ANZAC Day 2010

I didn't get to write on the day, but

In memory of my uncle Sgt Percy Finn, 58/59 Battalion PNG 1942 - VX 102594

You never really talked about the war but even as a young child I could see how much it haunted you. Even the dedication in the book "Militia Battalion at War - A history of the 58/59 BN" gives away so much "to read and to hope you never have to experience"

All I can say even though you are long gone....


Thank you


I promise I will do my best to get to the reunion this year - there are so few left now, and even more importantly to take part in the march next year. Soon the baton will be passed to us regardless and it is important to carry the memories of those who gave so unflinchingly to serve and protect us....

And while I think of it - yes there is more stuff coming - we have hit the 11 tonne mark today and I am feeling totally crippled in the back. A few days off never hurt !!!!!!

Lots of weird and wonderful things

Eh? No this is not out of the shed, but at my mum's house - a bush bee hive - I just love the symmetry of the discs that they make !

Anyway back to the shed !

I don't know how relevant they are but thought given they are Australian, old and have blue heads (is that because they are Crown Matches?)  it was worthy of a mention - unused of course!

This is some sort of phone component - it appears to be from turn of the century - no not 1999-2000, more like 1900 !  This is the only unit to date that I have found intact. Its pretty beautiful regardless.....

Radio resistors anyone?  I have lots !

This is an oddball of sorts - lots of part numbers and in the second pic there is certainly the military arrow. Then under that is what appears to be the A.M number - 37G/704. Apparently 37G is Godfrey Cabin Superchargers, or Air Compressor SRM210 or 215 MK 1.   Anyone want to have a go at working out what it is?

This is intriguing - I don't know why I even picked it out of the rubble but did, took one look at the numbers and thought "Aircraft". Checked my lists tonight and indeed its aircraft but the number suggests its from the Woomera Protoype which would be a fluke if that. Part is 04- 58373.  It may be that the part number was left over and the parts were destined for the production run of Woomera aircraft that never happened.....

And speaking of Woomera parts !

A tidy little box of some sort. The number is of course 11 - 14061-2 which if memory serves me right is from the wing area (no I'm probably horribly wrong but give me a pat on the back for trying!!!)

And lastly for the day

This is a pretty big box - about 40x30x15cm . Best of all its a Woomera part  11-54066-2 G. Looks like a big terminal box of sorts for the instrumentation...

Anyway, its going to be a busy week. Pete the scrappy is back and we are moving some horribly old and rusted bolts and machinery out. With any luck we can move some shelves out of the way and create a big working area for the tiny little bits

Until next time.........

Even More Bonanza Week !

Before I jump into the little stash of goodies I brought home today, I just wanted to stop at this point and say a big thank you to all of you out there who have been reading this blog. Its becoming apparent that while I may not have many "followers" as listed on the side panel, there are certainly an incredible number of people reading this blog and sharing the info with others to help solve, and best of all, to simply enjoy, reading about all these bits n pieces I bring home.

There have been people getting in touch who knew Grandpa and also have been to the shed many times in the past. Clearly, this sort of thing is now becoming a dying breed - especially with some of these parts. I am always hearing stories about people passing away with large collections, and the people left to sort the estate out just throw it away. Tonnes of things - gone forever.  While we have sent a few tonnes to be recycled ourselves, we have been picking thru it as carefully as possible to ensure that just the old, rusted, broken stuff goes off....

Anyway, your support, advice and all the help has been greatly appreciated to date !

Now, I'm sure you're wanting to see the next batch ?  Ok then, lets roll ....

Picking up where we left off last post, this is another one of the telephone backboards - incredibly intact. Some of the ones I collected had broken bits off the side, and one strangely had no polish at all, but this one and the one following were beauties !

The major suprise for both these units was turning them over and finding the schematic diagram intact on the back - given the age of them and the conditions they had been stored in, this was truly remarkable 

Here's the other one - this finish is a lighter walnut colour than the one above

Next !

A slightly more unusual Switch from an Aircraft - almost intact (small chunk off the left hand top in last pic)  And the A.M part # is 10F/275. A pity the pic doesnt really show the communication links - Pilot, VC etc etc. Click on the pic and it should come up as a big image

Another component from the legendary Woomera Aircraft. There is a long cable attached to this as well. Any ideas??

This is what looks to be some sort of cable with two terminal blocks - one at each end. its RAAF and the A.M. Part number is 5X/2040

Well, I guess its from an aircraft right?  Thats all I know and no idea what each of those holes might have been !!! But certainly a cockpit panel of some sort I would have thought .....

Well this is an odd one - to me it looks like some part of a communication device and is from an aircraft - has the E-xxxxx marking so maybe a Beaufort?   But thats all I could think of - the silver block at the bottom is almost certainly a condenser of some sort....

I found quite a few of these all tangled up together and its been quite a job getting them sorted out - this is possibly a military jeep fuel sender joystick. I have a number of single joystick units as well but as they come complete with full metal cable its a helluva long way before I finish untangling them !

This is probably aircraft as well. It does have a very faint E-xxxxx part number sprayed on the side, but my curiosity was taken by the fact the maker seems to have been in Sydney, as shown above. Anyone know of this company?

Here's another part from the Woomera Aircraft. this one seems to have seals on some parts so I guess it was already mothballed by the time Grandpa picked it up....

Lastly for the evening, this is a very small unit and I almost missed it - but its RAAF, and may be a sort of relay?  The A.M part number is 5D/529  - its very hard to read

OK then I've done my dash. I'm meeting up with a number of people at the shed tomorrow so its going to be a fun and busy day. Must bring home the Hecla PieWarmer too (Yes indeed, found one in amazing condition - at least I think its a Pie Warmer......)  Photo to come

Back soon !

Bonanza Week !

The shed just never stops amazing me with all manner of mysteries, goodies and downright interesting things.  This entry we kick off with a bunch of motley looking packages. In fact they are all wax coated - apparently this was referred to as "tropical dipped"

Anyway, its dual wrapped and covered in grease - so what is it ?

Heres one of the units unwrapped (it kinda fell apart so I didnt feel guilty about opening it.

The item is a replacement Tee and you can see the typed words at the top Carrier M.G - which was a small tank to carry Bren Guns in WWII - so these packs are replacement parts for a Bren Gun Carrier :-)

Blink and you would miss this - Its an RAAF switch of some sort ! Quite small but very solid.

So this is a mystery one - looks like a four valve unit of some sort - hopefully someone will see the BS serial on the top and recognize what aircraft its from - in very good condition though !

Now this is where I started getting very excited. This is a part from the RAAF Woomera aircraft. To make a long story very short, only two were fully built, one as a trainer and the other as a full prototype, but the remaining 100 on order were cancelled and the parts scrapped/sold - and it is pretty apparent that Grandpa picked up more than a few of the parts along the way. No idea what this is but have about 15 of them already.  You can identify a Woomera part as it has the prefix 11- on the part.

Apparently the shed used to be full of this stuff years ago but collectors and the more unscrupulous "dealers" have cherry picked their way around- however I'm glad to say they missed a few too !

This is exceptional, and is another Woomera part. Its an elevator trim and all parts still work - You can see the degree meter in the foreground. The disc looks almost like Bakelite but it isn't

All pics above are different views of the Trim unit - really quite a find !

And just when I thought I'd found everything for the day - this pops up !  Its another Woomera part (at least I'm 90% sure as the number is hard to read, but sure looks like an 11)  and is referred to as a bomb runner. Indeed it had something to do with loading the bombs onto the aircraft. Pity the wheel is stuck at the moment, but I did find a spare wheel at the end of the day !

Looks like there would have been a handle here and sure there would have been a pulley cable from the hole to the wheel - but I could be wrong of course......

And for the phone friends, heres one of about eight back panels that I found for vintage telephones. This one has the PMG logo on it - given these were practically buried under lots of rusty bolts and bits of metal the condition is actually pretty good. Bit of polish work and they will be very nice !

Well that will do for now as it turns out I have a sick child on my hands - so I will have a day or so off and get my energy up and running for the next round (theres a monster load of stuff still on the table at the shed to come home !)