WWII Aust & USA in Far North Queensland Australia ~

I'm guessing that the huge rains are starting to make themselves felt in your area.

Thanks for the feed back Dave

Actually the weather has been amazingly Fickle and switchign from Cold to warm and back but Spring has been slowly emerging , As for rain ~ we are getting concentrated days which may bucket down the clear for a few days or a week thaen it all starts again

I checked out a large section of burnt country yesterday and there was supposed to have been a camp site there but i never even got single signal in two hours ~ just took in the wonderful Aussie bush ~

 

Note the oddment next to the bottle and above the Florin.

I thought it was a cut down Boys Anti tank round ~ .55 cal and it was not until a fellow collector in Australia pointed it out this mornign before I had tiem to research the Boys round ~

( A MD mate tried to convince me it is a spacer for a truck engine! I was not convinced ~ LOL)

 

Wednesday ~

Another mid week Hunt with Ed ~

We decided to detour to check out more burn back areas near Tinaroo dam before heading bush once again ~

And this is what we ran into ~ as it were ~

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This area is a known UXO site and was a huge target area for artillery, Mortar fire and even aircraft simulated attacks in the WWII years ~

Obviously they have done a walk through after the fires and found more UXO ~

Anyway we headed off to our target area in the bush some distance away ~

Once we set up temp camp we rigged up and announced our individual battle plan and headed out ~

I got stuck less than 10 metres from the camp as I struck a detritus hole. I was stuck there for over an HOUR !!


I dug all sorts from a gaggle of .50 cal projectiles to webbing buckles to coinage `

Eventually I moved on and soon came back as we radioed to agree on Smoko ~ And on the way back ~ a lowly 82 on the ATP ~

I was not expecting another Rising Sun though~ The hat badges usually ring up around 90-95 !

( Moderately cleaned up as I decided not to do any more at risk of losing the pin/s )

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So after a cuppa and bite to eat we headed off again but this time realising that we would eventually meet up from different directions ~

Once again I ~ we both endeavoured to search dense under growth in search of further encampments sites ~

FIRST I found another ^%% fuel bung ~ and an ID tag ~ most likely used on a personal kit bag~ I also found a AMF tunic button and more coins ~

Then once again I was forced out of a target area by the presence of carrion !

And sure enough Ed and I met up and isochronally right on a tent site ! The relics, coins and bits kept us busy for around 1 1/2 hours in the one area !

So eventually as we all know the clock whizzs around and we headed back to base camp around 15.30 hrs.

Ed's lot ~ rubbish not included ~ His old Chev or Dodge staff car hub cap not included here ~ He dug to China to find it too ~

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Mine at the end of the day ~

A Mystery item ~ IMO ~ Something to do with either eye testing or colour blindness tests as it has Red and Green action ~ ​

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A Mystery bullet case.. this is rimless ~ and we think it may in fact be a German shell case. A Mauser ~ Which means one more German military relic.. while it is merely a bullet case it remains to be a relic a Digger has bought back from the European / African campaign/s!

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A bewt Sixpence ! 1921 ~ Wel travelled and well worn for sure ~

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Additionally I found a King George V 1/2 penny and a 1944 Penny plus a very lonely and sad 5 cent coin !

The identity tag I simply added NX and it came up as ~

So I enter; NX 146574


Service Record

Name KENDRICK, NEVILLE PALMERSTON

Service Australian Army

Service Number NX146574 (N261454)

Date of Birth 13 Jan 1915

Place of Birth SYDNEY, NSW

Date of Enlistment 9 Feb 1943

Locality on Enlistment CANTERBURY, NSW

Place of Enlistment SYDNEY, NSW

Next of Kin FOSS, W

Date of Discharge 17 Jan 1946

Rank Gunner

Posting at Discharge DARWIN COAST ARTILLERY

WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display

Prisoner of War No


I traced him through the Trove web site and the only mention in the Sydney Morning Herald ~ was in 1952 ~ He and his wife lost a 1 year son ~

I have not found any other details of him since ~

( I am also planning on retrieving ALL the tent rings form now on as they are brass! The centre piece is a battered spoon ! )

But overall a great days hunt and again much more to come from this site too ~

 

Cheers - surprising you're not getting the same rains there as we are here. Been raining steadily for the last 48 hours in Brissie.

Regarding the mystery item, I was thinking maybe a torch (flashlight) filter - we had them on our military issue torches until only recently, maybe they still are an option for use at night but I haven't see one in years though.




https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080105202454AAyLKmD

 

Dave

Thanks for the input on the vision device ~

Makes complete sense~ especially the red.. but curious about Green ~

We have more quandaries over the shell cases and projectiles ~ as well ~ Will endeavour to update !

(No forecast of rain but certainly looking bleak here ~ _)

 

My Latest purchase out of UK ~

World War I Sweet heart badge ~

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Plus a random shot of only ~ two of my relics drawers ~ ( The Danger now for me is that when I get rained in, as several months back ~ I start buying stuff too ! LOL)

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Obviously a Mix of un-issued ~ issued and Fossicked items

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Saturday started out totally foul ~ and I even rang Ed told him, I was out of the Hunt for the day ~

But when he announced he would do it alone I told I would be there ~

As I headed for his place, the blue skies started to peak here and there ~ By the time we got on site it was looking more optimistic by the minute ~ By 11.00 it all but total blue skies ~

In my haste as I had woken up at 05.30 after sacking out at midnight ~ I was in brain blur ~ and left the mobile phone and the camera ~

I headed straight back to the fire pit ~ No Rising Suns this trip and a mixed bag ~ but the best find was by Ed when he found a USA 13 star button and a .30 calibre shell ~ which vies well for the presence of US forces once again ~

But what started out looking extremely grim day turned out a great Hunt again ~

A 1944 King George VI penny

A 1938 King George VI 1/2 penny ~ intriguing as it has King George VI on the flip side not King George V

A 1942 Three pence

A Brass Blitz door handle mount (?)

A 303 brass barrel cleaning drop weight rod.. (makes about 20 I have now ! )

The top brass tap / hose coupling was a brilliant signal and I dug to China for it ! LOL

The old 1960/70s style V sinker was an interesting find~

Ed had another good day with a few coins and a range of webbing buckles plus several large great coat AMF buttons ~

One of the spoons is the first one I have ever dug with a Military engraving ~ With the Dept of Defence logo

 

Last week just as I was going down hill, folding under the dreaded loogie ~ the first time I have had a full-blown cold or flu in over 12 years! Probably explains why it hit me so hard~ ?? Anyway three of us revisited one of the new site ~

I suddenly got the nervous Nells jitters after talking to the property owner's wife, Sarah and the stories from Terry out eldest team member who has been bitten twice by snakes! And the warm Spring weather, emerging snakes and their mating season!

Sarah was telling me she recently was sent packing by a small Tiapan ( 12 inches in old money~ 3 cm) which took after her ~

She closed the fly screen door but the snake attacked the fly screen.
She had a pan of boiling water on the stove so she threw that over it and of course that finished him ~ But she had done the same thing previously with a larger one and while it did not peel over it was not happy and left!

But worse still ~ both of them talk about chest high attacks ~ Well I am as nervous as a virgin bride by now !

Anyway we rigged up complete with gaiters and head out. Where do I end up ~ in the middle if the &^((&( rain forest ! The area is clearly re-growth but I persevere ~ for NO reward.






All regrowth but no scores here ~ plenty of trash right time frame though~



Australian troops training in forging flooded tropical streams March 1944












It was then I hit a few spots ~ some nice heavy brass buckles , a AIF Officers cap AMF button which we dids not relaise that the Australians were even on site ~ a pin which turned into a Legacy badge! ?? plus other oddments ~

 

Well had a very early start on our hunt ~ well the earliest yet for us ~ I was up at 06.00 ~ car packed and a quick breakfast and off ~

Ed and I decided we would do the old favourite site as it never fails to give us some thing ~ but little did we know that today was going to be cracker ~

Once we made camp, ~ the progress was a little slow! Heaps of trash and iron ~ But I soon picked up a Penny King George VI 1944. Then an Officer's pip a 1928 three pence! Meanwhile Ed was on a run with buttons including AMF.

10.30 We broke for a cuppa and then headed off to the other side of the site ~ No Snakes !

Ed headed off and followed about 10 minutes later ~ He was already digging up coins when I arrived ~ He had set his CTX to eliminate iron ~

Good me as the first thing I hit turned out to be ~

a MAGAZINE for an OWEN GUN~

Woo Hoo ~

Pity sad but certainly worth a go at restoring or even cleaning up ~ a rare event indeed ~

Ed kept turning up the coins ~ I then found seven AMF buttons in one spot ~ Seems some bloke had dumped his coat and bolted ~

I found a mystery item again ~

But a great outing for the first day of recovery ~

The magazine is soaking in rust remover ~

Cleaned up the coins ~ Superb ~ not so the 1944 penny though ~

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I flamed the Pip as it was bent and I then buffed it ! Excellent result ​

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Mystery glass piece ?? Maybe a frag from a Search light lens ??​

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My tally for the day ~ several mystery items like the brass tube with screw cap on the end!​

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Coins rejuvenated ~ 1940 Shilling and 1928 KG V 3d​

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Ed's total ~ (He set his CTX to discriminate to only brass and coins .​

His are un-cleaned but lots of coins and buttons ~​

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Brilliant day out after being crook for soem ten days ~ ​

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One question! WHAT NEXT !! ​

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As we reckon this AIF / US site is yet t produce even more ~ ​

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AND NO snakes !! ​

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But heaps of bush! ​

 

Okay the Owen MAG is done as good as we can expect~

Plus I threw into the vat the mystery round projectile I found several weeks back ~

The projectile is of some concern ~ Brass inner with end plug with steel outer case ~and best left alone !

 

As for the WWII Military steel chest one metre down ~ I found it on the 16th August ~

But as it was very late in the day I could not see the bottom of the hole to consider digging it up then ~ so I reburied it and would come back ~ but then I got crook and time slid past ~

Then because I did not mark the spot ~ Drongo ! ~ I figured it was no big deal in locating the spot ~ but no guess what ~ Yesterday I could not find it ~

But in my slumber the now obvious solution is upon me ~

I will go back armed with a length of rod ~ the only one I can think of is a length of aluminium rod ~ a I have lurking it the garden shed ~

So I return and then use the rod as a ‘depth sounder “ which would penetrate the soil easily and even hit the top of the box ~

Firstly the soil is soft having being dug previously and the hole is up to a metre deep and finally as stated the rod will hit and ID the metal box ! And I do not have to dig a single spade full until then~

I did not expect to lose the thing and should have simply placed a stone or a tick in the ground to mark the spot ~ I did not have my GPS on me which could have identified or tagged !

But in my search yesterday it turned into quite good day ~

Landed on the site and started digging where I knew the chest was ~ I dug a hole large enough to deal with a medium size military chest ~


But then I hit a layer of clay ~ and all was in perfect layer as in never dug ! ??

Plus the dug ground was not deep enough to suggest being previously dug to any depth ? !

So I expanded the ground and retrieved the metal detector ~ LOTS of signals and started to dig good targets ~ But no chest ~!

Time wore on and I refilled each area once I was satisfied the area was clear of any targets ~ Very confusing now !

I spent some threw hours digging but this included cautiously digging holes which turned out intact glass bottles which turned out to be some rippers !

No chest !! (??)

I dug an area < 5m * 2m >1m > ?? HEAPS of mixed signals ~ even tried assessing with depth gauge on ATP ~

Some same webbing buckles

I can dig buckles ALL day and be happy !

Suddenly I put a test hole in the middle of a bottle dump~

A collectors bonus ~


The strange shape one is bewty has ~ on bottom ~ R d N O 9710


L-R Bottle with four finger dimples on either side ~ Johnson and Johnson

Centre bottle has on base ; 466

Top right ; arched embossing ; CHESEBROUGH (then flat embossed ) MANFG.CO.CD. (Then opposite arch) NEW YORK

Left “ink Bottle “ no embossing

Both black caps extremely fragile ~

And to finish ~ last but not least ~

Of course if you can’t find the mystery chest ~

What better score ~ (??) Than~ A Rising Sun ~

Hmm HAS to be thirty now !! WITH pins on the back ~ but both pins are different to teh convential split pin mounts ~

THE FREAK strikes again~

And the strange roll of layered tap

No idea

 

Fossick #142 Day 2 ~ The Great Chest Quest

Okay
Headed off around 12.00 ~ On site 12.30.

Perfect day ~ light cloud ~ light southerly breeze ~

Came prepared with soil penetrating probes ~ as I decided to deep probe the site ~

( Already give myself serious upper cuts ! If I had marked the spot with a stone or a stake ~ None of this would have taken place ~ &&^*&^ Drongo!)

First I tried a solid wire ~ too light and no use ~ I ended up using a 1 1/2 M length of dowel to probe the ground ~ ( Really need a T piece for this though! )

(May add a 1*metre steel T piece 1/4” rod to my MD kit for future usage especially for bottles ~ )

A; looking for soft patches to a depth of 1m ~

B; search for solid object at approx one metre ~

C; search for a larger area ~ size of a steel chest ~ consistent signal ~

Even dug a number of test foxholes ~ No joy !

But still more relics and more bottles ~

So again not a lost day but certainly looks like a lost cause ~

Spoke at length with Terry and agrees what we should do is wait till we have a team day and if that day is in the area we will take the heavy artillery with Ed’ and Terry’s Minelab, E track,CTX 3030 and see what they can “see’”!

A great couple of days with the Rising Sun and the misc plus a fantastic array of period glassware ~

Take Homes

Two small medicine bottles

A Lee Enfield Bayonet grip securing bolt

A webbing buckle

A Button

A boot stop

Half an Australia shoulder badge

Trash including a hole filled with steel boot heel irons ; U and misc not included

 

Cheers Stuart - it looks like you're regretting not marking the spot for the ammo chest.......

Some nice finds there, I wonder if someone got their backside kicked for losing a SMG magazine. These days it just about results in a full-blown investigation if something like that is lost during training.

I know I've said it before but some of the blokes must have really been upset about losing their money. I'm trying to imagine what a shilling could have bought back in 1944 - probably a couple of bottles of beer at least.

Speaking of which, what brand of beer bottle have you been finding (like the one in post 109)? I found a similar looking one while snorkelling in Vanuatu - from a brewer in Richmond, Victoria.


Dave

 

Dave

I believe the beer bottle with the year on the bottom are all Victorian brewers ~ the others no dated are NSW ~

I mentioned a while back i~ we found a huge cache of bottles less than kilometre from home base ~ in fact I would end up with a garage or at least the garden shed full of bottles if I started to bring them home ~ WHICH I may ~bring some home once I clear all the motorcycle crap out of the shed ! LOL

 

So I finally come up with one more plan for locating the missing case ~

When I went to the local dump for a drop off I skipped past the scrap metal section I spotted a load of twin leg 1/4" rod stakes ~ perfect for a probe stake !

So modified one of the lot I took home ~ and headed out to the same site for a solo hunt yet again ~

I spent another couple of hours armed with the stake and the MD ~ and again I found more bits and pieces including a Diggers ID Tag ~ This time I had much more luck !

Service Record

Name RYAN, MICHAEL FRANCIS

Service Australian Army

Service Number QX45733 (Q147027, Q147033)

Date of Birth 21 Feb 1924

Place of Birth WARWICK, QLD

Date of Enlistment 7 Apr 1942

Locality on Enlistment TOOWOOMBA, QLD

Place of Enlistment TOOWOOMBA, QLD

Next of Kin RYAN, MICHAEL

Date of Discharge 20 Jun 1946

Rank Private

Posting at Discharge 2/1 AUSTRALIAN PIONEER BATTALION

WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display

Prisoner of War No

Ironically I when I was researching Owen Guns ~ I recently found a photo of two diggers in New Guinea having a durry ~ and one of them is extremely young.. but what was ironic I thought just maybe the young bloke was the same bloke ~ Private Ryan that was in the photo ~ and it turned out that the two Diggers were the same Battalion ~ the 2/1st battalion ! But it was not the same bloke but the same unit!

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And I found the chest but it turned into a fizzer !! Nothing!

And I was way off the mark from when I found it first time but ' Hey '~ it was almost a month ~ till I found it the second time ~ Just goes to show ALWAYS mark the spot ~



I then traced "Private Ryan" via Telstra phone listings and blow me down if there was not a M. F. Ryan in the Warwick area

So I rang the number today ~

And when it answered I explained I was not selling anything but looking for Michael Francis Ryan... and he confirmed it was him ~ and I replied ~ "Mate~ you do not sound like you are 90 years old!"

Turned out he was 57 ~

But we had a great yarn but no known connection to the man I was pursuing ~

 

Some are aware I am playing with Electrolysis and relics.
Had some stunning results ~

An AMF brass button I found last week ~ plus a frag piece which I picked up the same day ~ Includes as found ~and after compared to an un=issued same button.

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Guess it is all about strokes for Folks.. to renovate or retain the original Patina. I am not planning to treat every item just a few for example encrusted "live" rounds which are basically useless specimens.. IMO

But if i moderately treat some they come up like this !

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So Terry and I did a two man jobbie yesterday ~



But as we headed off I decided to show him several unregistered sites which I was aware of ! But the shock came when I drove to the first encampment site !

I had done four trips/ hunts to the site around 18 months ago !

I gave up in frustration as the site was lousy with Lantana/ Thick brush ~ and supposedly infested with venomous Snakes ~ which I have yet to see ! ~ thankfully~ !

The cocky next door "Laurie" as he was to tell us, very soon ~ got sick of it and went in his Bulldozer and cleared 90% of the area ~ So we decided to do a Hunt right away ~


Laurie turned up and spent about 20 minutes chatting before we resumed ~ The theory is the site was used by the AIF during WWII as I had confirmed previously when I found numerous 303 shells. a 1942 fuel bung and several utensils ~


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Absolutely heaps of iron targets ~ must have been a lot going on there over the years but a Work mate insists as a kid livng less than a kilometre away that there were always soldiers there ~

So with what I found and her being in her 50s , the history says there was military there form WWII into the 1960s !

Plus "Laurie" told us there was a fire in the bush across the lane way several years ago and the Firies refused to go in as there was heaps of munitions going off ~ But that area is a real snake pit ~ so need another fire in there !

As for the munitions exploding in the area ~ Not sure ~ but I tend to believe that the nearby farm~ about 1- kilometre away was a Grenade training ground and they then returned to this site to camp as there is a small stream which is fresh and clean ~

I have yet to approach that cocky ~ even if I / we swept his paddock and turned up a few Mills base plugs, it would be a great days hunt even after 70 years ~ The base plugs are always a cool find ~


Anyway after a coupe of hours we decided to resume our two stage plan and headed off to lunch before resuming the hunt!

Problem was that the first site is an extremely well used and MD public park area ~ I was extremely sceptical about the site.

But after 3-4 hours we produced some amazing goodies ~ Terry again did well due his methodical way of MD ~

I got stuck in a trash area before I moved away and quickly announced I had found an ornate ring! He asked if it has any hall mark ~ I strained to read it but I said ~ "Yeah ~ it says 375 or 8 !'

He exclaimed "Wooww! That's White Gold! "

Anyway we plugged on ~ I wandered off but as always Terry stayed in his 10 square metres all afternoon!

I found the remains of a 1950-60s Ladies watch ~ a rare brass 12 gauge shot gun cartridge ~ plus a centenary Goldie ~

When I returned Terry had dug another rings , smaller but with "white stones " Nice !










We ach dug a ornate ring ~ obviously not WWII relic bu tthe site was a pre- and post war village site~ plus ~ Aust military presence during 1942- 1946



My find turned out to be 237 White Gold ~





Had a great day yet again

And ~ I am heading out tomorrow for a Solo Hunt to test my new Garrett + Bluetooth Wifi add fo remote head phones ~

Then we have a hunt planned for Monday and then another on Wednesday ~

 

Took the new Wifi and bluetooth head phone upgrade on the road today ~

One word assessment ~

STUNNING

Have a few small issues but the WiFi is so sensitive and picks up every signal from the Garrett no matter how small ~

I was blown away when I went to the top most flogged sites I have in my resume ~ and thought I had sucked them dry !

Even from the Get Go ~ the site we call the Grassy Knoll ~ where I found my first Hat RS, the signals were wild ~ the signals were amazing and every thing I dug was a target ~ I had to push myself off the knoll as I wanted to do the AIF 2/1 Batt site~

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Interestingly this stretch of road has barely changed one bit since WWII even despite an major upgrade earlier this year ~

I spent some 4 hours on site and thought the Garrett had been retuned to find only 303 cases and shells ~ But I was so very wrong ~

I am stoked with the up grade and as said~ will have to retraining and tweaking but it works for me BIG time !

And I will have to re-hunt every site I have ever done with out head phones ~

Plus we ~ MS M and I reset ALL the MD harness settings and assessed the test over all ~ Looks better all round including the carrier harness and swing ect !

So I worked two old sites and I was blown away ~ The sheer precision and range of small /faint but high tone signals was amazing ~

But started out pulling heaps of 303 and 9mm shells and rounds ~ and just when I thought I had enough and was heading back to the car ~ Whamo ~

Good Old faithful~

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As suggested I put in a second day out on my Pat Mah loney ~

While the results were here and there as far as finds go I enjoyed it and the Bluetooth as I suggested picked up heavy traffic which other wise I would have missed for sure ~

But when I do get a good hit it is an undeniable signal as with the two coins ~

Note the large piece of Copper plate which I bought home as scrap value.


I was stormed out as a huge storm front came through mid to early afternoon ~ First one for the up coming Wet season!

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(The Penny is a very nice 1927 KG V and a 50th anniversary 50 cents. The very stylish glass jar was in the hole with the Copper plate! )

 

Some more interesting finds there.

I admire the effort and perseverance that goes into this hobby - and the new Wifi and bluetooth head phone upgrade sounds very interesting.

I suppose there are places around Brissie I could try getting into, maybe later when I am semi-retired.

As for spending hours on one 10 x 10M block of dirt - that is a very patient individual.