ONE of the last remaining examples of a rare World War I artillery piece is undergoing a major overhaul as part of a council project to revamp war monuments and memorials in Lake Macquarie.
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The 25cm Minenwerfer German trench mortar has stood sentinel in Speers Point Park since 1926, but is now in Sydney undergoing specialist restoration.
Australian troops captured the fearsome siege weapon in August 1918, during the decisive Battle of Amiens in France.
Lake Macquarie City Council’s Integrated planning manager Wes Hain said the mortar was shipped to Australia two years later as a war trophy, but it had significantly deteriorated after more than nine decades of exposure to the elements.
“Relatively few of these giant mortars were deployed to the battlefield and a far smaller number still survive today,” Mr Hain said.
“With Remembrance Day... it is timely to recognise the importance of preserving and respecting war monuments and memorials across our city.”
Crews used a crane last month to remove the mortar from its plinth in Speers Point Park and place it on a truck for transport to Sydney.
Mr Hain said the restoration, expected to be complete by early December, would include a new support system for the mortar to reinforce its badly corroded base, removal of rust from the gun and other parts and treatment of the entire piece with a protective coating.
Restoration work is also underway on war memorials at West Wallsend and Killingworth.
West Wallsend’s Soldiers Memorial on the corner of Carrington and Hyde Streets is a traditional sandstone obelisk, with marble plaques commemorating locals who fought and died in WWI.
The first stage of work restoring the West Wallsend memorial will be completed later this month.
Meanwhile, Mr Hain said the Killingworth memorial was an unusual example of a WWI monument due to the inclusion of a globe sitting atop a cylindrical marble pillar.
“The lead inlay of the marble pillar was missing in parts and the sandstone base was badly weathered,” Mr Hain said.
The completed first stage of restoration included filling voids beneath the sandstone plinth, repairing the plinth itself and replacing badly damaged lettering.
The remaining work, to be completed in the 2019-20 financial year, will include replacing the memorial’s insignia and sandstone outposts and applying a corrosion-resistant coating.
Council and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs have jointly funded all three restorations.
More than 10 per cent of the 1000 plus WWI servicemen linked to Lake Macquarie never made it home.
The youngest was aged just 18, while the oldest casualty was aged 47.
25cm Schwerer Minenwerfer
Calibre – 250mm
Gun weight – 628kg
Shell weight – 92 kg
Rate of fire – 20 rounds per hour
Crew – 321
Effective range – 540m
Warhead – 47kg high-explosive
