings on board.
The bronze woman eternally scanning for her lost love and finally the dome of the memorial it felt just like when I stood on the Arizona memorial a great sense of loss!

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The mystery would be why the captain of the Sidney exposed her in the way he did in a state of relative unpreparedness. The Q ships of WWI demonstrated what could be achieved by a ship prepared to open fire the instant the command is given even against a wary foe.

Atlantis focused a lot of fire on the bridge of Sydney and wasn't that command centre knocked in the first minute of firing? Didn't the captain of the Atlantis later congratulate some or all of his AA gunners on their accurate fire at the bridge?

Was it ever determined at what angle the Carley Float found on Christmas Island was struck by the bullets or fragments? That is whether in the storage position or in the water?

The large number of survivors from Atlantis and the complete lack of even floats or lifeboats from Sydney suggests very strongly that Atlantis or even her boats, finished off all the survivors from Sydney, or any they could reach, and made sure there was as little evidence of that as possible. IIRC it was believed by the captain and officers of Atlantis that they ran some risk of being considered not subject to the Geneva Convention for the way they disguised themselves. It would have mattered what they believed, not what the facts were. They also no doubt hoped to escape to Japan for repairs if Sydney could be destroyed before an alarm was raised by radio or by survivors. Had that been achieved Atlantis could have continued her career in the area after repair and replenishment.

IIRC there was no serious effort made at the outset to separate the officers and ratings and interrogate anyone seriously, and of course silence was enforced once they were confined together. The whole thing was handled in a rather naive and amateurish way.

Atlantis???? KORMORAN maybe.

The Kormoran gunners before they dropped their plates had zeroed in on the most important areas of the Sydney mainly her fire control & turrets the Sydney secondary armaments were not manned and the range was only 1300 yards!
Rumors flew around of a Jap sub finishing off the Sydney and the survivors sharks would have had a field day as they did on the Indianapolis disaster, German survivors recalled seeing a ball of light over the horizon up until about midnight presumably the Sydney burning up.

Despite the initial shock and good shooting by the Kormoran the return fire from the Sydney created some damage to her engines and casualties on the raider.
Why get so close initially when she could have outranged the Kormoran, we will never know as the truth that died on those sailors lips when she sank.

Also the Atlantis was in a different part of the globe at the time.

What a shame to see that grand old man, the gentleman of all tanks, the Centurion, looking as shabby as he is. I'm sure that a minor stripping of the turret bins, spare wheels, decking....., you know the kind of thing..... followed by a light bead blasting and a few coats of hard wearing paint will bring the now grand old lady back to looking her prime.

A Centurion deserves better than that - although to be fair, the weather has been kind to the steel

Perenjori farming area location in our wheatbelt.
Tried to use a rose and silhouette as a poignant reminder of the loss of war, the plaques also show farmers were prevalent in these areas enlisting should have been a protected occupation..

Bit of a burst on the Walers (Whale-er's) horses only 1 came back the rest shot by their riders or given into poverty & slavery as work horses.

One of the few plaques to have women's names included.

Nice pics Cinders of the vast countryside. I must have said it a thousand times but us Europeans, especially the poms, simply cannot even imagine the sheer size of Australia. The safety and survival aspects of desert/bush travel was always drummed into us. Minimum of 3 vehicles, stick to the laterits dust roads (tracks?), cover and compasses. So big that we even conducted A bomb testing in SA. While I was there the UK RE's were clearing out the maralingra A bomb ranges. Used to meet up with a few of them, especially the REME blokes, in QLD/Enoggera on R&R. I hope that they all got the newly issued Atomic Test medal

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

I hope that they all got the newly issued Atomic Test medal

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I hadn't heard about that until now. There's a couple of iterations...first one is issue and second is the purchase. Nice. I know a couple guys passed now should have that.

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Originally Posted by muffett.2008

Atlantis???? KORMORAN maybe.

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Simple mistake. I think I've remembered the essential points though.;)

Like our awards direct family can apply for the award Peter wife, brother, son, daughter.
I have just done one for my father last year and gained him another 2 medals that he was entitled to but never applied for it was the least I could do for him and our family history.