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 Dear Gunners (Readers) -
WELCOME TO AIRBURST
NO 38 - 2019
A very very Merry Xmas to you and all your family and all the best for the New Year!
The Annual General Meeting was held at ADFA Officers' Mess on 16 November 2019. Tim Ford announced his retirement as Chair of the board after a nine year stint. Tim is not leaving us as he has volunteered to act as the manager of the Cutler Research Centre (CRC) as well as Project Manager (shared with Peter Lawrence) of the project to restore the information panels on the monuments at Australia's Memorial Walk (AWM).
Tim has done stirling work for the Company and on behalf of the Board and members I extend our thanks and gratitude for all that he has done. Tim's final report to the AGM can be accessed by clicking on the link below.
At the Board Meeting following the AGM I was given the honour of election as Chair with Nick Floyd elected as Deputy Chair. Peter Lawrence has agreed to stay on as Secretary for at least the next 12 months and Brian Hall has put his hand up to stay on as Treasurer. We have been joined on the Board by Bill Foxall, James Eling and Ron West and this new blood is most welcome.
We still need volunteers to work with Tim and Peter on the CRC and AMW. If you cannot provide some time how about a donation to assist on getting on all the Company activities. We are still tax deductible!
2021 is the year that the Regiment is planning to celebrate 150 years of Australian Artillery. The outline program is :
- Sunday 1 August 2021-Commemorative Service RRAA National Memorial, Canberra
- Saturday 6 November 2021- Parade & Drum Head Service to present the new Queen's Banner, Sydney
- National Gunner Dinner, Sydney
I must say those events provide an excellent start for what should be , in my personal opinion, a year of events commemorating and celebrating 150 years of artillery where the artillery of the States morphed into the RRAA. I would suggest that each state RAA Association should put their thinking caps on to see how they can contribute to the year.
A committee has been appointed and Terms of reference issued for planning of the anniversary. RAAHC stands ready to help but so far only limited information (that shown above) has been received. No options or advice has been received from the RAA Anniversary Project Sub-Committee. Hopefully more information will become available in the New Year.
The ANZAC Centennial Gun (ACG) project draws to a close. With no Army Artillery museum in which to display the ACG the Board is reaching an agreement with the Temora Aviation Museum to do so. The ACG volunteers are keen to continue to attend remembrance events over the next five years but such an endeavour will only take place if a suitable Project Manager can be found. Assistance welcomed!
If horse drawn artillery is not your thing you may wish to assist Tim & Peter with the AMW restoration. We are replacing all the weather worn panels on the main monuments with brass panels which should stand the test of time.
Have a great festive season!
UBIQUE,
Ian Ahearn
Chair RAAHC
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ST Barbara's Day Messages
The links below connect to the ST Barbara Day messages from HoR, RA Master Gunner & Canadian Gunners
For those that do not recall the story of St Barbara a short version is shown below:
Accounts place her in the 3rd century in Heliopolis Phoenicia, present-day Baalbek, Lebanon. Despite the legends detailing her story, the earliest references to her supposed 3rd century life do not appear until the 7th century, and veneration of her was common, especially in the East, from the 9th century.
The Spanish word
santabárbara
, the corresponding Italian word santabarbara
, and the obsolete French Sainte-Barbe
signify the
powder magazine
of a ship or fortress It was customary to have a statue of Saint Barbara at the magazine to protect the ship or fortress from suddenly exploding.
Saint Barbara is the patron of the
Italian Navy
.
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Fort Scratchley 80 Poun
der Gun
Type of Gun: RML 80 Pounder Mark I on Carriage, Sliding, Medium Wood No 21 with Slide, RML, Traversing Wood, Casemate No 14
Location: Fort Scratchley, Nobbys Road, Newcastle East, NSW
This is a modified weapon, originally built as a 68-pounder 112-cwt (hundredweight), which had first been designed in 1841 by a Colonel William Dundas. Royal Navy 68-pounders were removed from ships, landed, and used in action during the Crimean War (1853-56). Britain's first armour-plated, iron-hulled warship in 1860, HMS Warrior, was fitted with 26 68-pounders.
On land the 68-pounder was used extensively in British coastal defences constructed during the 1850s. They were also used to equip similar facilities in the colonies. Two were installed on Signal Hill, on the approaches to the Australian port of Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1874.
There was neither the production capacity nor the funds to replace all existing SBML guns immediately but in 1863 Captain Palliser introduced a method of lining smooth bore cast iron guns with coiled wrought iron rifled tubes. This provided an inexpensive means of converting medium calibre smooth bore muzzle loading guns to rifled muzzle loading guns. The 68 pounder smooth bore were converted to 80 pounder rifled muzzle loading.
In 1872, with the departure of the Imperial troops NSW was presented with 25 converted 80 pounders. Although they are known as RML guns at the time of their conversion they were known as Muzzle Loading Rifled (MLR) to differentiate them from guns manufactured as RML.
In 1877, in light of the perceived increasing threat from Russia, an Australian government report recommended building a fort on Signal Hill and equipping it with three 9-inch and four 80-pounder RML guns. This was eventually named Fort Scratchley, after Colonel Peter Scratchley, co-author of the report and the man responsible for the detailed planning for the fort.
Fort Scratchley's 80-pounders were replaced in 1898 by 1.5-inch Nordenfelt quick-firing guns.
Additional information can be found on the RAAHC website
CLICK HERE
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Did You Know?
The Australian Imperial Force -AIF
With the completion of the South Africa War, in 1902, the Australian Government believed that Australia should not become involved in any future overseas British Imperial operations, and as such, a provision was added to the Defence Act of 1904 which prevented the Australian Government from sending soldiers, therefore any military unit, outside Australia.
However, the Act did contain a clause which allowed Australians, as individuals, to volunteer for overseas service in defence of the Empire. It was this 'loophole' which enabled the then Government to raise a volunteer military force to serve overseas to fight in The Great War (World War I) and
t
he title 'Australian Imperial Force'
(AIF)
was thought-up by Major General Bridges. However, any personnel serving in the Permanent Army or the Militia, at the time, had to discharge from these forces and then join the AIF.
All AIF units wore the Australian Army General Service Badge, better known as the 'The Rising Sun' badge.
An AIF Rising Sun badge was used on the headstones in military cemeteries.
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| Gunners Around the Nation & The World
View the latest Newsletters from various Artillery associations around the nation:
RAA Association Victoria Newsletter -
Cascabel
Locating Surveillance and Target Acquisition Association -
Newsletter
Royal Australian Artillery Association (NSW)
-Website
Australian Artillery Association -
Website
Royal New Zealand Artillery Association -
Website
Royal Artillery Association -
Website
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