Restoring the 18 Pounder Gun

Recycling is important to our lives now, but this is not a new idea. Believe it or not, an early instance of recycling was performed by the Australian Army during World War II, when they resurrected an 18 pounder gun left over from World War I and put it to good use.

We must firstly recognise the outstanding service this gun gave during WWI, and the Australian gunners who toiled under extreme conditions in serving this weapon. 

During World War I (and between the two wars) this gun was the main, and most successful, field gun in service in the British, Australian and other allied armies.

With Australian artillery units it saw service in Gallipoli, but really came to the fore in the much larger campaigns on the Western Front.

In speaking of the success of the Australian Second Division in late September 1918 (Australia’s last attack of the war), Brigadier-General Coxen (artillery adviser to the Australian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Monash) reported that “the success of the operations of this corps is, in very great measure, due to the excellent work of the field artillery”, (‘The Gunners’, 1995, David Horner). 

In the lead up to key battles such as Fromelles and Amiens, over 1.5 million rounds of ammunition were stockpiled, and between 26 September and 4 October 1918, only 9 days, over 934,000 rounds of 18 pounder ammunition were fired by Allied artillery.  

18th Battery, Australian Field Artillery, was an Adelaide unit equipped with these guns. The guns were in action for 602 of the 1227 days the unit spent overseas: during that time 146,264 rounds were fired.   

The gun was modernised between the wars by converting the wooden spoke wheels to large wheels fitted with pneumatic tyres, which allowed them to be towed by trucks, instead of a team of six horses, a sort of recycling. The ammunition limbers were still used with the trucks. 

Museum volunteers worked long and hard to restore this gun to its original condition. To achieve this the truck wheels and pneumatic tyres were removed and our wheelwright, Peter Foster, created a replica of the original wooden spoke wheels. With the expert advice of Engineer Frank Miller, the new stub axle components were also produced. 

The restored weapon is an  important part of the Museum’s displays.