Newcastle NSW Australia - ML 8" 65 CWT cannons

[Dronic69]

Morning all,

Stumble across these beauties on the way home the other day in a park near Beaumont, Newcastle - a pair of ML 8" Cannons used for coastal defense which I'm assuming are the heavier 65 CWT ones (same as used at Fort Denison Sydney Harbour)

{The ML 8" type cannons were later re-purposed and converted to a rifled muzzle loading type gun in the 1860s and the 65 CWT versions were converted to the RML 64 pounder 71 CT guns via the Palliser's method}

Enjoy

Cheers
Drew

 

[kahu1]

So travelling through Newcastle, you didn't let a chance go by?..

 

[Dronic69]

Found a drawing of the typical lathe that was used to produce them. - now that's a big beast!!!

 

[ozziammo]

Its a wonder the cops haven't dragged them away as illegal dangerous weapons!!!

 

[Dronic69]

It's not the Police we have to worry about yet - at least these 2 x historic guns actually made it into a "park" - our defense force bureaucrats have unfortunately a very poor record for preserving our heritage.................

a lot of stuff was just thrown over the cliffs in the 1800s - and I remember Victoria Barracks in Sydney destroying pre-federation pith helmets with an axe - rather than give them to Museums etc.