What is this shell??

[anthony urek]

This shell was found by a farmer ploughing his paddock near Avoca in central Victoria.
It is 500mm high and 6 inches in diameter.
What is it from?
Why Avoca?
Quite a mystery!
Any help welcome.

[chris vickery]

Is it possible it is HE Mk XVI 6"?
These were used in the BL 6" 26cwt howitzer. These guns originated in GB but were used extensively by many Commonwealth countries including Australia and NZ.
Originally used in WW1, they carried over for use into the early stages of WW2 and found use in Burma and other regions of the South Pacific.
Just an idea.
Has this shell been cleared? If it is HE is may be very unstable...

[jack neville]

A discarded relic no doubt. There were no camps around Avoca in any war but plenty of servicemen from the area. A common occurrence in France, but not in Australia.

[Wayne Henderson]

Looks like 6'' and has been fired, any photos looking inside?
As Chris says it could be nasty, or smoke shell but take care.

[anthony urek]

Hi Jack, thankyou for the information.
Just say it had been fired and landed in dirt, would there be a flat-spot or distortion??

[chris vickery]

Not likely. Lots of shells have been dug in battlefields intact as the day they were fired.
Hard to see from the size and resolution of your pic but it looks like the driving band has marks from the rifling of the barrel so it appears to have been fired.

[anthony urek]

Yes, rifling evident on the sealing band.
Strange, it was brought to the surface by a plough in the middle of a field making me think it had been fired there......guess we will never know.

[jack neville]

I know the area well. It is commonly old goldfields. There are quite a few soldier settlement areas in the district. Many of the old gold diggers holes have been used as tips for locals over the decades and digging through these old filled in holes reveals great finds for bottle collectors etc. Turning up an old war relic in a paddock in Avoca is the same as finding an inert grenade under a house in Melbourne. Now if something that size was a gold nugget it would be something to get excited over!

[anthony urek]

Weighing over 30kgs, would a soldier be allowed to souvenir let alone post such an item home??

[chris vickery]

Was there ever an artillery school or range in the area?
If not directly in the vicinity found it could be an overshoot out of bounds.
If in fact it is a 6", remember these guns were used almost 100 years ago and the history could be lost.
We have had a few recent "rediscoveries" in recent years of long forgotten about bombing ranges, usually when construction companies decide to develop areas for new housing projects.
I find it odd that a souvenir would end up buried in a field. Maybe found in a barn or shed it would make sense but ploughed up doesn't unless it was deliberately put there.

[Lynn Eades]

So ha it been measured for exact dia.?
What about a 155? or a 5.5" ?
Only making suggestions as I don't have any ideas as to what their projectiles look like.
It's not something an ordinary soldier would cart back from Europe in his kit bag.

[anthony urek]

Exactly 6" in diameter.

[jack neville]

There has never been an army camp let alone an artillery or bombing range anywhere near Avoca. More information is required on exactly where it was unearthed. Many of the shallow alluvial goldfields have been rehabilitated over the years and returned to useful farm land by levelling the old holes and mulloch heaps. Additionally there are hundreds of old minors huts and settlers huts that have long disappeared in the area. The only tell tale signs are a scattering of fruit trees or the appearance of annual flowers that tell you a dwelling of little substance once stood there. A war time relic could easily have been discarded in a shallow hole or left abandoned around a crumbling house. Every farmer had a 'tip' in their back paddock.

[motto]

The nose cone or fuse being missing would indicate to me human intervention at some time after having been fired.
Most likely scenario would be theft by some light fingered citizen soldier that later became an embarrassment and was disposed of by burying.
I've seen all of the above mentioned acts in my time.

David