WWII Aust & USA in Far North Queensland Australia ~

Last Wednesday we put in another mid week, hunt. A recent find the site has produced a number of good hunts to date ~

I was up at dawn ~ and the Sunrise and subsequent conditions produced some amazing cloud scenarios ~

Evidence of past occupation ~ Most of the relics we found we found outside the regrowth bush ~ the area also was the site of a WWII airfield to the left ~



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We were on site around 08.00 hrs and split up maintaining radio contacts ~ We broke for Smoko before resuming around 11.00 hrs. But the weather closed in and we were all but drenched ~

So we stopped proceedings and called it a day around 12.30

I was fortunate to discover a spill of Webbly .445 shells ~ some obviously still intact ~

Ed had another good run on coins ~ his fortunate continued after Smoko ~ ​

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The rectangular plate was stamped with " Cat 4 security level " (???)



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The half round piece is actually a King George VI penny that has been very neatly folded in half ! More with the bizarre coins !

 

ime !

Had a total fail endeavouring to find a Tank attack unit ~ only succeeded is losing several value pieces of kit in the bush ~

Managed to find a pick in the same bush against all the odds ~ On hill we ~ well I have scanned on foot EIGHT times ~ in ten days ~ Plus had to buy a chain saw to clear access along bush roads ! * Had a ball with the chainsaw though ! )

This is called "Wait-a While" ~ looks innocuous ? Haas long strands of barbed tendicles which grab hold of pass-bys ~ We resort to carrying barden shears ! It is Prolific ~ and grows to HUGE stature~ Fortunately no Stinging tress though ~







Well ~ it was a Jungle warfare training area ~



Ironically on two recess I found two separate AMF Buttons and little else ~ just enough to make the Hunts enticing ~






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Some of the Webbly .445 shells and friends I have tidied up !

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My / our latest Video ~ Enjoy ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kn9K5L0OB4

 

Need some Help

We found a new site and first day in we found two Officer's Dog tags.. but one is David Harold Bolton QX 6190 Military Cross winner ~ But I cannot find any record of the award on 15 June 1941

 

Hi Stuart

Here is the citation for David Harold Bolton QX 6190

Cheers
Paul

 

Cheers Paul ~

I figured it had to be related the French vichy campaign or The italian / German in Libya ~

And he was such a short fella too ~ little fella big balls eh ~

 

Saturday decided to do a first hunt with only the Minelab CTX 3030.

I was not overly optimistic but it turned into good day overall ~

Part two of my plan was to visit original site where ~ I spent a lot of time some 20 months ago ~ even a Sunday with Paul and Paul co armed with their Garrets ~ and where I found my first Grenade find ~

So I figured it would be a great test bed for the CTX as I have worked the area pretty hard ~ (Never been a site for coins though, which is interesting ~ and never seen a badge of any description which tells me the site was a training/ practice firing range with a lot of expended 303 and even safety caps off mortar rounds ~ )

The ground is extremely stone and hard ~ but the first relic from the CTX ~





I then worked into the trash area which I have attributed as post WWII and a dump area for the post war dam construction ~ but boy how wrong~ I have been ~

In fact I found the remnants of the OLDEST beer bottle to date and exactly what those INFAMOUS D/|\D bungs were for ! Water drums ~ the printing in the drum says ~ ‘Drinking water only”





( For the unknowing.. we find dozens of these alloy ‘water drum’ bungs.. rings up HUGE signals and drive us insane ~ )


So called it a day around 16.15 ~

Not a bad start for the new CTX.. learnt heaps~ razor ends, a razor handle, misc. buckles, button studs, barrel weights ~ Certainly not a bad day ~ for the first time out in a well worn site~

May even have another bash tomorrow in fact ! Certainly a potential site if one is prepared to, or looking for a scratch around and looking for a WWII dump site overall ~

 

Well I decided I would go out again today and have another bash as it were

Started out pretty slow and the CTX just chatters incessantly ~ I dug a few oddments ~ Shave crème tube ~ a brake union ~ and some junk ~ the only highlight was a LE 303 sight adjuster ~

Perfect weather in fact the southerly breeze was pretty sharp ~

By 15.00 I was getting a tad frustrated despite my best endeavours to stay positive ~

So I headed yet again over extremely well worked hill / slope ~

In an experiment I switched to the ‘Silver’ mode ~ instantly most the chatter ceased. In fact I got a strange signal ~ so I dug it ~ WELL WOW WOW!!

Complete with cardboard and print ~









I though Ms M would be aghast but she was as impressed as I am .. Not to mention team member Terry ~











Intriguing button looks like it has writing or symbols on it ~

Dare I say a souvenir dropped by a Digger ? Be very cool if turned out to be German ~ or even Japanese ~




I also found a strip of aluminum with a colour design on the flip side and scribed on the face. ‘Foster’ and a serial number

I will check it out~

 

Well a bizarre day to say the least ~


My 'great lady' Merete was still in hospital ~ and she had to be feeling a bit like the Bali Nine~ that is as long as she stayed in Atherton Hospital we knew her toe would remain intact ~

I fronted up at the hospital around 09,00 and spent an hour with her waiting for the Doctors to make a decision ~ Not happening so I rang Ed and requested if my presence be acceptable ~

I finally arrived on site around 11.15 ~ Terry and Ed had rallied by 08.00 ~~

Perfect day ~ and they had been on site for some three hours and doing quite well~

I rigged up and headed off and promptly walked into the Paper Wasp nest~ one stung me on the bridge of my Nose ~ I thought well that’s going to be bloody great by tonight! ~ but it is fine now ~

But worse still I was focused on digging a target hole with multiple targets ~ I managed one webbing buckle but the rest were ‘inching’ to close toward the wasp nest for my comfort zone !

And I have NO doubt that my Camo gear ‘hid’ my presence of any (further) threat as they ignored me after I had backed off ~ One to Camo gear ~ LOL

I worked on, and soon found an array of 303 shells and misc. trash.. then I hit another ammunition cache! This time there were masses of 303 rounds ~ but in a very sad state ~

By the time we broke for a smoko it proved that Ed and Terry were doing far better than Moiré ~ but then I never expected to score big time straight up with the new CTX ~ although I feel I have done reasonably well in a short time I have a long way to go yet before I master the Minelab ~

Ed scored a really nice (hat) rising Sun with both pins intact amongst his booty ~

No photos today as I was not even expecting to join ranks with Terry and Ed until Merete suggested I should do so ! So I neglected to take the GPS, the Camera and other misc., equipment ~

Terry donated some of the items here in as he feels he only needs two of every item ~ as opposed to me ~ who would save the entire Relic World if I could ~ LOL

Oh~ not forgetting Ed donating several Water drum bungs ~ Thanks mate! ( Oh like we need to add more bungs to our collections ,, thus the generous offerings to each member when anyone finds them ~ LOL They are a real bane and a pain in the butt as they ring up like Super star relics !)

Not sure what calibre the primer safety triangles suit but sure as Hell they were large calibre shells ~ One humble 303 blank cartridge.. But there dozens of cartridge cases 303 and even 9 mm ~

 

Put in another solo Hunt ~ three stage operation.

Drove to site #1 ~ all new site of two ~ but turned out to be a fizzer as the grass was just way too high ~



So after a scant and fail sweep in what low areas there were I packed up and went stage 2

This is the same area I found my first hand grenade ~ found a few small misc , clips and buckles from Aust Slouch hat/s ~ a couple of Lee Enfield sight adjusters.



But I was hunting against the clock and time was running out ~ so I headed to yet another old favourite site ~

Mainly because I have been working with the new Minelab CTX and running over old ground and the results are showing the CTX is galaxies ahead of the Garrett~

On ground I have hunted numerous times I was getting many many misc targets previously missed ~

Impressive result and I am still coming to grips with the new Minelab,

Nice surprise in a WWII site and quite deep ~ a modern 50 cent coin ~





The disc I believe is a separation plate for a artillery shell ~ (??) Being 110 mm in diameter I suggest a large calibre piece ~ 155 mm maybe (??)



Not a huge day or spectacular as the previous week but a great test period for the new MD ~

 

Doing a little restoration work on the Webbly .380 rounds ~


Brilliant result ~ Electrolysis on very low voltage for 4-5 days and then buff and polish !

(Just shows how well these puppies were so well preserved even after 70 years ~ in a now long gone wooden crate ~ hinges were stil in situ ~ and then the deteriorating cardboard cartons~



Before and after ~ the 'black one' has just been removed from the electrolysis vat.)








Saturday another day ~ despite snotty fickle weather ~ I am hoping to get out and do a Solo hunt ~ after all have to get on top of this CTX thing ~

 

About time for an update of sorts ~

Done two lots of the .380-200 Webbly revolver bullets ~ STUNNING RESULT thus far ~

More Buckles, Bullets, badges and Buttons ~ and a WHOLE lot more to come ~ ( note the 9mm round which was a solo find in the dirt rather the .380 found the cartons ~ )

The 380's were made in 1943 ~ I have yet to ID the factory ~

Plus several small hunts which were more about familiarisation of the new CTX ~



Total rsto includes ~ Bullets, badges, buckles and buttons...

 

The three hunt results ~ modest but satisfying ~

Pity about the Spark plug as it is definitely 1930-40s design !

The second hunt revealed an Officer's cap AMF button and a 'crunched' mortar base fuse protector ~ Plus a mystery disc embossed with ' English Make'

The third hunt of last Saturday included a very tidy 1942 1/2 penny KG VI.









The button WILL clean superbly ~ bet my cattle station on it !




As suggested more about getting to grips with the new Minelab CTX ~

 

FINALLY after some 4-5 weeks of rain and showers with sprinkles of Sunshine at the wrong time ~ we finally got in a serious Hunt on Saturday ~


Early start ~ and it was &^& cold..we drove to the latest Bush site ~

Southerly wind would cut bread ~ but out of the wind it was superb day ~ ( I ditched the woolies and under shirt within 30 minutes ~ )

Anyway ~ the targets started ringing very quickly and we were off and running ~ the open areas are heavy going with a lot of Singapore daisy and tall grass patches ~

( Keeping in mind we do have “the Winter Snake” here and ‘he’ is nasty if stepped on ~ so it was long duds and even gaiters ~ )






So much for our theory of no interlopers in this remote area since WWII and 1945 !?????

*Modern decimal coin~ post 1966!



Aust Military forces button



A solid shot 2 lber ~ surprise find on site ~




We worked through till around 10.30 and broke for smoko ~

Smoko head count ~

Ed’s






My 'mornings' gatherings


The solid practice shell stayed in our ‘dump stump’ on site




No shortage of “live rounds “ in this site ~ including caches ~

We scattered after smoko

There is also no shortage of ‘rubbish holes’

Officer’s mess dump ~ lots of fancy broken china plates ~ The beer glass centre was once a cracker but sadly the top half was broken ~




Working the “VJ grave yard” hole at day’s end !

Massive dump hole ~ We can only assume that this was the final salute and dump of webbing and fixtures post August 1945!

( This seems to be growing in size each time we come back ~ )



Huge day ~ on site ~ < 7.45> Head home 15.30 !

Ed’s tally ~ his morning tally NOT included ~ another humiliation for me ! LOL

Note superb Six pounder shell primer and fuze cap ~ top – right!

Ed even scored several medicinal vial's centre left







I cannot complain I have pulled one Rising Sun badge myself on this site ~


My Total for the day ~ (Either Ed tunes in far better than me or maybe I am still coming to terms with the new Minelab CTX ! ???)

Two officer’s webbing ( config ?) buckles

The calibrated piece is a tyre pressure gauge extension

The large flat piece is a high carbon tensile steel piece and shows little rust so high quality ~ plus a 1943 1/2 penny ~ KGV



A great day with a mate and promise of much much more to come ~ plus even more sites to be investiagted ~

I am hoping to see some Boys anti tank rifle shots out of this site ! Especially in view of the 6 lber primer fuze and the solid shot round ~





Click to enlarge the picture

 

Can anyone help ID the Primer and fuze we found last Saturday ~

 

Wednesday ~

Another earl start ~ on site < 07.30 > ~ same 'New' site ~ very heavy going and a lot of 'sky craneing' or noodling through the dense grass.

The crazy part was when we set up our "base camp" next to the vehicle, and looked for a brass identity plate that Terry lost several weeks ago before the rains started ~ Here we found no brass rectangle But I spent over an hour MD immediately next to the vehicle and the kits~



Buckles and misc including a LOT of blank 303 shells ~ including a cache of some 20 303 blanks ~

Eventually I moved on ~ then dug a hole to China for a brilliant signal ! A &*^& Water drum bung !!!!



Smoko at 10.00 ~ Ed was doing okay but as suggested he had sifted through the "Victory over Japan day hole" which gave him the numbers ~ incl another 1943 Florin ~ and the brass tradesman's hammer head ??






I was definitely on the improvement trail with the CTX ~ but Ed was definitely on the luck run too ~

Most improvement on my part was by lowering the harness straps to allow the MD/ coil to potentially press the ground and GO SLOWER !

We split after smoko and I eventually moved off to explore another site a short distance away and INSTANTLY I started getting good clean high tone signals ~ Straight up I dug a superb brass jacket waist coat belt buckle. These clean up superbly as I have found them before ~ But this one has the tank which is rare event !



There were heaps of signals ~ in fact I started ignoring signals in search of 'better' signals in the hope of coins or even rarer relics such as Rising Suns or even badges !

Then Ed appeared from the higher ground and he had a 'Quarter master's" badge ~ or 90% of it ~








So by 15.00 it was time to call it a day ~

I was well pleased with my improvement in handling the CTX ~

As suggested all my targets were not associated with the VJ hole ~ Ed cheated there LOL ~ but he got the high quality targets so Lady Luck once again rode his shoulder !

My turn soon ! LOL

My lot first ~ included a 4" mortar safety cap and a webbing belt buckle but the tunic waist belt buckle is my favourite for the day ~

 

More relics resto's

 

More relics ~ the anticipated jacket belt buckle and a webbing buckle ~

The belt buckle which is typical of a number I have found ~ but this one is extracted from the latest site we have found and certainly vies well for any relics which we WILL find ~

 

Lagging behind here ~

Fossick #199 July 11

A solo hunt ~ two parts ~ went to a site nearby ~ 10 kms ~ to check out the current aituation ~

But I was horrified to find the a site which farmer "Laurie" reckoned he was going to maintain as a clear field is now a tangled mass of Rat Tail grass ~

We know there was a military presence but seems the main camp site on a private property near by. They know my partner Ed and vice versa but the two parties have yet to parley and allow acces~



So i drove the short distance to where "Laurie" described the house remnants of a old Digger who has long since passed on ~

I burst out laughing when I got out of the vehicle and within 2-3 paces of the car I hit great signal .. turned out to be a KG V 1/2 penny ~ But that was about it ~




So after about an hour I decided to press on to one of my well worn sites just to practice with the new CTX ~

Spent a few hours and was pleasantly to surprise my revised techniques and skill base with the CTX was improving with time. As the afternoon wore on I was gettign more and more targets in as suggested very well worn site!

But turned out to be one of my very late days as I kept finding more signals ~

Not a huge day but some cool finds ~ including the beer bottle dated 1945!

 

July 15

Fossick #200

An early start ~ and freezing ~ Hey this is tropical Far North Queensland ~ Zero Deg ~ Com' onhn !!!

Headed off around 06.30 ~ and spectacular scenery ~





Straight into the latest area again with high hopes ~ But sadly the site has not delivered as we had hoped , although Ed found another dump site ~

I joined him but the huge number of nails and ferrous trash was far less than inspiring but a fe goodies did come forth ~



Excellent condition and once it warmed up a great day ~

As the day drew to a close again I wandered down to the nearby river edge and blow me down ~ I found an array of targets ~ including a 6 pounder solid shot round ~ sadly suffering from the constant water emersion ~

And 25 Pounder ( 66 mm) base plug , with primer ~ perhaps planned as a Trench art piece but dumped ~





My over all gathering for the day



Ed's collection ~ including china mug with D/|\D stamp on the base, plus Rising Sun!







The 25 lber fuze plus related shots ~ Ed asked me to see if the primer he found on the previous hunt woudl fit ~ it sure does and both fuzes have a same designation; RY 342 . ( Input on the subject welcome ,, thanks!)










An intriguing piece ~ melted glass with a button in situ !



Another great team effort ~