Historic field gun restored through community support

A PROJECT over two years in the making to restore a historic military World War II 25-pounder field gun at the front of the Anglesea RSL has been completed, following tireless volunteer work and thousands of dollars of donations.

The field gun, sitting out the front of the 30 Murray Street property, now sits as the crown jewel of the RSL sub-branch, a base to the Surf Coast town’s returned service members.

Made possible by a $7,000 donation from Community Bank Surf Coast and hundreds of hours of unpaid work from local and out of town volunteers, with the help of various businesses, the gun is expected to stand strong for at least the next 50 years as a result of the restoration.

Community Bank Surf Coast director Andrew Jones said the bank was proud to help restore a valuable piece of history in the Anglesea community.

“The RSL does a lot of really good things in the community and for veterans in particular, so it was a bit of a no-brainer for us as a bank to invest funding towards this project,” Mr Jones said.

“The engineering and history of the gun is wide-ranging and extensive, and from the community point of view, this is something we love getting involved in, preserving the history of our towns.

“Last financial year in the Anglesea community we donated about $34,000, which is very good for quite a small community.”

The idea to restore the gun was first floated by former Anglesea RSL president Ian Drummond more than two years ago, prior to his exit from the position.

Volunteers such as Mike Vanderkelen, Ian Russel, and Doug Tipping assisted voluntarily to restore the gun, where they spent days at a time in Moolap disassembling and painting the gun, at a business named Complete Metal Protection (CPM).

CPM is a company sandblasts and paints major steel components for commercial use, including the Bass Strait rigs.

The gun’s wheel rims were brought in from Darwin to Queensland through private collectors and military museums and were purchased from an enthusiast in Melbourne.

The tyres were ordered through Milspares in Brisbane, who had them imported from England.

Volunteer and Anglesea resident Peter O’Heare said the project was fun to take part in, knowing it was on a piece of work that would last at least the next five decades.

“It was great to do something for something that is going to last for a very long time, war is something almost all of us have connections to, two of my grandparents served in the First World War and their brothers,” Mr O’Heare said.

“Fortunately we missed out on it all, but we’re happy we’ve been able to preserve a rich piece of history through external funding.

“We just donated our time and welcomed the extra assistance from the community bank, where Peter Doyle approached them for help early days.

“The Anglesea community is full of people wanting to help and we’re extremely pleased with how it all turned out.”

The location of where the field gun was used cannot be accurately pinpointed, but the volunteers say original green paint would suggest it was stationed in or near Papua New Guinea.