"I'm gunna do it tomorrow"

[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!