Orange undercoat

[gjamo]

I think Jared is on the right trail with red lead. Newport Railway Workshops (just down the end of my street) is 3 kilometers from the Williamstown Naval Dockyards. Both facilities used red lead extensively as primer. In fact their moto used to be if you cant make love to it (not how they actually expressed it) red lead it. The stuff shows up around here all the time in houses . Must have been liberated from the factories by the gallon. Highly toxic and dangerous to small children so take extreme care if you are sanding it.
Graeme