div sign
 

keith or tony have you any idea what this sign represents to me it looks like a wallaby sitting up. it is off a cab 12.

Max

Max, there is no Wallaby listed as a divisional tac sign, although there is just about everything else! I thought that this might be a corrupted or hand painted sign, but it certainly looks like a Wallaby. Other similar shapes are Koala for 3rd Div (militia Bn's in New Guinea), Penguin for 2nd Div (militia units in NSW and WA), Kangaroo for 6th Div, or Emu for 8th Div.
Your tac sign appears to go outside the borders of the background colour, so is possibly painted on at a later date.
There are also incidents of units altering the tac signs for humour or other reasons. The 7th Div's sign was usually of a Kookaburra perched on a Boomerang. After operations in the Markham Valley in New Guinea in 1943 when the 2/4 Field Regt parachuted their Guns and Gunners into action alongside the US 503rd Parachute Regiment, versions of the tac sign appeared with the Kookaburra in flight! As you are familiar with the 6th Div sign being a Kangaroo on the hop (like the QANTAS logo), perhaps this "Wallaby" sign is from a unit of the 6th Div who were posted to some place out of the action and were standing around and doing nothing!

While we're on this topic, the sign below appeared on a Chev Blitz water tanker (original) near home. It is a red diamond outlined in white with a white lightning bolt in the centre. Any thoughts?

Could it have been of the Emu over a boomeranga. The Divisional sign of the 8th Division?

Cheers
Cliff:salute:

Most likely suspects
 

Below are the official Divisional tac signs from Stephen Taubert's book. These are the closest in appearance to the "Wallaby", but not quite right.

Wallaby
 

My best response is that the square outline visible is the original formation sign from pre- Jan '43. After that date, the formation sign was supposed to be moved to the left guard (on the front of the vehicle). As there would have been some time for this change to be completed, this date is not conclusive. When the formation sign was moved, the old one would be painted over. I suspect that the "Wallaby" then makes his appearance as a sub-unit mascot or even as a nickname for the driver.

Great diagram, Tony
 

What other gems like this do you have?

Source
 

Keith, all this is from a book by Stephen Taubert that I've had for a few years. Stephen has collated all the Australian orders relating to vehicle markings from General Order No. 289, of 1903 to Order A9905/1/5 of Mar 82! It certainly covers some vehicles. Lang Kidby tells us that it's out of print now, but Cliff has bought the CD . I'd recommend contacting Stephen for a copy.

Re: Source
 

Yes I have the CD but would rather have it in book form. At least with the book you can scan the odd page but with the read only CD you cannot do this.

Cost of CD was $150AUD. Worth it in my opinion but a curse for me as I only really want the WW2 stuff and not the rest. But still I would not be without it now.

Cheers
Cliff:salute:

Taubert Book
 

Colleagues

Stephen has undertaken a mamoth task and his material is an invalueable resource if you don't have access to the original source material. I would not describe it as definitive, rather I would suggest that it is the starting point for any discussion on Australian vehicle markings. By this I mean that while he presents the official directives the next step is to analyse existing photos / documents to see how these directives were implemented at the formation and unit level.

There is also the issue what material was added or deleted as the directives were disseminated down to unit level. From my own research dissemination could happen in a number of ways; direct reproduction of the original document or redrafting it to be formation / unit specific, which was then promulgated either as a stand alone document or under General Routine Orders. An example of this is a marking document (at work at the moment and can't provide a full reference) issued by 2nd Armoured Brigade which under the heading of vehicle names goes on to describe both the height of letters and the positioning on AFVs.

One area he did miss was the marking instructions issued in South Vietnam and currently held in the AWM Vietnam files.

Please don't take this as 'panning' his work. Rather, I would suggest that it does have its limitations and that it should be considered as the starting point, not the end. There is still considerable material out there that is unpublished.

regards

Shane

Tony would that have been a fire bragade logo as we did pick up one years ago with a smokey bear on the side.
Just a thought.

Max

blitz number
 

This is the number on the door of the cab 12 with the wallaby. Does apear to be outside the square as you said.

Max

ex fire tanker
 

Hi Tony,
This C60L ex NSW fire tanker wouldn't be the one from the Little Hartly caravan park would it?

The all-knowing victorians
 

Correct!

buffalo sign
 

it rained the other day and washed the dust off and we found the buffalo tac sign on the mud guard on the same cab as the wallaby. It is the sign of the northern territory force and 12th australian division.

Max

Div sign
 

You don't have a lot to go on there, Max. It looks pretty indistinct. I thought it could possibly be the 5th Div sign of a Boars Head. Whaddya reckon?

Re: Div sign
 

sorry Tony I reckon Max is right. Water buffalo over the boomerang.:salute:

Re: Div sign
 

Tony it definitely is the bufflo over the boomerang just doesn't show up as clear in the photo.Also in the cabin one of the drivers has scratched his number.

max