Around the Water Cart.

A one-day seminar `Australians in the Korean War -- 50 Years On' will be conducted by the Royal United Services Institute of Victoria at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne on Saturday 8 April 2000. Speakers include MAJGEN Jim Hughes AO DSO MC (ret) and an overview will be given by prominent military historian Chris Coulthard-Clark. Registration $40 including lunch, morning and afternoon teas and copy of proceedings. Numbers will be limited -- inquire now! Secretary RUSI [phone]. (Flyer from RUSI).

Two South Korean soldiers, believed killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, have returned home, after being held captive in communist North Korea for more than 45 years. The two were caught during a battle in Kumhwa in July 1953 and were sent to work in North Korean mines. They managed to escape into China and thence to South Korea. For the first time last month, South Korea said that about 136 POW were still alive and being held captive in the north (Port Moresby Post, 15 December 1998, courtesy of Old Faithful, magazine of the 3RAR Association, Queensland, Jan 2000).

A publication which had its genesis in an investigation of the names on the World War I Roll of Honour in the Yass (NSWL) Soldiers' Memorial Hall is `We Have Not Forgotten: Yass & District's War, 1914-1918'. It looks at the experience as soldiers or workers on the home front of men and women from Yass itself as well as areas from Binalong to Burrinjuck and Goonadah to Rye Park. It reproduces residents' oral histories, details of the 1915 and 1918 recruiting marches, memorial services and `in memoriam' notices for soldiers, war memorials and honour boards in the area, bravery awards and many other details. Softcover, 343pps; illustrated; indexed; bibliography. Paperback $30; Hardback $45 both plus p&p. Contact Milltown Research, PO Box 563, Yass, NSW, 2582. (Descent, Journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists, March 1999).

For the first time in NSW, public access to State Records has a statutory basis. The State Records Act 1998 entitles the public to all State Records over 30 years of age, including those produced by all public offices except the governor, courts and Parliament. Enquires to [phone] or e-mail: [e-mail]. (Descent, March 1999).

On Tuesday 20 June 2000 at 5.15pm, Associate Professor David Phillips will speak to the Royal Historical Society of Victoria on `Australia's Imperial War a Century Ago: the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902'. 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne. Enquires for non-member attendance at this lecture to [phone] (Supplement to History News, Royal Historical Society of Victoria, February 2000).

A new Internet web site, at Hamilton, Victoria, documents the war memorials and memorabilia items in the western districts of Victoria. A database of more than 22,000 names listed on war memorials in the region will be added shortly. The Web address is: http://www.deakin.edu.au/fac_arts/swwh but presently the web site has the following notice: `We regret that access to this site has been temporarily suspended ... the site will be recommissioned when a more comprehensive version becomes available, sometime in May.' (Their Service -- Our Heritage Newsletter, Department of Veterans' Affairs, December 1999).

In September 1939, four Douglas DC-3s arrived in Canberra to serve with No 18 Squadron, RAAF. Incredible as it might seem, sixty years later the RAAF is still operating DC-3s, three of which serve with the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) in South Australia. Also, one of those original four `Daks' is still flying, operated by Ansett Airlines for special flights. (ACT Branch Newsletter, October 1999)

A New Zealander, Clive Franklin Collett, made the first official RFC parachute jump from an aircraft, a BE2c, in January 1917. A civilian had successfully jumped by parachute from an aircraft in 1914 and RFC balloon crews (observers) were issued with and used parachutes, but the RFC stubbornly refused their issue to aircrew. They had a change of heart after Capt T H Orde-Lees had very publicly demonstrated the use of parachutes for saving aircrew by jumping from London's Tower Bridge and from the Middle Temple (dangerously low altitudes), thus allowing Collett to undertake the first official RFC jump from an aircraft. (The Volunteers, Journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, July 1999)

The medals of an Australian soldier who invented the drip-fired rifle to cover the Anzac withdrawal from the Gallipoli peninsula have been presented to the Australian War Memorial. Captain William Scurry, an architectural modeller from Melbourne, was serving with the 7th Battalion as a Lance Corporal when he invented the `pop-off automatic firing mechanism by which water dripped from a tin into another suspended below it. When full, the second tin pulled down on a string attached to the rifle's trigger, the timing of the shot being determined by the size of the hole in the first tin. Scurry was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal and mentioned in despatches for his invention. In 1918, he was commissioned and sent to France in command of a light trench mortar battery. He earned a Military Cross before being practically blinded by a German bomb. He took up strawberry farming in the inter-war years and despite his disabilities, enlisted again in World War 2 and commanded the prisoner of war camp at Tatura, near Shepparton, in Victoria. (The Canberra Times, 18 September 1999)

The Australian Dictionary of Biography plans to include in a forthcoming volume an article on Major Norman Isaac Winning, MBE, who gave distinguished service with the 2/5th and 2/8th Commando Squadrons in New Guinea during World War 2. The General Editor, ADB is anxious to hear from anyone who has information about Major Winning's pre- and post-war careers, especially family members. Major Winning was killed in the Subang district of Java, Indonesia. Information to General Editor ADB at Australian National University ACT 0200. Mr K Bovill of WA is also researching Major Winning and would like to hear from anyone who can help him locate his grave. Information to [phone]. (Vetaffairs, Journal of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, December 1999)

During 1999, a National Servicemen's Memorial was dedicated at Puckapunyal Army Base in recognition of national servicemen from all three services that served in Victoria from 1951 to 1972. (Vetaffairs, December 1999)

A blast from the past has washed up on the beach at Portsea, Victoria. The surf uncovered an old 9.2 inch naval shell. It has been identified as a fabulous example of an 1880s shore-fired naval shell, 60cm long, 25cm wide and weighing around 120kg. The Senior Ammunition Technical Officer, Southern Region said its design predated modern high explosive and driving bands. It was shrapnel design consisting of a heavy cast outer casing around 5cm thick and containing hundreds of iron balls. At the base of the casing was a chamber filled with gunpowder. When ignited, the powder forced a plate forward like a piston, explosively propelling the iron balls forward and shattering the outer casing. After breaching the outer casing with explosive, the SATO found the inner casing full of seawater. Due to the difficulty of removing it, the shell remains on the beach. (Army, 17 February 2000)

The dawn service at Anzac in 2000, the 85th anniversary of the first landing, will be held at a new site, 300 metres north of Ari Burnu where previous services have been held. The new site is dominated by the rocky hill called The Sphinx. It is substantially larger than the old one and is the place of the Anzac evacuation from Gallipoli. Also, the new site will allow the cemetery at Ari Burnu to be restored as a place of quiet and reflection. It will be linked to the new site by a path that follows the route of a light rail line constructed by the Anzacs. (Vetaffairs, December 1999)

While on the subject of military railways, several British-built miniature locomotives which were previously used by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) to haul ammunition around the Smithfield Magazine at Salisbury, South Australia have been acquired by railway museums in Victoria and South Australia. (ACT Branch Newsletter, February 2000)

The new home of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria at 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne is the western section of the former Medical Corps `drill hall'. The site was in military hands from 1886 when a small weatherboard orderly room was built for the Volunteers: this was replaced in 1900 by a Federation style Orderly Room and in 1939 by the present building. The RHSV would like to build up a history archive about their new home, as they did with their former one at the Old Mint. If anyone has information about the building and its uses, contact RHSV at [phone]. (History News, RHSV, February 2000)

Some books from Messrs Berkelouw of `Bendooley', Old Hume Highway, Berrima, NSW [phone] as listed in their Australiana Bulletin Volume 19 No 1:

   The Defence Act 1903-1939 and Regulations and Orders for the Australian
   Military Forces and Senior Cadets 1927. Melbourne 1940. Crudely rebound
   using original front cover. 564pp. Numerous amendments pasted in and
   additional inserts. $125. [Who remembers pasting amendments in AMR&O?]

   The History and Regimental Standing Orders of the 30 Infantry Battalion,
   the New South Wales Scottish Regiment. Prepared and Issued under the
   direction of the Commanding Officer 30 Bn. 1959. 221pp. With numerous
   plates, some of which are coloured and foldout tables. $85.

   Staff and Regimental Lists, Australian Military Forces, 1st January 1914.
   Melbourne 1914. Facsimile reprint, 1989. 158pp. $50.

   Australian Military Senior Cadets. Training, Musketry and Rifle Exercises,
   1917. Melbourne. 1917. With figures in text. $65.

And from K R White Books, telephone [phone]:

   Men of Courage. The History of 2/25 Australian Infantry Battalion. Allan W
   Drayton. Published February 2000 by the Battalion Association. Case bound.
   380 pages. 100 photographs and maps, nominal roll, Honours and Awards,
   citations, Honour Roll, list of casualties, bibliography, members'
   anecdotes and index. $49 plus p&p.

Geoff Howe of Ancestral Trail Publications, Croydon Park NSW [phone] sends news of his book Words of War. It is based on letter from and contemporary newspaper interviews with more than 40 soldiers from the Inner Western Suburbs of Sydney who fought in the South African War. There is material from the NSW Lancers, NSW Mounted Infantry, NSW `A' Battery, the NSW Army Medical Corps and the Bushmen. Among the better-known names mentioned are Fighting Charlie Cox of the Lancers, Lieutenant Russell Watson who took the surrender at Pretoria and the Reverend James Green who witnessed the fighting at Elands River. 124 pages illustrated. $20 plus $4.50 p&p.