Australian War Museum 2014 photo dump

Hey guys! i hail from Queensland (think of it like... the redneck state of australia). but recently i had the opportunity to go to our country's capital (Canberra) all expenses paid for by the Returned and Services League (RSL). the week i was there our country's was celebrating it's ANZAC DAY which was on the 25th of April.

I did a couple things include meet politicians and pose in pictures with them, the RSL chairman, and a boatload of ex-servicemen. but a big highlight was the Australian War Museum which had some great pieces here are some pictures i took. there are tons and tons more things in this museum but i only wanted to show you guys the stuff that i found interesting! i hope you enjoy them! i'll do my best to caption them

Canberra, the capital city, it's in the state called 'ACT' (Australian capital territory) It was chosen as the capital as a compromise because Melbourne and Sydney couldn't stop arguing over the title. it's location is roughly in the middle of those two cities. Parlement house is at the far end of this picture, and straight ahead of it is the war museum where the rest of these photos were taken



Here's a Long Range Patrol Vehicle
it's used by our SAS in Iraq and Afghanistan. this particular LRPV was known as the 'One Fitty' for the $150 daily allowance paid to our SAS troops in Southern Afghanistan. it was damaged by a IED while on patrol. it's a survior of a lot of previous contacts, but the last one made it unserviceable. thanks to it's thick armour, the crew remained largely uninjured.



Our locally produced submachine gun, we used it up until the 60's and 70's, read the plaque for more info.



Captured PPSH submachine gun
14th of September, 1952 1RAR captured a Chinese Soldier, the Australian soldiers took him back to their positions. the submachine gun was taken from the prisoner. it was acquired by lance corporal Toby Ralston who later smuggled it back to Australia in his greatcoat.



Colt Model 1911A1, captured in vietnam war. read plaque for more info



M3 Grease Gun, PPS-43, and Chinese Mosin-Nagant carbine clone



Gold Plated Tabuk AK
The Tabuk was manufactured in Iraq and based on the russian AKM. this gold one was one of a large cache of weapons discovered by the US 101st Airborne during the war in Iraq. It was presented to Brig. General John Cantwell shortly before he flew from Northern Iraq to Baghdad.

After landing at Baghdad and still holding the rifle, Cantwell was asked by one of a group of US air personnel: "Hey man! is that a gold AK-47!?' cantwell held up the rifle and let it sparkle in the sun. he then told the group "I'm Australian, we all get issued these" on a later date he heard the US forces in the base talking: "You hear? Them Ossies all get gold AK's!"



War-Rug knitted by women in Afghanistan



Shrapnel that was recovered from a deactivated s-mine



German Ace counted his kills on part of his fighter. the cannon is a 20MM used on the same plane



it's written near on a plaque near this helmet that the man who wore this survived the wound he received because of it



Mauser Model 1934 Pistol
recovered by gunner Leo Howard 2/2nd Field Regiment from the body of a dead Fallschimjager who was killed during the fighting in Crete



German Volkssturm Rifle and Armband
Members of the Volkssturm (home guard) carried this VG1 rifle. simply and cheaply made reflecting Germany's desperation as it's enemies approached in the ending years of the war



Read the Plaque for more info about these two swords:




Weapons Recovered from the australian Somalia peacekeeping efforts. Yes. that is a Sawn-Off lee-Enfield.
I was lucky enough to be escorted through the war memorial with a Australian officer peace-keeper who told me that they had hundreds and hundreds of rifles like these ones in the HQ that he ran, in a big shipping container. In the garage they impounded the various Technicals that the militants created.
The Somalian conflict in question was the exact one that was dramatised in the movie 'Black Hawk Down'


The UNOSOM plaque outside their base.



that's pretty much it. i hope you guys learned something, or found it interesting!
till next time
buckers

nice pictures

Nice one, lol'd at the gold AK story

Very nice! Thanks for posting.

stg is nice

very cool exhibition , i like particullary the ppsh sub machine gun , the colt 1911a1 and the vg1 rifle .