Q&A In the time between Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea. Would it have been viable for the Kido Butai to launch raids on either the Australian West or East Coasts?
I have two questions. First question being will you please go over the Battle of Wake Island and exactly what kind of guns the United States Marines used. Also, would you mind talking more in detail about the Battle barges and gunboats used by Japan and the Allies against each other and how they were modified by the crews?
He can't ever be held in violation of the Trades Descriptions Act...sort of like a hardtack baker's dozen, Drach sturdee-lee provideth! (Edit: so sorry, Admiral Lee, should have included you immediately!)
The real reason the island is covered in heavy artillery is to keep the Quokka's from escaping to the mainland. If Quokka's started appearing on the mainland, everyone would be too busy watching them to get any work done. The country could collaspe in days.
My grandfather was one of the main designers of both the Rottnest and Leighton batteries - he was an engineer/carpenter and well known asTHE expert on formwork at the time (later he also served in Darwin and Broome at the times of their bombings making him one of the few who saw active service in both world wars)
If indeed the Australians are very sensitive about this issue it´s likely they will frown upon your anglicisms since, in fact, there´s no "Freemantle" in Australia. Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemantle
@@GM-fh5jpFreemantle is absolutely not part of Perth. Since 1929 Freeemantle has been a standalone city. The municipal Government of Pirth and the municipal Government of Fremantle are totally independent. Saying otherwise is like saying that the city of Garland is part of the City of Dallas or that San Jose is part of San Francisco, which they absolutely are not.
Minus the flaking paint & the non-green-green garbage bag over the breach end that everybody wants to look at. I know, I know, COVID-19 set you all back money/work-wise ( to the stone age actually). Who would go to Perth, or Fremantle for that matter? Tourist wise that is? Looking at a map, you are a long way from the rest of the civilized world. If one would call Sydney civilized. I am sure it is a very nice way over there all on your own. Enjoy. Unfortunately, Australia is as screwed up as Canada is these days. Just isn't the same, is it? That is only my opinion, I could be wrong.
I agree completely. We, as in the whole world, don't preserve enough of our history. Here in America we apparently don't like our history and try to destroy it unfortunately. I'm not talking the BS going on with the cancel culture, I'm talking about just knocking down historical buildings just because they are an inconvenient.
Another manc here loving this video, we went out to Perth as a kid in 1984 as my grandparents moved out there, took the ferry to Rottnest, now I've a good reason to go back, thank you!
Welcome to Western Australia. Napoleon wanted to make a harbor at Cottesloe, but the British had founded Albany and had already in the river at Perth. Rottnest, or Ratsnest in Dutch, was named after the quokka being mistaken for huge rats. they are techniqualy pygmy wallabies/kangaroos
I get a kick out of the railway engines being basically a flat car with the front half of a farm tractor bolted to it. And they were smart enough to mount the engine transverse to avoid having to install a transfer gearcase to change the direction of drive by 90 degrees.
I have many fond memories of Rottnest, being born and bred in Rockingham. My favourite, though, has to be the Scout event (called 'Space Camp' of all things, because we were given a speech by a cosmonaut I can't remember the name of in an accent none of us could understand) where we were given an old army survival ration pack (I still have the tin) and spent a weekend camping and doing various exercises. On the Saturday night we 'assaulted' the Oliver Hill guns with 80% of the scouts while the other 20% 'defended' with the assistance of a couple of soldiers from the SAS. I have to take their word on them being the SAS, I was about 12, but whoever they were no one in our group of five had any idea one was near us until he turned a torch on us from two meters behind the group and said 'bang'. Scared us half to death, I have no idea how long he had been following us. The only people who successfully infiltrated the guns (and planted a paper bomb, so mission successful) was a scout on crutches from a broken ankle a few days before the camp and an accompanying leader. They drove up to the entrance, openly wearing the blue ribbon of our side, said hello to the scouts guarding the door and just walked in!
The cosmonaut would have been Yuri Gagarin. A mate of mine drank beers with him at an airshow in Sydney (had to buy all the KGB minders soft toy roos and koalas for their kids first, but)
@@LukeBunyip I thought it was, and told the story with it being him, for many years... until one day I checked my memory and found out he died 16 years before I was born. An interesting cautionary tale on the reliability of memory.
l lived in Fremantle for a number of years in the early 90s while l was serving in a number of RAN ships based at HMAS Stirling on Garden lsland at the other end of Cockburn Sound. l would head off to 'Rotto' with my girlfriend quite regularly and have seen the battery and museum (and the Quokkas and yes the pub) once or twice, l;m glad it is still going strong and l understand it is one of the only surviving 9.2" batteries left relatively intact in the world. l also understand that these 9.2" installations were sent as 'flat packs' to strategic points of the empire and commonwealth, eg. there were similar 9.2" batteries around Sydney as well. There is a good book on the Sydney fortifications called 'We Stood and Waited' - author's name escapes me - if anyone is interested. Cheers
The Rottnest tunnels up to the gun emplacements was quite spooky back in the day. Was fun to go up there with a big group of friends/girlfriends etc over the summer holidays and it's a pretty nice ride there from the Ferry and main part of town. There were some pretty decent night time parties held there over the years as well...I think ;)
Here's to taking the train. "I get my exercise being a pall-bearer for those of my friends who believed in regular running and calisthenics." (W. Churchill).
my daughter and family live in Australia. She is famous for being bitten on her toe by a Quokka, and almost losing her toe! Even so she still loves them!
No joke, quokkas are actually vicious creatures. You can't even get on to rottnest without sitting through a psa about not feeding or touching the quokkas. And the medical office on the island has brochures on what to do if you get bit. Welcome to Australia, where even the cute animal's hate you.
If you make it back to Galveston, Texas, you need to see the old fortifications along the sea wall. No guns, but they used to house a set of 16" 50's left over from the canceled South Dakota's.
Love Rottnest, one of the few places in Australia where the wildlife isn't deadly. When I was a kid I loved exploring those 9" and tunnels. Feels weird getting nostalgia from a Drach vid but I ain't complaining that your showcasing my states history. Cheers from WA 🍻
Not deadly? You were incredibly lucky if you spent time poking about any of the old fortifications, they are crawling with dugites. I always look VERY carefully before setting foot in any of these, including Oliver Hill.
@@paulcasey5204 For our international friends, Dugites is the local variant of Brown Snakes, while not as venomous as their Eastern Brown cousins, the Eastern Brown is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Very good. RATS, cute RATS but still RATS. Please do not export them in a cargo ship. In Canada, we have enough critters and nasty weeds on our lands and in our waterways now. We don't need GIANT RATS too! Thanks a bunch. lol
I noticed Rottnest written in trees nearby next to the airstrip. 😊 Interesting place. My boat stopped at Garden Island in '79 and '81. I had a good time. I found an astronomy book at the local bookstore and spent a good part of the night flat on my back in Rockingham's park sorting out the southern hemisphere sky. On the map Rockingham looks bigger than I remember it.
Just back from a few days on Rotto, so good timing! I rode past the battery and I had to think of the two German blokes who were interred there until the end of the war. Not sure who were happier, the quokkas or the Germans. The two guys were pretty much left alone to wander about. They even had a boat to do some fishing.
The 10" 34 caliber guns used in US coastal defense also had a reduced size practice round system referred to as Xcailber. I think they were 3 inch guns fitted into the 10 inch bore. I was told that the 10 inch guns made so much noise that they broke windows in nearby towns and the xcailber system was meant to stop the effects on civilian areas.
OK, it’s time to own up, one of those missing indicators was in my possession (now long misplaced, before you ask). Around 1958, as the guest of a family friend who has contracted to scrap the generators, I was permitted free range over the guns, magazines, connecting tunnel, power house etc. It was just like the Army had left it all in 1945 - heady stuff for a 12 year old! There was a lot more to be seen then: several large buildings (one of which I think housed the railway locomotives), barbed wire fences & piles of camouflage netting everywhere, a Battery Command Post with telephone exchange & plotting room below etc. Across the road to the north was a dummy gun; barrel made out of tine, the gun house canvas over a metal frame while the emplacement was simulated by painted stones.
I’m always amazed by the concise and informative way in which Drachinifel delivers his history lessons! I have a degree in History and I can honestly say that I learn something every time I play one of his videos! Keep up the good work Drachinifel!
Sorry. Nobody in their right mind would take over that distant part of Ausieland. Ain't going to happen, mate. Even the Chinese aren't that crazy. Your on your own over there down under.
DT (edit ‘MT’ Qoukka!)Quokka (1801) was a medium harbour tug operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) until 1998. She was constructed by Shoreline Engineers, Portland, Victoria in 1982 and completed in December 1983. Quokka spent most of her RAN career at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, except for a brief stint in Darwin, and was sold in 1998.
The detail in this museum is outstanding. I work at Disney with vast numbers of young people. Since they are always on their phones I have given them your channel at TH-cam and Mark Felton's channel to watch. A 23 year old reported back that he enjoyed your episode on Sailing Ships which made him watch some more about change from wood and sail to steel and power. A young lady about 25 came to me saying how much better it was to watch real history on Mark Felton's YT about Battle of Britain and Nazi stuff. I am trying to move the young off games and stupid to some fun and interesting History.
I've come to doubt Felton's work since Greg of Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles completely debunked one of Felton's videos using available official technical documentation. That was where the two channels happened to overlap. Fool me once, shame on him. He's not getting the chance to fool me again.
Thanks Drach. It's interesting to see how they have restored/cleared up the gun battery. The last time I was on Rotto was back in the 1970s and everything aside from the gun(s) and platforms were sealed off. Well, sealed off to all but determined teenagers! We scaled the locked steel gates and wandered around the tunnels with just dim torch lighting (no powerful LED torches in those days) - spooky! There were quite a number of interior doors welded shut and our imaginations filled in what wonders may have been beyond them :-)
Completely unexpected topic that I thoroughly enjoyed. For coastal batteries I’d love to see Drach tour the 100 ton gun on Malta, preferably when they do the annual blank firing. Ian from Forgotten Weapons did an excellent tour there, but I’d like to hear Drach’s version.
Thank you. Very educational. I've seen several such shore emplacements but this is the first time I've had a view of the inside of one of the actual turrets with the loading mechanisms and such still intact.
I thought the part about the detail in the shell room was a great point - frustrating to me when i go to museums that they don't provide layers of depth of information. Great video, thanks.
Great video. I visited Rottnest a few years ago. Had a great day there, you can hire bicycles and cycle all way around the island, exploring isolated coves. The snorkelling is magnificent. I had no idea that there was a gun emplacement in the middle.
have you met real Emus? They make no sense in their movements. Shoot a gun or a loud noise near one and it's total insanity. Quokka, no one could shoot at them, and would deescalate any conflict with their ability to make anyone happy.
cassowary: ::titters madly while sharpening its claw:: "oh goodness no, let them get in niiiice and close. we have something for them, yes, yes we do. ::giggles::
My dad has a patient who was in charge of the guns on rottnest. He said that on night before the Kormoran sunk HMAS Sydney, him and his men saw the silhouette of a ship travelling north with the islands searchlights, when there was nothing scheduled to be there at that time. They radioed a bunch of ships to make sure it wasnt just a late arrival and did all that stuff to get permission to fire, but by the time they were given the greenlight, it had vanished into the night. He reckons they could of stopped the sinking of the sydney that night if they fired which if this is all true, has got to be tough to live with, even if it was no-ones fault.
I had the opportunity to visit Rottnest many years ago and can’t remember if my guide even told me about a shore battery museum on the island. My main memories of the day were seeing peacocks - lots of peacocks - and also seeing the Indian Ocean for the first and probably only time of my life. It was a nice way to spend the day.
Thank you so much for this video. Very informative. I’m 81yo and have no chance to see these kind of things in person. I’m enjoying your channel so much. Central Texas, USA
I grew up very close to the Leighton Battery. When I was young the area was still an army base for a transport regiment. That, of course, didn't stop us as kids from getting into the area which was surrounded by bush land and heading down into the tunnels - we found a hidden opening as kids do. At this stage they were all run down with all the guns and equipment removed - we're talking the late 70's early 80's - as they hadn't been used pretty much since the WW2. We got up to all sorts of mischief as one could imagine. On one or two occasions we were ushered off the site by the army but they usually didn't bother us unless we were running around in the bush land. In an ironic twist, many years later, after the battery had been refurbished as a museum and was just about to be opened, I went there to have a look. One of the guides to be was there and I had a quick chat with him and told him as young teens we used to go into the tunnels. He straight away said that wasn't possible as they had been sealed off after the war. I then described the layout to him as I remembered, the tunnels leading to the two emplacements, what we assumed were the ammo storage rooms and an unfinished tunnel that wasn't concreted and was only shored up with wood. The poor man nearly died of shock. Everyone was of the opinion that no one had been in the tunnels for over 40 years before it was reconstructed. If only they had asked the army.
You really should do a trip to Corregidor island in Manila. And don't just do the normal day tour (although I do recommend that tour). But stay a few days with a guide, which can be done, in order to see far more. Such as going out to the "cement battleship", the airfield etc. They even have a pair of the pop down hidden guns still in place.
HMAS Perth please! Me & a friend (with great difficulty) got into the underground sections of these guns by climbing over the steel doors, way back in the 1970s. We saw everything you've shown, but before it was refurbished. There were still sections where there were rifle racks, some of the medical or accommodation sections still had beds that could be folded up against the wall. There were no shells or anything like that, but there was lots of rubbish that included WWII ration tins & packets, bakelite electrical fixtures, cloth-covered wiring & even some WWII era newspapers & magazines. The engine rooms still smelt of diesel & oil. The gun mechanisms in the turrets were in pretty good condition. We were about 15 or 16 years old & did this 3 times over one summer holiday - never once did we think to bring a camera! The rails for the railway line were all there but this was way before they were refurbished & reopened. Oh, and we walked from the ferry jetty to the guns every time!
Up North in Darwin there is a place called Eastpoint gun battery where they have 9.2 inch guns in the huge casemates.. It has a very similar layout as well It also has 2 six-inch inch guns that came from the light cruiser of First World War vintage HMAS Brisbane...
something that is not featured in any of the guided tours, there are quite a few spotting locations scattered across the island. your probably not supposed to vist them, but tell that to a 14yo lad. took quite a bit of bush-bashing, but yeh, there are a LOT of bunkers hidden in the scrub. some were close enough to the gazetted tracks to be signposted, do not enter etc. but the really cool ones were way off the beaten path. some still had the brass plinth with the directions etched in. Id guess they took the role of rangefinders. My Great grandfather was a supply officer on Rotto. I never knew him, but my grandmother lived there from about 11-14 years old. we stayed in her actual house a few years ago.
Just for accuracy. The red breech part numbered 177 at 16:15 is not the gun liner - it is the breech bush. It's about the same depth as the breech screw and typically butts up to the inner "A" tube - which *is* the rifled _liner_ + chamber of the gun. The breech block & bush would almost certainly be _fitted_ (in the specific engineering process sense rather than just meaning put together) so they would need to be kept together after buid or refurbishment - hence the (re)numbering.
I was part of an Army unit tasked with supplying equipment, food and personnel during 1970. My only claim to fame was being able to drive a truck around the island. Others either walk or take the bus. The most fun was taking Army personnel and their family over to Rottnest for the school holidays. It was a fun time as we followed the Swan River down to Fremantle. As we got further away from the land the high spirits quickly disappeared as sea sickness took over. If it wasn't my turn at the wheel then I was tasked with hosing down the decks and trying to keep the sea sickness under control. Rottnest is a wonderful place, at that time it was also a great spearfishing area
On your next foray to the United States I encourage you to visit Fort Miles, on Cape Henlopen in the Delaware Cape Henlopen State Park. They have rehabilitated the "battery 112", a 12" gun barbette, including the gun, the handling rooms, the plotting room and the ancillary facilities that service the weapon. In addition, they have a static display of the type of 16" gun that "Battery Baker" had housed before and during WWII, as well as other displays of common artillery and naval guns of the period. It's worth the trip.
Perth is my home city. When I was a child, we had family holidays at Rottnest nearly every year, sometimes twice a year in the 80's-90's. (It's too expensive now for working families. I think Bali holidays are cheaper, these days.) I had a guided tour of the guns during a school excursion. I remember the tour guide telling us that a ship would tow a practice target out at sea. But the gun crew were instructed to try to aim shells just next to the target because the target was too expensive to be destroyed. The insides of the turret and other parts you showed weren't accessible to the public at the time. Thanks for visiting and thanks for the video.
Reminds me of a couple of the old gun emplacements in Hong Kong we had to work around, and include in, new construction a decade or so ago. NW corner of the Island, Mt. Davis, Jubilee Battery, was really cool being able to get around them once they were cleaned up and restored. No gun left unfortunately but the emplacement makes a wonderful viewing station of the harbor.
When I was a kid in the late 1960's we used to explore those tunnels with torches. There were a couple of spots where small kids could crawl in. They were full of debris and dirt (and probably snakes as well). There are two guns at that installation but it looks like the second one which is exactly the same has not been refurbished for tourists. It was hidden in the shrubs back then even and a little harder to get to. It is probably still there? Perth is on the Indian Ocean BTW and not the Pacific.
If you’re interested in this sort of thing and you can’t get across to Rottnest, visit the WW2 tunnels just north of Fremantle, the other side of the train tracks at Leighton Beach. Only open to the public on a Sunday. This video is really great - the author has done really well. Teaching history and making it interesting.
There are similar emplacements in Auckland/New Zealand. Coming from Europe, I was always amazed about these "splinter-proof" gun emplacements. Given that they are on the other side of the planet and "small targets", it makes sense to me now.
We used to cycle up there in the 80's and explore the tunnels, was a great adventure for us as kids. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here mate, come back any time.
I loved the part where Drach said "check out these Quokkas!" and then he Quokka'd all over the place. Alrighty then, Meme-Parrot Engagement Duty fulfilled. Time to watch and enjoy the video.
@@luckyguy600 Squirrels are indeed rodents. Quokkas are marsupials. Perhaps you’re making the same misidentification as the Dutch when naming the island in the 17th century.
I visited Rottnest Island once with my family. My most vivid memory of it was this incredible cove where the water was so crystal clear that you could see the coral 10 metres below like it was right below the surface, no occlusion at all. Add to that how swimming in the Indian Ocean is like swimming in warm silk and it was a wonderful day.
You should cover the batteries in the golden gate passage near San Francisco. The guns themselves aren’t still in the mounts but they have the gun barrels around
Nice description. I immediately noticed Rottnest in the title, because the Rottnest Lighthouse figured prominently in the description of making port in "Silent Running" by James Calvert, his memoir of his WWII submarine service. Fremantle served as a major base of US submarines operating in the South Pacific, China Sea, and Java Sea areas.
I’m glad your visit was so successful! Ours not so… It was a 37deg C day with crippling humidity, the poor little train expired from heat exhaustion on the way up the hill then later we were stuck on a tour bus with no aircon and no opening windows 🥵. Oh well that’s Australia for you…. We hope to go back for a better day !🤣
I spent 2 years based just south of there in the navy a long long time ago. We had to transit up and around Rottnest to leave Garden Island, but Ive never been to Rottnest! You’ve made a decision for me, I’m going back to Perth for the first time in 28 years at the end of April, and I’d already planned to see HMAS Ovens, so now I have 2 plans! Cheers mate! 🤣🇦🇺👍
It looks like the gun at the top of the Mediterranean Steps in Gibraltar when we climbed it in the early 90's - it was not the sanitized track that is there now - the army guys that were we think de commissioning it looked so surprised to see us
the jetboat tour round rottnest is also great fun, though if you sit righyt up the front like i did you'll get wet, but its a pearler of a ride! haven't had that much fun in a while!
My grandfather was part of the guard unit of these coastal defense posistions after he got a medical downgrade from wounds after fighting on Kakoda in Papua New Guinea
As a kid I used to get into and explore the tunnels under the guns and all the surrounding bunkers and emplacements. It's all been restored nicely now back then it was a rusted mess.
The Hotchkiss thing you are talking about is still commonly used for large caliber ordinance to allow you to practice on a smaller range. The US Military calls it a subcaliber gun.
I visited Rottnest Island on a trip to Freemantle around 1990. I thought it was a nice day trip destination and I remember the quokkas. There didn't seem to be a place to stay overnight, and I don't remember the coast defense battery or the train at all. I guess I should have spent more time with the guidebook, but my wife did all the trip planning so I figured I was just along for the ride.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Q&A In the time between Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea. Would it have been viable for the Kido Butai to launch raids on either the Australian West or East Coasts?
Did you see the HMAS Ovens submarine in Fremantle while you were in WA?
I have two questions. First question being will you please go over the Battle of Wake Island and exactly what kind of guns the United States Marines used. Also, would you mind talking more in detail about the Battle barges and gunboats used by Japan and the Allies against each other and how they were modified by the crews?
Did you make it to Greenhill Fort on Thursday Island? By far the best view from any battery in Australia. If you didn't, I can send you some photos.
Do we know any history on where the guns on the gun emplacements came from originally? Any historically significant units?
Never ceases to amaze me how Drach always nails a precise five minute running time on these year after year. ;)
More or less
Editing.
He can't ever be held in violation of the Trades Descriptions Act...sort of like a hardtack baker's dozen, Drach sturdee-lee provideth! (Edit: so sorry, Admiral Lee, should have included you immediately!)
Mostly more, luckily for us.
Time is relative
The real reason the island is covered in heavy artillery is to keep the Quokka's from escaping to the mainland. If Quokka's started appearing on the mainland, everyone would be too busy watching them to get any work done. The country could collaspe in days.
they are on the mainland
@BenState Yes, but they are contained to scertain areas, if the population on Rottnest escapes, it could be disasterous
@@BenStateImagine if they made an alliance with the Emus? 😳
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‘😊
Quokkas manning the turrets would be crazy
And protected by the dugites
Yeah don't argue with those quokkas!
Who do you think really stopped the Emu's?
@@AmbianEagleheart You nearly cost me a keyboard. I was drinking tea when I read your comment.
But cute - oh so cute!
My grandfather was one of the main designers of both the Rottnest and Leighton batteries - he was an engineer/carpenter and well known asTHE expert on formwork at the time (later he also served in Darwin and Broome at the times of their bombings making him one of the few who saw active service in both world wars)
what an amazing family member!
So HE'S the one who designed the controls so they can be used by Quokkas! Thank him for us.
Its very good of you to keep saying "and Freemantle". They're very sensative about being told it's just part of Perth....
Freo is part of Perth.
Don't be argumentive.
If indeed the Australians are very sensitive about this issue it´s likely they will frown upon your anglicisms since, in fact, there´s no "Freemantle" in Australia. Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemantle
Fremantle*
Oooo touch aren't we?
@@GM-fh5jpFreemantle is absolutely not part of Perth. Since 1929 Freeemantle has been a standalone city. The municipal Government of Pirth and the municipal Government of Fremantle are totally independent.
Saying otherwise is like saying that the city of Garland is part of the City of Dallas or that San Jose is part of San Francisco, which they absolutely are not.
The restoration team have done a wonderful job especially given its location and the fact is sat dormant for so many years.
The Rottnest Island Pine replanting program looks to be going very well also.
Minus the flaking paint & the non-green-green garbage bag over the breach end that everybody wants to look at.
I know, I know, COVID-19 set you all back money/work-wise ( to the stone age actually).
Who would go to Perth, or Fremantle for that matter? Tourist wise that is? Looking at a map, you are a long way from the rest of the civilized world. If one would call Sydney civilized.
I am sure it is a very nice way over there all on your own. Enjoy.
Unfortunately, Australia is as screwed up as Canada is these days. Just isn't the same, is it?
That is only my opinion, I could be wrong.
I agree completely. We, as in the whole world, don't preserve enough of our history. Here in America we apparently don't like our history and try to destroy it unfortunately. I'm not talking the BS going on with the cancel culture, I'm talking about just knocking down historical buildings just because they are an inconvenient.
Can't believe you did a story on rottnest, long time viewer of your channel living in Perth expat Manc.
Another manc here loving this video, we went out to Perth as a kid in 1984 as my grandparents moved out there, took the ferry to Rottnest, now I've a good reason to go back, thank you!
Damn, the whole point of the Rotto batteries was to keep the Poms out.........failed again.😁😁
Welcome to Western Australia. Napoleon wanted to make a harbor at Cottesloe, but the British had founded Albany and had already in the river at Perth.
Rottnest, or Ratsnest in Dutch, was named after the quokka being mistaken for huge rats. they are techniqualy pygmy wallabies/kangaroos
I get a kick out of the railway engines being basically a flat car with the front half of a farm tractor bolted to it.
And they were smart enough to mount the engine transverse to avoid having to install a transfer gearcase to change the direction of drive by 90 degrees.
Fordson model N petrol kero tractor circa 1933-1937
Logistics: never glamorous, always essential.
I have many fond memories of Rottnest, being born and bred in Rockingham. My favourite, though, has to be the Scout event (called 'Space Camp' of all things, because we were given a speech by a cosmonaut I can't remember the name of in an accent none of us could understand) where we were given an old army survival ration pack (I still have the tin) and spent a weekend camping and doing various exercises.
On the Saturday night we 'assaulted' the Oliver Hill guns with 80% of the scouts while the other 20% 'defended' with the assistance of a couple of soldiers from the SAS.
I have to take their word on them being the SAS, I was about 12, but whoever they were no one in our group of five had any idea one was near us until he turned a torch on us from two meters behind the group and said 'bang'. Scared us half to death, I have no idea how long he had been following us.
The only people who successfully infiltrated the guns (and planted a paper bomb, so mission successful) was a scout on crutches from a broken ankle a few days before the camp and an accompanying leader. They drove up to the entrance, openly wearing the blue ribbon of our side, said hello to the scouts guarding the door and just walked in!
The cosmonaut would have been Yuri Gagarin. A mate of mine drank beers with him at an airshow in Sydney (had to buy all the KGB minders soft toy roos and koalas for their kids first, but)
@@LukeBunyip I thought it was, and told the story with it being him, for many years... until one day I checked my memory and found out he died 16 years before I was born. An interesting cautionary tale on the reliability of memory.
l lived in Fremantle for a number of years in the early 90s while l was serving in a number of RAN ships based at HMAS Stirling on Garden lsland at the other end of Cockburn Sound. l would head off to 'Rotto' with my girlfriend quite regularly and have seen the battery and museum (and the Quokkas and yes the pub) once or twice,
l;m glad it is still going strong and l understand it is one of the only surviving 9.2" batteries left relatively intact in the world. l also understand that these 9.2" installations were sent as 'flat packs' to strategic points of the empire and commonwealth, eg. there were similar 9.2" batteries around Sydney as well. There is a good book on the Sydney fortifications called 'We Stood and Waited' - author's name escapes me - if anyone is interested. Cheers
That would be "We stood and waited : Sydney's anti-ship defences, 1939-1945" by R.K. Fullford www.awm.gov.au/collection/LIB4713
The Rottnest tunnels up to the gun emplacements was quite spooky back in the day.
Was fun to go up there with a big group of friends/girlfriends etc over the summer holidays and it's a pretty nice ride there from the Ferry and main part of town.
There were some pretty decent night time parties held there over the years as well...I think ;)
Came for the Quokkas, stayed for the Quokkas.
The Drach stuff wasn't bad either.
Here's to taking the train. "I get my exercise being a pall-bearer for those of my friends who believed in regular running and calisthenics." (W. Churchill).
my daughter and family live in Australia. She is famous for being bitten on her toe by a Quokka, and almost losing her toe! Even so she still loves them!
No joke, quokkas are actually vicious creatures. You can't even get on to rottnest without sitting through a psa about not feeding or touching the quokkas. And the medical office on the island has brochures on what to do if you get bit. Welcome to Australia, where even the cute animal's hate you.
If you make it back to Galveston, Texas, you need to see the old fortifications along the sea wall. No guns, but they used to house a set of 16" 50's left over from the canceled South Dakota's.
Love Rottnest, one of the few places in Australia where the wildlife isn't deadly. When I was a kid I loved exploring those 9" and tunnels. Feels weird getting nostalgia from a Drach vid but I ain't complaining that your showcasing my states history. Cheers from WA 🍻
Not deadly? You were incredibly lucky if you spent time poking about any of the old fortifications, they are crawling with dugites. I always look VERY carefully before setting foot in any of these, including Oliver Hill.
@@paulcasey5204 For our international friends, Dugites is the local variant of Brown Snakes, while not as venomous as their Eastern Brown cousins, the Eastern Brown is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Spent most of my free time between 10 an 13 messing around on Buckland Hill. Good times
Rottnest has venomous snakes..
Dugites everywhere. Be cautious away from main settlement
Early Dutch explorers believed that Quokka's where a species of giant rat hence the name Rottnest (Rats Nest)
Very good. RATS, cute RATS but still RATS.
Please do not export them in a cargo ship.
In Canada, we have enough critters and nasty weeds on our lands and in our waterways now.
We don't need GIANT RATS too!
Thanks a bunch. lol
@@luckyguy600umm no..there not rats
@@matc87 correct ✔️..unlike your spelling of their 😂
I noticed Rottnest written in trees nearby next to the airstrip. 😊
Interesting place. My boat stopped at Garden Island in '79 and '81. I had a good time. I found an astronomy book at the local bookstore and spent a good part of the night flat on my back in Rockingham's park sorting out the southern hemisphere sky.
On the map Rockingham looks bigger than I remember it.
Just back from a few days on Rotto, so good timing! I rode past the battery and I had to think of the two German blokes who were interred there until the end of the war. Not sure who were happier, the quokkas or the Germans. The two guys were pretty much left alone to wander about. They even had a boat to do some fishing.
The 10" 34 caliber guns used in US coastal defense also had a reduced size practice round system referred to as Xcailber. I think they were 3 inch guns fitted into the 10 inch bore. I was told that the 10 inch guns made so much noise that they broke windows in nearby towns and the xcailber system was meant to stop the effects on civilian areas.
OK, it’s time to own up, one of those missing indicators was in my possession (now long misplaced, before you ask). Around 1958, as the guest of a family friend who has contracted to scrap the generators, I was permitted free range over the guns, magazines, connecting tunnel, power house etc. It was just like the Army had left it all in 1945 - heady stuff for a 12 year old! There was a lot more to be seen then: several large buildings (one of which I think housed the railway locomotives), barbed wire fences & piles of camouflage netting everywhere, a Battery Command Post with telephone exchange & plotting room below etc. Across the road to the north was a dummy gun; barrel made out of tine, the gun house canvas over a metal frame while the emplacement was simulated by painted stones.
I’m always amazed by the concise and informative way in which Drachinifel delivers his history lessons! I have a degree in History and I can honestly say that I learn something every time I play one of his videos! Keep up the good work Drachinifel!
"Japanese, German, Italian, American let them come. We will defend our quokkas to the last man"- 9 inch gun operator probably
Sorry. Nobody in their right mind would take over that distant part of Ausieland.
Ain't going to happen, mate.
Even the Chinese aren't that crazy.
Your on your own over there down under.
Since we moved here, my oldest Son has been bringing up taking me to the places you have visited. I'm now looking forward to the trips, Thanks.
Seeing a youtuber you've watched for a few years going through some of the places you've personally been, Is quite pleasing.
There should definately be a ship named "HMS Quokka"
With a little smile painted on the bow.
HMAS?
DT (edit ‘MT’ Qoukka!)Quokka (1801) was a medium harbour tug operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) until 1998. She was constructed by Shoreline Engineers, Portland, Victoria in 1982 and completed in December 1983. Quokka spent most of her RAN career at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, except for a brief stint in Darwin, and was sold in 1998.
There's a missed opportunity for our navy to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies with our ship names. Where's my HMAS Magpie or HMAS Cassowary?
The detail in this museum is outstanding. I work at Disney with vast numbers of young people. Since they are always on their phones I have given them your channel at TH-cam and Mark Felton's channel to watch. A 23 year old reported back that he enjoyed your episode on Sailing Ships which made him watch some more about change from wood and sail to steel and power. A young lady about 25 came to me saying how much better it was to watch real history on Mark Felton's YT about Battle of Britain and Nazi stuff. I am trying to move the young off games and stupid to some fun and interesting History.
I've come to doubt Felton's work since Greg of Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles completely debunked one of Felton's videos using available official technical documentation. That was where the two channels happened to overlap. Fool me once, shame on him. He's not getting the chance to fool me again.
Thanks Drach. It's interesting to see how they have restored/cleared up the gun battery. The last time I was on Rotto was back in the 1970s and everything aside from the gun(s) and platforms were sealed off. Well, sealed off to all but determined teenagers! We scaled the locked steel gates and wandered around the tunnels with just dim torch lighting (no powerful LED torches in those days) - spooky! There were quite a number of interior doors welded shut and our imaginations filled in what wonders may have been beyond them :-)
Completely unexpected topic that I thoroughly enjoyed. For coastal batteries I’d love to see Drach tour the 100 ton gun on Malta, preferably when they do the annual blank firing. Ian from Forgotten Weapons did an excellent tour there, but I’d like to hear Drach’s version.
Thank you. Very educational. I've seen several such shore emplacements but this is the first time I've had a view of the inside of one of the actual turrets with the loading mechanisms and such still intact.
I thought the part about the detail in the shell room was a great point - frustrating to me when i go to museums that they don't provide layers of depth of information. Great video, thanks.
Great video. I visited Rottnest a few years ago. Had a great day there, you can hire bicycles and cycle all way around the island, exploring isolated coves. The snorkelling is magnificent.
I had no idea that there was a gun emplacement in the middle.
Emus: alright, guys. We have our defenses ready on land. If you see any japanese soldiers, holla at us!
Quokkas: Got ya, boss!
have you met real Emus? They make no sense in their movements. Shoot a gun or a loud noise near one and it's total insanity. Quokka, no one could shoot at them, and would deescalate any conflict with their ability to make anyone happy.
cassowary: ::titters madly while sharpening its claw:: "oh goodness no, let them get in niiiice and close. we have something for them, yes, yes we do. ::giggles::
what about the wombats? They could command the bunny kamikaze squads. There's at least 2 books about bunny suicides out.
My dad has a patient who was in charge of the guns on rottnest. He said that on night before the Kormoran sunk HMAS Sydney, him and his men saw the silhouette of a ship travelling north with the islands searchlights, when there was nothing scheduled to be there at that time. They radioed a bunch of ships to make sure it wasnt just a late arrival and did all that stuff to get permission to fire, but by the time they were given the greenlight, it had vanished into the night. He reckons they could of stopped the sinking of the sydney that night if they fired which if this is all true, has got to be tough to live with, even if it was no-ones fault.
I had the opportunity to visit Rottnest many years ago and can’t remember if my guide even told me about a shore battery museum on the island. My main memories of the day were seeing peacocks - lots of peacocks - and also seeing the Indian Ocean for the first and probably only time of my life. It was a nice way to spend the day.
Thank you so much for this video. Very informative. I’m 81yo and have no chance to see these kind of things in person. I’m enjoying your channel so much. Central Texas, USA
Loved the Quokka content today!
I grew up very close to the Leighton Battery. When I was young the area was still an army base for a transport regiment. That, of course, didn't stop us as kids from getting into the area which was surrounded by bush land and heading down into the tunnels - we found a hidden opening as kids do. At this stage they were all run down with all the guns and equipment removed - we're talking the late 70's early 80's - as they hadn't been used pretty much since the WW2. We got up to all sorts of mischief as one could imagine. On one or two occasions we were ushered off the site by the army but they usually didn't bother us unless we were running around in the bush land.
In an ironic twist, many years later, after the battery had been refurbished as a museum and was just about to be opened, I went there to have a look. One of the guides to be was there and I had a quick chat with him and told him as young teens we used to go into the tunnels. He straight away said that wasn't possible as they had been sealed off after the war. I then described the layout to him as I remembered, the tunnels leading to the two emplacements, what we assumed were the ammo storage rooms and an unfinished tunnel that wasn't concreted and was only shored up with wood. The poor man nearly died of shock. Everyone was of the opinion that no one had been in the tunnels for over 40 years before it was reconstructed. If only they had asked the army.
You really should do a trip to Corregidor island in Manila.
And don't just do the normal day tour (although I do recommend that tour). But stay a few days with a guide, which can be done, in order to see far more. Such as going out to the "cement battleship", the airfield etc.
They even have a pair of the pop down hidden guns still in place.
What an incredible display of industrial might from a past age!
They actually have had a World Surfing League
contest recently on Rottnest. Really good surf!! Everybody camped on the island.
HMAS Perth please! Me & a friend (with great difficulty) got into the underground sections of these guns by climbing over the steel doors, way back in the 1970s. We saw everything you've shown, but before it was refurbished. There were still sections where there were rifle racks, some of the medical or accommodation sections still had beds that could be folded up against the wall. There were no shells or anything like that, but there was lots of rubbish that included WWII ration tins & packets, bakelite electrical fixtures, cloth-covered wiring & even some WWII era newspapers & magazines. The engine rooms still smelt of diesel & oil. The gun mechanisms in the turrets were in pretty good condition. We were about 15 or 16 years old & did this 3 times over one summer holiday - never once did we think to bring a camera! The rails for the railway line were all there but this was way before they were refurbished & reopened. Oh, and we walked from the ferry jetty to the guns every time!
Up North in Darwin there is a place called Eastpoint gun battery where they have 9.2 inch guns in the huge casemates..
It has a very similar layout as well It also has 2 six-inch inch guns that came from the light cruiser of First World War vintage HMAS Brisbane...
something that is not featured in any of the guided tours, there are quite a few spotting locations scattered across the island. your probably not supposed to vist them, but tell that to a 14yo lad. took quite a bit of bush-bashing, but yeh, there are a LOT of bunkers hidden in the scrub. some were close enough to the gazetted tracks to be signposted, do not enter etc. but the really cool ones were way off the beaten path. some still had the brass plinth with the directions etched in. Id guess they took the role of rangefinders.
My Great grandfather was a supply officer on Rotto. I never knew him, but my grandmother lived there from about 11-14 years old. we stayed in her actual house a few years ago.
Thanks for a fascinating look at the emplacement, and especially the inside workings.
Just for accuracy. The red breech part numbered 177 at 16:15 is not the gun liner - it is the breech bush. It's about the same depth as the breech screw and typically butts up to the inner "A" tube - which *is* the rifled _liner_ + chamber of the gun.
The breech block & bush would almost certainly be _fitted_ (in the specific engineering process sense rather than just meaning put together) so they would need to be kept together after buid or refurbishment - hence the (re)numbering.
I live in Perth and I’d like to thank you for showcasing our great guns and quokkas
I was part of an Army unit tasked with supplying equipment, food and personnel during 1970. My only claim to fame was being able to drive a truck around the island. Others either walk or take the bus. The most fun was taking Army personnel and their family over to Rottnest for the school holidays. It was a fun time as we followed the Swan River down to Fremantle. As we got further away from the land the high spirits quickly disappeared as sea sickness took over. If it wasn't my turn at the wheel then I was tasked with hosing down the decks and trying to keep the sea sickness under control.
Rottnest is a wonderful place, at that time it was also a great spearfishing area
The railway buff in me would love to see a video on naval railways like this one, or the RNAD ones.
On your next foray to the United States I encourage you to visit Fort Miles, on Cape Henlopen in the Delaware Cape Henlopen State Park. They have rehabilitated the "battery 112", a 12" gun barbette, including the gun, the handling rooms, the plotting room and the ancillary facilities that service the weapon.
In addition, they have a static display of the type of 16" gun that "Battery Baker" had housed before and during WWII, as well as other displays of common artillery and naval guns of the period.
It's worth the trip.
Perth is my home city. When I was a child, we had family holidays at Rottnest nearly every year, sometimes twice a year in the 80's-90's. (It's too expensive now for working families. I think Bali holidays are cheaper, these days.)
I had a guided tour of the guns during a school excursion. I remember the tour guide telling us that a ship would tow a practice target out at sea. But the gun crew were instructed to try to aim shells just next to the target because the target was too expensive to be destroyed. The insides of the turret and other parts you showed weren't accessible to the public at the time.
Thanks for visiting and thanks for the video.
Reminds me of a couple of the old gun emplacements in Hong Kong we had to work around, and include in, new construction a decade or so ago. NW corner of the Island, Mt. Davis, Jubilee Battery, was really cool being able to get around them once they were cleaned up and restored. No gun left unfortunately but the emplacement makes a wonderful viewing station of the harbor.
When I was a kid in the late 1960's we used to explore those tunnels with torches. There were a couple of spots where small kids could crawl in. They were full of debris and dirt (and probably snakes as well). There are two guns at that installation but it looks like the second one which is exactly the same has not been refurbished for tourists. It was hidden in the shrubs back then even and a little harder to get to. It is probably still there? Perth is on the Indian Ocean BTW and not the Pacific.
Thansk you, Drach
If you’re interested in this sort of thing and you can’t get across to Rottnest, visit the WW2 tunnels just north of Fremantle, the other side of the train tracks at Leighton Beach. Only open to the public on a Sunday. This video is really great - the author has done really well. Teaching history and making it interesting.
There are similar emplacements in Auckland/New Zealand. Coming from Europe, I was always amazed about these "splinter-proof" gun emplacements. Given that they are on the other side of the planet and "small targets", it makes sense to me now.
We used to cycle up there in the 80's and explore the tunnels, was a great adventure for us as kids. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here mate, come back any time.
I loved the part where Drach said "check out these Quokkas!" and then he Quokka'd all over the place.
Alrighty then, Meme-Parrot Engagement Duty fulfilled. Time to watch and enjoy the video.
Large RATS indicative to the area.
Here where I reside people love our Tree Rats, better known as squirrels.
Each to their own.
@@luckyguy600
Squirrels are indeed rodents.
Quokkas are marsupials. Perhaps you’re making the same misidentification as the Dutch when naming the island in the 17th century.
Drach is the only visitor not tempted to pack up a quokka and take it home, but had to be searched leaving the shell room 😅
I visited Rottnest Island once with my family.
My most vivid memory of it was this incredible cove where the water was so crystal clear that you could see the coral 10 metres below like it was right below the surface, no occlusion at all.
Add to that how swimming in the Indian Ocean is like swimming in warm silk and it was a wonderful day.
I’m from Perth, Rottnest was our summer holidays, dream island 🌴
Very informative clip I actually live in Perth and never knew this existed Ripper of a video thank you
You should cover the batteries in the golden gate passage near San Francisco. The guns themselves aren’t still in the mounts but they have the gun barrels around
Nice description. I immediately noticed Rottnest in the title, because the Rottnest Lighthouse figured prominently in the description of making port in "Silent Running" by James Calvert, his memoir of his WWII submarine service. Fremantle served as a major base of US submarines operating in the South Pacific, China Sea, and Java Sea areas.
I’m glad your visit was so successful! Ours not so… It was a 37deg C day with crippling humidity, the poor little train expired from heat exhaustion on the way up the hill then later we were stuck on a tour bus with no aircon and no opening windows 🥵. Oh well that’s Australia for you…. We hope to go back for a better day !🤣
I spent 2 years based just south of there in the navy a long long time ago. We had to transit up and around Rottnest to leave Garden Island, but Ive never been to Rottnest! You’ve made a decision for me, I’m going back to Perth for the first time in 28 years at the end of April, and I’d already planned to see HMAS Ovens, so now I have 2 plans! Cheers mate! 🤣🇦🇺👍
Awesome thanks
Very cool to see my little part of the world on one of my favourite youtube channels, thanks for the info !
Glad you liked Rotto gun battery.
I played and explored this site and more on the island as a kid in the early 70s
Interesting subcaliber setup.
The introductory music is very nice, thank you.
The naval stuff is great, but I want more of the Aussie pokémon.
Your PokeWombat would have a bad time against a wild Poke ClockSpider
You mean Quokemon, surely?
ngl I read the title as "The most affordable coastal defence emplacement" and I was like "how much to get one for myself?"
3:20 This is now officially a Jago Hazard collaboration.
Fascinating video! Nice to see the little cuties arent afraid of humans...or Drachs. 😂😂😂
Excellent Video!
Thanks muchly Drach! I visited Rottnest back in 1976 or 1977 and I had no idea this was there which in fairness it probably wasn't at that time!
Thanks Drach.
If you’re still in Perth, you can go to Point Perron as see the batteries and bunkers there that were protecting the naval base next to it.
It looks like the gun at the top of the Mediterranean Steps in Gibraltar when we climbed it in the early 90's - it was not the sanitized track that is there now - the army guys that were we think de commissioning it looked so surprised to see us
the jetboat tour round rottnest is also great fun, though if you sit righyt up the front like i did you'll get wet, but its a pearler of a ride! haven't had that much fun in a while!
My grandfather was part of the guard unit of these coastal defense posistions after he got a medical downgrade from wounds after fighting on Kakoda in Papua New Guinea
The worlds most improbable Drachinifel video title!
Watch out Drach...that quokka in the last scene is ENOURMOUS - bgger than the whoke building behind him!
Best excuse for a vacation ever!
The place is breathtaking. Though I feel uncomfortable with so few trees. :P
Absolutely amazing and very informative video thanks for sharing just started watching your videos
very pretty and such cute wildlife
Great tour Drach, it's a surprisingly complete gun battery.
The Leighton Beach battery on the mainland opposite Rottnest is a good tour as well.
Very interesting. I visited Albany 1 month prior but had to head north to avoid the bad weather which you copped!!
As a kid I used to get into and explore the tunnels under the guns and all the surrounding bunkers and emplacements. It's all been restored nicely now back then it was a rusted mess.
Cordite: The forbidden Spaghetti
Angry pasta.
The number of times people say things like 'I can smell the cordite' when around firearms using gunpowder does my head in.
The Hotchkiss thing you are talking about is still commonly used for large caliber ordinance to allow you to practice on a smaller range. The US Military calls it a subcaliber gun.
Have done this, really interesting
my hometown. i managed to crawl into the tunnels ( back when they denied there is tunnels ) under the gun base through the rifle ports as a child
Was there in 1974, when was like little sea side town with two room fibro shacks with push out solid windows .
I visited Rottnest Island on a trip to Freemantle around 1990. I thought it was a nice day trip destination and I remember the quokkas. There didn't seem to be a place to stay overnight, and I don't remember the coast defense battery or the train at all. I guess I should have spent more time with the guidebook, but my wife did all the trip planning so I figured I was just along for the ride.