PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
A SCOTTISH CONNECTION – Aiming Sight for a 3 inch Mortar
In December 2023, we received a request involving our VC catalogue of memorabilia items. The query itself was about the sight for a WW2 3 inch mortar, constructed in England during the 1940s and which is in one of our display cabinets (our VC catalogue #0154; see the link here then scroll down). The person making the inquiry is a 3D model artist who lives in Scotland! He is making a model of the complete mortar but was unable to get photographic and measurement details from anywhere for the sight – relevant handbooks and other sources had limited, and less than clear, photos. Andy, the person who discovered our VC website, wondered if we could take some photos of our device to assist him with his project.
To cut a long story short, the email exchange that then followed brought to light the fact that Andy is a Weapons Engineer with the RAF and is currently stationed in Cyprus! It is a story of opposites ... as a hobby, Andy is in the process of re-constructing a WW2 mortar, while his profession sees him working with Eurofighter Typhoons! Quite a step forward in projectile-type ... from 3 inch mortars to AMRAAM missiles! Andy's interests are certainly wide-ranging!
His duty in Cyprus is for a limited time, after which he will return to his RAF home base (and family home) in northern Scotland in early 2024. Our email communications have extended beyond just providing some photos and measurements of the mortar sight, with all parties (Andy, our Memorabilia group, and the MERSL committee; and perhaps, over time, our wider membership) taking an interest in supporting each other from opposite sides of the globe. The details of what that support might involve are still being worked out, and so there may well be more to add to this story.
VICTORIAN COLLECTIONS – Movie Stars!
Our webpage within the Victorian Collections (VC) website has attracted some interest from unexpected quarters. The sight for the 3-inch Mortar was one such item. Prior to that, in the latter part of 2023, we were contacted by a student (Kate) who is doing a degree course in Film, Television and Animation at Deakin University. One of their projects is to write and direct a short movie – as the theme for their project, Kate's team chose the return of soldiers from WW2. In preparing the large number of props for their film, they wished to use authentic items wherever possible. One of those was a kitbag of the type which many would be familiar with – a brown canvas bag with a rope 'draw-string' through eyelets around the top.
Kate conducted an internet search in the usual way and came across the items we have listed on our VC page – one of those was a kitbag which fitted their requirements. She contacted us to ask if her film crew would be able to borrow the bag for scenes shot on a country railway station as soldiers returned from service. We were happy to lend her the bag, and she and her team were appreciative of our cooperation.
The item is listed as #0282 on our VC page, accessible from this link: kitbag.
ELTHAM WAR MEMORIAL TRUST HONOUR BOARD
During the 1950s, an Eltham War Memorial Trust was formed and, in addition to the building which it owned, raised funds to produce an Honour Board as a constant reminder of the names of local enlistees who lost their lives in WW1 and WW2. The Board was made and hung in the Memorial Hall. When that Trust was wound up in the mid 1960s, the property and its contents was handed over to the then Eltham Shire Council.
Subsequently, members of the Eltham RSL considered it would appropriate to have the Board on display in the Eltham RSL premises, and this was subsequently arranged. After the Eltham RSL Sub Branch was wound up in 2010/11, the Board was again hanging in the Memorial Hall. However various activities were conducted in the Hall involving the Pre-School and other groups. Some of these activities represented a degree of risk for the safety of the Board and so it was moved to the Montmorency–Eltham RSL premises (after the closure of the Eltham RSL, its members were invited to become part of the Montmorency RSL, resulting in a name change for the existing and ongoing Sub Branch). Although the Board was still owned by the now Nillumbik Council (re-named since Local Government amalgamations during the early 1990s), an RSL building seemed a reasonable place for the Board, at least temporarily.
Eventually, the Council and the Montmorency–Eltham RSL (MERSL) arranged to have the Board displayed more prominently in the Eltham Library, adjacent to the original Memorial Hall. A small function was arranged in March 2023 to formally unveil the Board in its new location.
The photos below show the Roll of Honour in its new location, just on the right of the internal stairs leading to the library doors.
Since that installation, there has been further developments with a display cabinet purchased by Nillumbik Council which contains a number of WW1 items from the MERSL collection. It is planned to change the items on display before Remembrance and ANZAC Days. Further updates are outlined on the Library Display page.
