"I'm gunna do it tomorrow"

[Woody]

I just love the "When we were kids/teens" thread, I just wish we had a decent camera and taken a heap of photos back then.
Sometimes my minister for home affairs likes to call me "gunna", especially when pointing out a few jobs around home that I haven't quite got around to. Saw this pic on our local MRA site and it got me thinking. Guys, post us your pics of those backyard jobs that you were "gunna" get around to.
cheers
Woody

[Wombat]

Ha!! we've all seen trees grow over and around things - but a motorcycle?!

[yzhilly]

Brad will have keep an eye on his ones make sure they dont grow up like that.

[Quicksilver]

Heres some pure waste. These are laying in prox 30 meters of water. Not exactly project abandoned but just abandoned for the hell of it. Also note these are laying in the back of trucks..

[Rosco400]

Gee you really know how to hunt an old bike down quicky, what was the story with these :'(

[firko]

Truk Lagoon???

[mainline]

Looks like an army job to me. Quicker and cheaper (all things considered) to dump them than sell them. Like all the old warbirds that went for scrap or over the side of a carrier into the drink.

[Wombat]

Or Central Qld - still waiting for the floods to subside?

[Quicksilver]

All this gear is on the Thistlegorm. You will find her on the large reef system with Sha'ab Ali on the one side and the Sinai coastline on the other inbetween lies a stretch of sea 8 kms long with average depths of 30 meters. The Thistlegorm had just completed its journey around Africa, loaded with military equipment of all kinds for the British troop in North Africa. On the 6th of October 1941 at 1.30 a.m. she entered the calm zone alongside Sha'ab Ali, cast anchor, and lay in waiting observing all the necessary stealth drills. The Thistlegorm was discovered by a long-range German bomber based in Crete. The bomber attacked with two of it's bombs landed precisely on target sinking the Thistlegorm.

The ship and all her spoils are still their. Anyone fancy a diving trip.

[Doc]

There's a bit of this military stuff out in Moreton Bay. The US after WW2 decided logistics just wasn't practicle to take some of their military stuff home so it was either dumped in Moreton Bay or sealed in mine shafts. 1 such shaft is only a couple of miles from where I live and very few people even realized it's existance. An old guy I used to cut grass for told me this..he was stationed at Shaw Pk/General MacArthur's Brisbane HQ. I found the mine entrance along the side of Kedron Brook sealed with a monolithic rock as he told me and also the vetilation/lift shaft still exists in aged nursing home grounds though it's been capped with concrete also. The rest of the stuff is where the mined coal seam ended it's a place called 14 Mile Reef in Moreton Bay. Bigger and better reserves were discovered at Swanbank and the Nundah mines ceased about 20 years before the war so they were well and truly vacant when they filled them with this surplus stuff..I do sometimes wonder..apparently only this guy and 1 other know exactly what went in there, but both these guys are now departed. Another place we used to ride as kids was called the 'cattle bridge' or 'Dinah's Island' during the war there was a munitions/army dump on the edge of this tidal mudflat tucked in the mangroves behind Nudgee Beach. It was nothing to find live rounds and rusted pistols, cutlery, plates, bowls and all sorts of army related stuff..all quite rusty and by then no doubt very unstable..in hindsight maybe I should have collected some but then something told me at the time best to leave well and good enough alone and keep riding I must get down there again one day and have a scout around..it's now part of Boondall Wetlands Reserve so I guess I won't be taking the RM this time around  

[Wombat]

On the buried Military 'treasure' stuff, I've heard similar stories about two other Military stores areas.
Meeandah in Brissie and Wallangarra on the Qld/NSW border are rumoured to have deep water-filled pits and sealed up tunnels respectively.
Stories of Willy's Jeeps and Spitfires still in their crates (and coated with grease) are two I've heard.
Each story has a "some old bloke reckons; and he was there" as a basis for the truth of the story.

I really don't know what to believe, but why would these pits/tunnels remain hidden/buried if there's any truth to the matter?
What possible reason could there be for NOT retrieving these relics (supposedly in pristine factory condition)?
And if they exist be assured there would be a record somewhere; the Army has a fit if you don't return a compass or a set of binoculars to the Q store.
"Nobody leaves here until it's found - you won't be going home this weekend until these items....!!!
So yeah, crates and crates of Jeeps will be duly noted.

I'm not a fan of Journos but maybe some should put their snooping skills to some good use and chase some of these myths.
If a bedroomed 490 Maico can fetch 120K how much would the Vintage Spitfire crowd cough up for new Spit' in a box?   

[brent j]

As I understand it, most of this military stuff was dumped to protect the economy. Imagine if hundreds of jeeps or trucks were dumped on the public? What would happen to the local auto industries.

I believe that any equipment that leaves the US is written off for this reason. (stand to be corrected here)

As for dumping in abandond mines etc, well there's a hole to start with so no need (or expense) to dig and it's easy to cover over.

There are also a lot of stories about US gear dumped in and around Mckays crossing in NZ.

Brent

[Doc]

Wombat the old guy that told me all this stuff was quite well known and quite a shady fella that you wouldn't want to cross in his early years. He was in big with the Bjelke Petersen government and the QLD Police but somehow he was imume from prosecution during the inquiries into such. Others knew of these mine shafts and dumpings but it was 'Big Johns' job to keep track of every item and make sure none was available to fossickers or the likes. The mine shafts have been flooded bigtime at least 2 times so any chance of nice stuff still sealed in grease wrap just wouldn't happen. I never heard of planes going in there, it was mainly, generators and camp equipment but there were some bikes, some artillery and some jeeps. The whole of Nundah hill here is a maze of underground shafts. When the govt. decided a tunnel was needed through Nundah they discovered all these 'voids' and had to sink footings down at 150metres before solid footing were found. They were worried the entire hill shopping centre could cave into these shafts and it was Big John who was called in to draw a map of all he could remember before the sealing of the mine took place. Back in the 20's there was not a lot documentation to map these mines and by the mid 40's any info on such was lost and today this story is passed off as myth but I can tell you, I researched and every little detail this old guy told me held true, it also surprised some historians who had heard of such incidents but never knew the truth, the truth died with these 2 old blokes. No doubt there maybe records in the US but for what would be left I doubt it would be of any use.

[firko]

During WW2 they made bombers and small training planes in the Chullora Boiler Shop railway workshop in Sydney. I did my Boilermaker apprenticeship there and we were always finding old aeroplane parts in the long grass out the back of the shop or boxes of parts hidden under old benches and in old lockers. This was the mid sixties and WW2 had only been over 20 odd years so a lot of the stuff still existed. I'm actually using some aircraft nuts and bolts from then on my Ducati project!
The big rumour at the time was the rumoured existence of an air raid shelter that had been blocked off after the war. By coincidence a tradesman workmate of mine (Where are you today, Billy Cooper ?) found the blocked off entrance under an old disused toilet block. It didn't take long to oxy cut the steel plate away to find a set of about 40 concrete stairs that led down to a big room about the size of a tennis court that had been filled with old filing cabinets and office furniture. Further investigation uncovered another tunnel that headed in a northerly direction under Rookwood cemetry for about a kilometre to hook up with another tennis court sized concrete room that I assume was the air raid shelter for Cemetry workers and the small factories that lined Rookwood road at the time.

It was a few months before management found out about the tunnel and welded a new 1" boiler plate over the entrance.
Before they did they removed the filing cabinets and old office furniture from the shelter. In the files were all of the blueprints and paperwork for the 'planes they had built during the war. Thy were going to burn it all but for a bloke named
Jim Murray who pleaded with management that the paperwork go to the War Museum in Canberra. Luckily for our war history they lisened to him and I sttill remember the grey trucks with Commonwealth plates picking the stuff up. The furniture was distributed amongst the staff and what wasn't taken was burned. I'm sitting at the desk I scooped as I write this! Two bentwood swivel desk chairs are still in operation at mt Auntys place! I often wonder what important wartime decisions were made at this desk during the war! I also wonder if the shelters and tunnel are still there today. When the tunnels were blocked off, there was still tons of stuff in there.

[mx250]

Wow, great story Firko.

Its amazing what was built and how quickly it was built when it came to 'the cost is no object to war aims'.  And they say that controlled economies don't work  .

I've been told that the development costs out at the old Dunheved ADI site has gone up $80mil due to them bumping into uncharted bunkers full of WW2 ammo. Apparently they would build bunkers expediously without records/plans been made (or keep, lost or destoryed).

You never know, they may one day find that bomb crater filled in with complete surplus WLA's. Where was it now, Moorebank, Townsville, Darwin, Albury ?   

[Graeme M]

Geez I love these stories. I think there are a few urban myths but also some real basis in fact. Certainly a lot of surplus gear was dumped at the end of WW2. Even in my hometown there is a persistent rumour of an underground workshop that had been sealed over with stuff still inside it. The stories grew to include all manner of old cars but I suspect the truth is there were some tools and stuff in there, if it ever existed at all.

But that story of Doc's is a beauty, wouldn't it be nice to get in there and see what the truth is? And how cool would it have been to be part of the crew that found Firko's air raid shelters?

Boys Own stuff this. Much rather tracking down hidden treasure than paint the toilet or whatever this thread started as...

[LWC82PE]

ive heard that a whole heap of indian motorcycles plus other vehicles from the war got burried under what is now the wangaratta oval. i think its wangaratta or  wagga wagga or some place like that.

[Quicksilver]

Not all was dumped. WLA Harleys were available after the war still in wooden crates for public purchase. Dealers snapped up most of them buying them in lots of 10 or 20 however with a good contact private people could buy them too. Some groups of mates piled their cash together and purchased these also in lots from the army.
Their is a collector near Tamworth who has 2 of them, 1 put together the other still in the crate. He also has 3 army tanks and heaps of other army stuff. I have not seen the collection myself but my son who is a commander in the Australian army has. The private collection in now in hands of the second generation he is a member of the Army reserve.

[firko]

Below is the old government issue air raid shelter desk I rescued from a bonfire back in 1966. When I built the office on my house I rescued it again from a life as a bench in my garage and restored it. It's had an interesting life, my old desk! Also shown is an old Air Raid Shelter sign I also found under a pile of rubble back in '66. It had been the original sign outside the entrance to the shelter and tunnel system I earlier described but had been plowed into a pile of old brick rubble after they sealed up the entrance. This sign and some others are what gave us the clue that there was an air raid shelter close by. They found the entrance a couple of months later under an abandoned toilet block. I reckon the tunnels would still be there. No WLA Harleys though 

[Doc]

Graeme, the mine shafts are still there to this day. The lower entrance at Kedron Brook is sealed with the rock. There is a small plaque on this rock if one bothers to cross the shallow creek to look. There was once a rail line that ran along through what is now Centro Toombul Shopping centre car park. The old guy told me the top ventilation shaft was initially sealed with old packing materials, crates and pallets simply thrown down..basically anything they could find went into the shaft. It was in the later years it was capped with concrete but my guess is not overly impenetrable and more as a safety precaution. It's bloody interesting and if I wasn't so lazy I get stuck into figuring a way in without arousing too much interest. I must get back down to the rock and have another look around..there is still coal to be found on the ground in the area but again no-one really gives it a second thought. I'd reckon the ventilation shaft would be the go but I don't like the idea of vertical tunnels..especially dark ones 

we would also ride to the bomb shelters down at Pinkenba on the site where the international airport is now. They were later used by FAC for simulated plane crash and rescue training. I remember I had no been down there for over 6 months and I rode in one day to have a look in. Last I saw they were totally empty except for some rubbish , an old matress and the usual pile of charcoaled burnt offerings. Walking in from direct daylight one must allow time for ones eyes to adjust to the darkness. I stepped in and looked, I could vagually make out the outline of what I thought a person. Soon my eyes adjusted and I saw rows and rows of aircraft seats with fully dress lifesize and life weight dummys all sitting looking at me in the doorway! I shit!! I didn't know what to think and didn't wait for any answer! did the bolt back home along the old dirt roads throttle nailed..I needed grab some mates and return to see what I just saw! It was very eirie (sp) spooky almost..we took one dummy and named him Danny..we had great fun with Danny..we'd throw him out of the car at intersections..pull over, someone would run back and pick him up off the road and throw him literally into the back of the EK wagon and we'd yell at him and drive off..sometimes we would back over him by 'accident'..people just watched in awe and no-one ever said a word! He got wet a few times and went all mouldy and smelly so that was the end of him, we burnt him in a diesel fueled bonfire..it was a huge event!! far preceding anything seen on Crusty Demons!  Danny the Dummy Does Diesel!

[Tony T]

Ok Firko, I can't hold out any longer...................
What are the kitchen scales for?
I've got a set in the shed for measuring the lumps of steel that are coming off the XL frame.
But in the office............................  
At the risk of finding out information I'm not sure I want t o know.................  

[Doc]

shhhh... illegal contraband I'd say Tony!

[DJRacing]

Cmom guys, its for measuring the exact amounts for the margaritas at CD-5    ..... you know, that secret ingredients that goes in them   

[mx250]

What are the kitchen scales for?

But in the office............................  

Parcel post

[firko]

For weighing my sold eBay items for the postal charges of course you silly boys.  

[Tony T]

Well, that's boring......................   
An experienced wordsmith such us yourself could have come up with some magnificent tale other than the truth................... surely...................

[Wombat]

Some great stories in this thread!
I've no doubt there are buried Military treasures about, but the scale and quality of the booty increases over time (the Spitfires).

Surely it's only a matter of time before these tunnels and pits are raided - by people like Doc who have a good idea of where to locate these tunnels.
And safety is certainly an issue with these old 'time capsules'.
 
I remember as a teenager getting excited finding old WW2 era newspapers under the lino of a house being demolished.
The whole floor was layered with these papers; a common practice of the time?
But little gems of history aren't everyones interest - like those who would readily burn the relics in Firkos tunnel.

Even this quote from Doc about the corruption and standover tactics of the shady characters during the 70's in Qld.
It was a time of political turmoil in Qld - and that was the era I started on dirt bikes.
These stories all link beautifully to that time of my life, the mid to late teens when you really start to become aware of what's going on in the World.

Wombat the old guy that told me all this stuff was quite well known and quite a shady fella that you wouldn't want to cross in his early years. He was in big with the Bjelke Petersen government and the QLD Police but somehow he was imume from prosecution during the inquiries into such.

[Gerard De Ruyter (Twistandshout)]

Anyone else remember those two Aussie blokes (ok, one Dutch) who grabbed a small camera and filmed themselves travelling up from Adelaide to Darwin then onto sailing ships around the Pacific, then on around the world using various means (eg, little two stroke belt drive car they drove from Sth Africa up thru Africa to Marocco then across Europe to London)?  'World Safari' they called it, and I remember when they took it around the country showing it in hired rooms. I saw it at the Pymble theatre in '77 or so. 

Great footage - not the least the bit where they sailed to this island in the Pacific where the yanks dumped a ton of WW2 stuff which they raided.  Hundreds of jeeps and trucks and bikes which they had fun getting working again and hooning round in, plus tons of copper which they filled the hold with and sold for a motza elsewhere.  Just a massive boys' playtown, that island.

The two guys were sick of each other by the end of it all and split up - one set hisself up as a more rugged version of the Leyland Bros (what was his name?) and did a few crap 'nature docos' strongly featuring his hairy chest and the bimbo's well not hairy chest.  He burnt out eventually from people realising he was an asshole and god knows where he is now.  The other guy became a Buddhist and probably still lives on a commune somewhere in Aussie.

[firko]

Alby Mangels was the bloke. Last year they featured him on Australian Story on the ABC. The place where all of those wrecks were is Truck Lagoon in Micronesia http://www.truk-lagoon.com/ .

[Doc]

yeah I saw that movie at school.. I think the movie I first saw was called Across the Top Alby may have been a bit of a tosser ..err..was a tosser but he sure had a nice girlie for company in Miss Green. Shame he nearly killed her ah the women of the '70/'80s Karen Pini, Kylie, Delvene..yum yum..they were all my girlfriends once at a party! closer the truth, as Space Ghost would say.."a party in my head"  Space Ghost is pretty cool ya know!

[Wombat]

Alby Mangels! Whatever happened to Alby mangels?
I think he was a Brickie by trade.
Judy Green was the blonde hottie he towed around on the second trip; a Melbourne based model sometimes seen on 'Sale of the Century'.
His movies and adventures went the way of 'American Chopper'; the TV Producers pushed for stunts and situations but the average viewer could see it was made for camera.

[Wombat]

And nowadays Albys fashion sense would get him into strife in the front bar at the Tingalpa Pub...

[paul]

I SEEM TO REMEMBER THAT ALBY AND JUDY WERE INVOLED IN A BAD CAR CRASH  AT SOME STAGE AND  I THINK SHE GOT BADLY INJURED

[DJRacing]

Years ago we had a tv programme that I think was from Oz(unsure I was just a kid) and the bloke was a bit of an adventurer racing around sand hills in a massive dune buggy. Who the hell was he? Was it an Oz TV show?

[Wombat]

A massive dune buggy? Nope, I don't remember that one.
As a little bloke I loved 'Rat Patrol'; they tore up and down sand dunes in a Jeep with a 50 cal mounted in the rear.
Maybe that was it?
But I think that was two Jeeps with three blokes in each - set in North Africa during WW2.
That's the nearest I can get.

[Rosco400]

Years ago we had a tv programme that I think was from Oz(unsure I was just a kid) and the bloke was a bit of an adventurer racing around sand hills in a massive dune buggy. Who the hell was he? Was it an Oz TV show?

Might have been the Leyland brothers, Mike and Mal, they ripped around the country side in all sorts of vehicles, had the famous catch phrase" Where the fu$k are we Mal" to which Mal would reply "fu$ked if I know Mike"

Or it could have been thunderbirds, sure that classic was shot in Downtown Melbourne before it was built out

[VMX247]

Its an old thread I know,,a good read but on page one and two
I feel this has a connection because it's an 1900's hospital laundry trolley ,which was possibly connected to a war,our soldiers and someones memories.
Who know's ?
I have a soft spot for olden day items,as you may have noticed, and don't wish for no fandangle new laundry cupboards. ...
so "I'm gunna do it tomorrow has arrived".
I flooded the laundry floor yesterday ,so that inspired me too clean my old basket ,that's stores a few eskys and laundry items.
I found numerous labels,pins,buttons and curtain clips between the cane weaving along with a vintage five diamond gold ring,the center diamond is about the size of a match head..
I wish it could tell me its past....

[firko]

Cool Alison....Was it your ring that you lost in the past or was it a new find? Whichever, good find.
Just looking back at this thread....whatever happened to Wombat? One minute he was posting nearly every day..then gone.

Is he another victim of the dummy spit epidemic of a year or two ago?

[VMX247]

Cool Alison....Was it your ring that you lost in the past or was it a new find? Whichever, good find.
Just looking back at this thread....whatever happened to Wombat? One minute he was posting nearly every day..then gone.

Is he another victim of the dummy spit epidemic of a year or two ago?

No not my gold ring..someone from days gone by,I've owned the trolley for 10 years ,,lord knows how long its been there before.
I caught up with Wombat at the VMX Nats  and he posted in early 2010,,he's fine just having a wee break 
cheers

[pancho]

The little 2/ car was called a DAF and i believe it resides now in the DAF truck museum. [I think that's in Holland.] What I liked about Alby Mangales bullshit was the fact that some people realise that regardles how frightful and dangerous the situation is they are in on their lonesome, WHOSE WORKING THE MOVIE CAMERA?. Plus I can believe that those old blitz waggons could be coaxed back into action, but how do you get volts out of a battery thats been flat for 20 or 30 years? cheers pancho.

[vmx42]

Is that a young Firko in the photo [top left hand side]?

[DR]

left handed too

[firko]

That's most certainly a photo of the cutest little tyke in Maroubra circa 1954 and well spotted Doc, I'm indeed a left hander despite five years of the nuns at St Josephs tying my left hand behind my back and forcing me to write with my right hand during early school years. All they achieved with that devious little plan was to create an anti authoritarian atheist who still uses his left hand.

[Curly3]

Don't forget Firko, if you sit on it until it goes numb, it feels like somene elses.

[DR]

eh Firko, I'm a lefty as well 7 years at St John's catholic school and I copped the same from the Nuns for the first few years. Their favorite was the steel egde ruler on it's edge across the knuckles and worst offender was a big fat Sister Francis..she was a really nasty piece of work

[VMX247]

Cool Alison....Was it your ring that you lost in the past or was it a new find? Whichever, good find.
Just looking back at this thread....whatever happened to Wombat? One minute he was posting nearly every day..then gone.
Is he another victim of the dummy spit epidemic of a year or two ago?

No not my gold ring..someone from days gone by,I've owned the trolley for 10 years ,,lord knows how long its been there before.
I caught up with Wombat at the VMX Nats  and he posted in early 2010,,he's fine just having a wee break 
cheers

Took the ring unnanounced to local jeweller and was able to show him the ring.
He says its 18ct gold.
They dont cut diamonds like this anymore.
They dont put low quality diamonds in 18ct gold.
Its about 80-90 years old.
and its never been worn for a long period of time.
90%new.
He usually see's ring at this age un wearable.
He didnt value it as he didnt have his diamond light with him.
His body laungage and tone told me it was a nice price.
So its been in the rats of the cane basket for a long time.
No !! I dont know what I will do with it,at the moment I'm wearing it.
cheers