17 September 2012

on the weekend i went to Guns Guns Guns

Greetings all,
Sunday was Open Day at the Australian War Memorial annex/ archives/ storage hold & it was like walking into Guns Guns Guns, Guns'R'Us & Guns Galore.
 They had WWI & WWII allied & enemy guns, guns from planes & anti air craft guns off ships.
 Then it was Planes Planes Planes with Bombs Bombs Bombs, the odd torpedo & the G for George Lancaster Bomber mission board - i've seen a documentary on this RAAF plane & crew - incredible work against the odds (read: superior German Air Force.)
Then it was Tanks Tanks Tanks.  Little boys were running around asking their fathers a million questions, except my little boy, who has grown up around tanks & armoured personnel carriers, so we focused on the history (my husband knows EVERYTHING) but considering we'd just spent 3 hours at the Australian Institute of Sport in the sun, running & jumping, nerves were frail.
 If you listened, you could hear parents & grandparents telling their children who in the family would have used which equipment - tanks, planes, helicopters, trucks, cars, motorcycles & my favourite - the Light Horse.  My great uncle Rupert was a Light Horseman at Gallipoli (he was a jockey) taking his own horse with him & heart breaking, had to leave him there.
It was fascinating to see the restorations, archaic equipment & how advanced warfare has come.  There was amazing brass band music as we walked in & the Federation Guard Precision Drill Team spinning their weapons & doing tricks, fantastic entertainment while in the queue to get into the hangar.  I think we'll go again next time (has taken us 5 years to get in there) & take the good camera.  More free activities/ gold coin donation in Canberra.  Love Posie

8 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

lots of history collected and housed there!

Polly said...

I always enjoy the war memorial

Cas said...

i watched a fantastic doco on sbs the other night about the war horse. it was so heartbreaking, but gave me such an insight into how much these beautiful animals contributed. i feel for you great uncle, it would have been gut wrenching to leave his loved friend behind :(

Nat - Muddy Farmwife said...

It's things like this I miss living in the country. Although our local rural museum has a fantastic collection of old, tractors, ploughs and harvesters!

Unknown said...

I haven't been to the war memorial since i was a teenager so loved looking at your pics Posie! I could spend ages wandering there...although perhaps not with the 2 yr olds in tow!

Anonymous said...

I live in Canberra and missed this again. Looks interesting though. Thx, Kate

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh the War Horse, that was a heart breaking & amazing movie, the stories behind the horses are incredible. Love Posie

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