Australian History

[Goldpick]

All good Magilla, your turn!

 

[Magilla]

What Australian town once had the nick name "The World" because there was nothing you couldn't buy there?

 

[Goldpick]

Charters Towers?

 

[Magilla]

That one was too easy for you Goldpick, your turn.

 

[Goldpick]

I was initially produced in Australia from 1942 to around 1945 for WW2 conflict, I am unusally unique, being made up of both british and german designed parts. Later on in my life I was used in Rhodesia. What am I, and what features made me so unique?

 

[grubstake]

Gotta be the Owen gun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Gun).

Aussie-designed but used 9mm German-type ammo. The most unique feature was its vertical magazine, that provided gravity-assisted feed to the firing chamber. The design was brilliant in its simplicity, which made for great reliability and easy battlefield maintenance.

 

[Magilla]

How about the Austen SMG? It was developed about that time using a combination of English and German design though I don't think it actually used parts from those countries. It did have the ability to be used as a single shot or fully automatic which I believe was unique for the time.

 

[Magilla]

Just found this link and they definitely used both English and German parts.
http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=727

 

[Goldpick]

Correct Magilla, your turn yet again!

 

[Magilla]

What well known American actor was forced to make an emergency landing on the North Coast of NSW in the forties?

 

[Magilla]

Too hard? He was also a popular entertainer.

 

[DrDuck]

Good question,

It was Bob Hope, who was a passenger in a Catalina flying boat that made an emergency landing at Camden Haven near Laurieton, NSW, on 14 August 1944.

The story is here:

http://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/nsw113.htm

 

[Magilla]

I thought that clue may help, you got it DD. I only learned about it a few months ago when we visited the small museum at Laurieton.

 

[DrDuck]

I wondered how you thought of the question, Magilla, it was a good one.

Here is an easy one, as I have not had time to test the clue for Google proofness!

In this notable Australian air incident, there was one survivor. What's the story?

 

[goldtruck59]

Foye Kenneth Roberts was the sole survivor

The Bakers Creek air crash was an aviation disaster which occurred on 14 June 1943, when a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed at Bakers Creek, Queensland. The aircraft took off from Mackay and crashed approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the airfield. Forty of the 41 military service personnel on board were killed. The crash was Australia's worst aviation disaster by death toll and was the worst accident involving a transport aircraft in the south-western Pacific during World War II.

 

[DrDuck]

Thought it was an easy one, over to you GT....

 

[goldtruck59]

who am I

I am a part of Australian folklore but did exist and ran amok for several years before I was caught and shot dead. I managed to elude the law for 3 years almost gaining cult status. I am a murderer.

 

[cracka]

Malcom Nader?

 

[DrDuck]

I reckon it would be Ben Hall, who was certainly part of folklore.

There was a number of songs about him - The Ballad of Ben Hall. and The Streets of Forbes. There are a number of version of Streets of Forbes, and the version I remember (badly) starts:

Come all ye Lachlan men,
And a sorrowful tale I'll tell
Concerning of a hero bold
whose name it was Ben Hall

3 years he roamed the roads
and he showed the traps some fun
something something rhyming with roads
with Gilbert and John Dunn

 

[goldtruck59]

dr duck I am taken aback by the new pic mate very handsome. the famous kitchen shot was new but this one !!!!! very debonair mate.

Both you and Cracka are wrong this time.
I was originally arrested with my uncle and infact was again later prior to my murderous pursuit.. I was originally a gun jackaroo and horse rider in the north at a young age.