Rottnest Island - The worlds most adorable coastal defence emplacement!

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  • Опубликовано: 24 дек 2024

Комментарии • 496

  • @Drachinifel
    @Drachinifel  10 месяцев назад +37

    Pinned post for Q&A :)

    • @ph89787
      @ph89787 10 месяцев назад +5

      Q&A In the time between Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea. Would it have been viable for the Kido Butai to launch raids on either the Australian West or East Coasts?

    • @oogaboogaluger8860
      @oogaboogaluger8860 10 месяцев назад +6

      Did you see the HMAS Ovens submarine in Fremantle while you were in WA?

    • @Cbabilon675
      @Cbabilon675 10 месяцев назад +3

      I have two questions. First question being will you please go over the Battle of Wake Island and exactly what kind of guns the United States Marines used. Also, would you mind talking more in detail about the Battle barges and gunboats used by Japan and the Allies against each other and how they were modified by the crews?

    • @marvindebot3264
      @marvindebot3264 10 месяцев назад +3

      Did you make it to Greenhill Fort on Thursday Island? By far the best view from any battery in Australia. If you didn't, I can send you some photos.

    • @m8rshall
      @m8rshall 10 месяцев назад +2

      Do we know any history on where the guns on the gun emplacements came from originally? Any historically significant units?

  • @darkflame8
    @darkflame8 10 месяцев назад +678

    The real reason the island is covered in heavy artillery is to keep the Quokka's from escaping to the mainland. If Quokka's started appearing on the mainland, everyone would be too busy watching them to get any work done. The country could collaspe in days.

    • @BenState
      @BenState 10 месяцев назад +15

      they are on the mainland

    • @darkflame8
      @darkflame8 10 месяцев назад +38

      @BenState Yes, but they are contained to scertain areas, if the population on Rottnest escapes, it could be disasterous

    • @TheEDFLegacy
      @TheEDFLegacy 10 месяцев назад +70

      ​@@BenStateImagine if they made an alliance with the Emus? 😳

    • @paxYmo
      @paxYmo 10 месяцев назад +2

      ]

    • @paxYmo
      @paxYmo 10 месяцев назад +1

      ‘😊

  • @lunarweasel
    @lunarweasel 10 месяцев назад +381

    Never ceases to amaze me how Drach always nails a precise five minute running time on these year after year. ;)

    • @Kevin_Kennelly
      @Kevin_Kennelly 10 месяцев назад +41

      More or less

    • @RonJohn63
      @RonJohn63 10 месяцев назад +4

      Editing.

    • @tcpratt1660
      @tcpratt1660 10 месяцев назад +6

      He can't ever be held in violation of the Trades Descriptions Act...sort of like a hardtack baker's dozen, Drach sturdee-lee provideth! (Edit: so sorry, Admiral Lee, should have included you immediately!)

    • @jimroberts3009
      @jimroberts3009 10 месяцев назад +3

      Mostly more, luckily for us.

    • @comentedonakeyboard
      @comentedonakeyboard 10 месяцев назад +2

      Time is relative

  • @yoshimuroi7771
    @yoshimuroi7771 10 месяцев назад +307

    Quokkas manning the turrets would be crazy

    • @terrybarrett2368
      @terrybarrett2368 10 месяцев назад +10

      And protected by the dugites

    • @andrewthomson137
      @andrewthomson137 10 месяцев назад +6

      Yeah don't argue with those quokkas!

    • @AmbianEagleheart
      @AmbianEagleheart 10 месяцев назад +29

      Who do you think really stopped the Emu's?

    • @MonkeyJedi99
      @MonkeyJedi99 10 месяцев назад +14

      @@AmbianEagleheart You nearly cost me a keyboard. I was drinking tea when I read your comment.

    • @dogcarman
      @dogcarman 10 месяцев назад +1

      But cute - oh so cute!

  • @IanSinclair77
    @IanSinclair77 10 месяцев назад +187

    Its very good of you to keep saying "and Freemantle". They're very sensative about being told it's just part of Perth....

    • @GM-fh5jp
      @GM-fh5jp 10 месяцев назад +9

      Freo is part of Perth.
      Don't be argumentive.

    • @jesperlykkeberg7438
      @jesperlykkeberg7438 10 месяцев назад +4

      If indeed the Australians are very sensitive about this issue it´s likely they will frown upon your anglicisms since, in fact, there´s no "Freemantle" in Australia. Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemantle

    • @tonyturner4602
      @tonyturner4602 10 месяцев назад +9

      Fremantle*

    • @luckyguy600
      @luckyguy600 10 месяцев назад +2

      Oooo touch aren't we?

    • @stevewhite3424
      @stevewhite3424 10 месяцев назад +4

      ​​@@GM-fh5jpFreemantle is absolutely not part of Perth. Since 1929 Freeemantle has been a standalone city. The municipal Government of Pirth and the municipal Government of Fremantle are totally independent.
      Saying otherwise is like saying that the city of Garland is part of the City of Dallas or that San Jose is part of San Francisco, which they absolutely are not.

  • @TheRealMarxz
    @TheRealMarxz 10 месяцев назад +144

    My grandfather was one of the main designers of both the Rottnest and Leighton batteries - he was an engineer/carpenter and well known asTHE expert on formwork at the time (later he also served in Darwin and Broome at the times of their bombings making him one of the few who saw active service in both world wars)

    • @kittymervine6115
      @kittymervine6115 10 месяцев назад +6

      what an amazing family member!

    • @marckyle5895
      @marckyle5895 10 месяцев назад +6

      So HE'S the one who designed the controls so they can be used by Quokkas! Thank him for us.

  • @bamafan-in-OZ
    @bamafan-in-OZ 10 месяцев назад +89

    The restoration team have done a wonderful job especially given its location and the fact is sat dormant for so many years.

    • @bettysteve322716
      @bettysteve322716 10 месяцев назад +1

      The Rottnest Island Pine replanting program looks to be going very well also.

    • @luckyguy600
      @luckyguy600 10 месяцев назад

      Minus the flaking paint & the non-green-green garbage bag over the breach end that everybody wants to look at.
      I know, I know, COVID-19 set you all back money/work-wise ( to the stone age actually).
      Who would go to Perth, or Fremantle for that matter? Tourist wise that is? Looking at a map, you are a long way from the rest of the civilized world. If one would call Sydney civilized.
      I am sure it is a very nice way over there all on your own. Enjoy.
      Unfortunately, Australia is as screwed up as Canada is these days. Just isn't the same, is it?
      That is only my opinion, I could be wrong.

    • @bull614
      @bull614 10 месяцев назад +4

      I agree completely. We, as in the whole world, don't preserve enough of our history. Here in America we apparently don't like our history and try to destroy it unfortunately. I'm not talking the BS going on with the cancel culture, I'm talking about just knocking down historical buildings just because they are an inconvenient.

  • @simondavies515
    @simondavies515 10 месяцев назад +98

    Can't believe you did a story on rottnest, long time viewer of your channel living in Perth expat Manc.

    • @danm6189
      @danm6189 10 месяцев назад

      Another manc here loving this video, we went out to Perth as a kid in 1984 as my grandparents moved out there, took the ferry to Rottnest, now I've a good reason to go back, thank you!

    • @paulcasey5204
      @paulcasey5204 10 месяцев назад

      Damn, the whole point of the Rotto batteries was to keep the Poms out.........failed again.😁😁

  • @Haematite
    @Haematite 10 месяцев назад +28

    Welcome to Western Australia. Napoleon wanted to make a harbor at Cottesloe, but the British had founded Albany and had already in the river at Perth.
    Rottnest, or Ratsnest in Dutch, was named after the quokka being mistaken for huge rats. they are techniqualy pygmy wallabies/kangaroos

  • @MonkeyJedi99
    @MonkeyJedi99 10 месяцев назад +35

    I get a kick out of the railway engines being basically a flat car with the front half of a farm tractor bolted to it.
    And they were smart enough to mount the engine transverse to avoid having to install a transfer gearcase to change the direction of drive by 90 degrees.

    • @normbatcheldor5416
      @normbatcheldor5416 10 месяцев назад +6

      Fordson model N petrol kero tractor circa 1933-1937

  • @vonskyme9133
    @vonskyme9133 10 месяцев назад +44

    I have many fond memories of Rottnest, being born and bred in Rockingham. My favourite, though, has to be the Scout event (called 'Space Camp' of all things, because we were given a speech by a cosmonaut I can't remember the name of in an accent none of us could understand) where we were given an old army survival ration pack (I still have the tin) and spent a weekend camping and doing various exercises.
    On the Saturday night we 'assaulted' the Oliver Hill guns with 80% of the scouts while the other 20% 'defended' with the assistance of a couple of soldiers from the SAS.
    I have to take their word on them being the SAS, I was about 12, but whoever they were no one in our group of five had any idea one was near us until he turned a torch on us from two meters behind the group and said 'bang'. Scared us half to death, I have no idea how long he had been following us.
    The only people who successfully infiltrated the guns (and planted a paper bomb, so mission successful) was a scout on crutches from a broken ankle a few days before the camp and an accompanying leader. They drove up to the entrance, openly wearing the blue ribbon of our side, said hello to the scouts guarding the door and just walked in!

    • @LukeBunyip
      @LukeBunyip 10 месяцев назад +4

      The cosmonaut would have been Yuri Gagarin. A mate of mine drank beers with him at an airshow in Sydney (had to buy all the KGB minders soft toy roos and koalas for their kids first, but)

    • @vonskyme9133
      @vonskyme9133 10 месяцев назад +11

      @@LukeBunyip I thought it was, and told the story with it being him, for many years... until one day I checked my memory and found out he died 16 years before I was born. An interesting cautionary tale on the reliability of memory.

  • @GM-fh5jp
    @GM-fh5jp 10 месяцев назад +23

    The Rottnest tunnels up to the gun emplacements was quite spooky back in the day.
    Was fun to go up there with a big group of friends/girlfriends etc over the summer holidays and it's a pretty nice ride there from the Ferry and main part of town.
    There were some pretty decent night time parties held there over the years as well...I think ;)

  • @NamingIsHard1234
    @NamingIsHard1234 10 месяцев назад +15

    Love Rottnest, one of the few places in Australia where the wildlife isn't deadly. When I was a kid I loved exploring those 9" and tunnels. Feels weird getting nostalgia from a Drach vid but I ain't complaining that your showcasing my states history. Cheers from WA 🍻

    • @paulcasey5204
      @paulcasey5204 10 месяцев назад +4

      Not deadly? You were incredibly lucky if you spent time poking about any of the old fortifications, they are crawling with dugites. I always look VERY carefully before setting foot in any of these, including Oliver Hill.

    • @robincray116
      @robincray116 10 месяцев назад +2

      ​@@paulcasey5204 For our international friends, Dugites is the local variant of Brown Snakes, while not as venomous as their Eastern Brown cousins, the Eastern Brown is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

    • @brinjoness3386
      @brinjoness3386 9 месяцев назад +4

      Spent most of my free time between 10 an 13 messing around on Buckland Hill. Good times

    • @bkjeong4302
      @bkjeong4302 9 месяцев назад +1

      Rottnest has venomous snakes..

    • @craigslater8227
      @craigslater8227 9 месяцев назад

      Dugites everywhere. Be cautious away from main settlement

  • @williamswenson5315
    @williamswenson5315 10 месяцев назад +28

    Logistics: never glamorous, always essential.

  • @kimbaldunsmore4633
    @kimbaldunsmore4633 10 месяцев назад +32

    l lived in Fremantle for a number of years in the early 90s while l was serving in a number of RAN ships based at HMAS Stirling on Garden lsland at the other end of Cockburn Sound. l would head off to 'Rotto' with my girlfriend quite regularly and have seen the battery and museum (and the Quokkas and yes the pub) once or twice,
    l;m glad it is still going strong and l understand it is one of the only surviving 9.2" batteries left relatively intact in the world. l also understand that these 9.2" installations were sent as 'flat packs' to strategic points of the empire and commonwealth, eg. there were similar 9.2" batteries around Sydney as well. There is a good book on the Sydney fortifications called 'We Stood and Waited' - author's name escapes me - if anyone is interested. Cheers

    • @LukeBunyip
      @LukeBunyip 10 месяцев назад

      That would be "We stood and waited : Sydney's anti-ship defences, 1939-1945" by R.K. Fullford www.awm.gov.au/collection/LIB4713

  • @StuSaville
    @StuSaville 10 месяцев назад +24

    Early Dutch explorers believed that Quokka's where a species of giant rat hence the name Rottnest (Rats Nest)

    • @luckyguy600
      @luckyguy600 10 месяцев назад +1

      Very good. RATS, cute RATS but still RATS.
      Please do not export them in a cargo ship.
      In Canada, we have enough critters and nasty weeds on our lands and in our waterways now.
      We don't need GIANT RATS too!
      Thanks a bunch. lol

    • @matc87
      @matc87 9 месяцев назад

      ​@@luckyguy600umm no..there not rats

    • @sandgroperwookiee65
      @sandgroperwookiee65 9 месяцев назад

      ​@@matc87 correct ✔️..unlike your spelling of their 😂

  • @stuartwald2395
    @stuartwald2395 10 месяцев назад +13

    Here's to taking the train. "I get my exercise being a pall-bearer for those of my friends who believed in regular running and calisthenics." (W. Churchill).

  • @lachbullen8014
    @lachbullen8014 10 месяцев назад +28

    Up North in Darwin there is a place called Eastpoint gun battery where they have 9.2 inch guns in the huge casemates..
    It has a very similar layout as well It also has 2 six-inch inch guns that came from the light cruiser of First World War vintage HMAS Brisbane...

  • @driftwood4394
    @driftwood4394 10 месяцев назад +16

    Just back from a few days on Rotto, so good timing! I rode past the battery and I had to think of the two German blokes who were interred there until the end of the war. Not sure who were happier, the quokkas or the Germans. The two guys were pretty much left alone to wander about. They even had a boat to do some fishing.

  • @keithstudly6071
    @keithstudly6071 10 месяцев назад +13

    The 10" 34 caliber guns used in US coastal defense also had a reduced size practice round system referred to as Xcailber. I think they were 3 inch guns fitted into the 10 inch bore. I was told that the 10 inch guns made so much noise that they broke windows in nearby towns and the xcailber system was meant to stop the effects on civilian areas.

  • @darrellsmith4204
    @darrellsmith4204 10 месяцев назад +47

    Came for the Quokkas, stayed for the Quokkas.

  • @kittymervine6115
    @kittymervine6115 10 месяцев назад +22

    my daughter and family live in Australia. She is famous for being bitten on her toe by a Quokka, and almost losing her toe! Even so she still loves them!

    • @richiego1n
      @richiego1n 6 месяцев назад +1

      No joke, quokkas are actually vicious creatures. You can't even get on to rottnest without sitting through a psa about not feeding or touching the quokkas. And the medical office on the island has brochures on what to do if you get bit. Welcome to Australia, where even the cute animal's hate you.

  • @mark_wotney9972
    @mark_wotney9972 10 месяцев назад +15

    If you make it back to Galveston, Texas, you need to see the old fortifications along the sea wall. No guns, but they used to house a set of 16" 50's left over from the canceled South Dakota's.

  • @mattwilliams3456
    @mattwilliams3456 10 месяцев назад +3

    Completely unexpected topic that I thoroughly enjoyed. For coastal batteries I’d love to see Drach tour the 100 ton gun on Malta, preferably when they do the annual blank firing. Ian from Forgotten Weapons did an excellent tour there, but I’d like to hear Drach’s version.

  • @billwebb5256
    @billwebb5256 10 месяцев назад +5

    I’m always amazed by the concise and informative way in which Drachinifel delivers his history lessons! I have a degree in History and I can honestly say that I learn something every time I play one of his videos! Keep up the good work Drachinifel!

  • @be4stly
    @be4stly 9 месяцев назад +1

    My dad has a patient who was in charge of the guns on rottnest. He said that on night before the Kormoran sunk HMAS Sydney, him and his men saw the silhouette of a ship travelling north with the islands searchlights, when there was nothing scheduled to be there at that time. They radioed a bunch of ships to make sure it wasnt just a late arrival and did all that stuff to get permission to fire, but by the time they were given the greenlight, it had vanished into the night. He reckons they could of stopped the sinking of the sydney that night if they fired which if this is all true, has got to be tough to live with, even if it was no-ones fault.

  • @mikespangler98
    @mikespangler98 10 месяцев назад +12

    I noticed Rottnest written in trees nearby next to the airstrip. 😊
    Interesting place. My boat stopped at Garden Island in '79 and '81. I had a good time. I found an astronomy book at the local bookstore and spent a good part of the night flat on my back in Rockingham's park sorting out the southern hemisphere sky.
    On the map Rockingham looks bigger than I remember it.

  • @daguard411
    @daguard411 10 месяцев назад +2

    Since we moved here, my oldest Son has been bringing up taking me to the places you have visited. I'm now looking forward to the trips, Thanks.

  • @rodblievers620
    @rodblievers620 10 месяцев назад +7

    OK, it’s time to own up, one of those missing indicators was in my possession (now long misplaced, before you ask). Around 1958, as the guest of a family friend who has contracted to scrap the generators, I was permitted free range over the guns, magazines, connecting tunnel, power house etc. It was just like the Army had left it all in 1945 - heady stuff for a 12 year old! There was a lot more to be seen then: several large buildings (one of which I think housed the railway locomotives), barbed wire fences & piles of camouflage netting everywhere, a Battery Command Post with telephone exchange & plotting room below etc. Across the road to the north was a dummy gun; barrel made out of tine, the gun house canvas over a metal frame while the emplacement was simulated by painted stones.

  • @mickpass1
    @mickpass1 9 месяцев назад +1

    I grew up very close to the Leighton Battery. When I was young the area was still an army base for a transport regiment. That, of course, didn't stop us as kids from getting into the area which was surrounded by bush land and heading down into the tunnels - we found a hidden opening as kids do. At this stage they were all run down with all the guns and equipment removed - we're talking the late 70's early 80's - as they hadn't been used pretty much since the WW2. We got up to all sorts of mischief as one could imagine. On one or two occasions we were ushered off the site by the army but they usually didn't bother us unless we were running around in the bush land.
    In an ironic twist, many years later, after the battery had been refurbished as a museum and was just about to be opened, I went there to have a look. One of the guides to be was there and I had a quick chat with him and told him as young teens we used to go into the tunnels. He straight away said that wasn't possible as they had been sealed off after the war. I then described the layout to him as I remembered, the tunnels leading to the two emplacements, what we assumed were the ammo storage rooms and an unfinished tunnel that wasn't concreted and was only shored up with wood. The poor man nearly died of shock. Everyone was of the opinion that no one had been in the tunnels for over 40 years before it was reconstructed. If only they had asked the army.

  • @pedenharley6266
    @pedenharley6266 10 месяцев назад +3

    Loved the Quokka content today!

  • @louis1952
    @louis1952 10 месяцев назад +6

    Great video. I visited Rottnest a few years ago. Had a great day there, you can hire bicycles and cycle all way around the island, exploring isolated coves. The snorkelling is magnificent.
    I had no idea that there was a gun emplacement in the middle.

  • @BuzzSargent
    @BuzzSargent 10 месяцев назад +10

    The detail in this museum is outstanding. I work at Disney with vast numbers of young people. Since they are always on their phones I have given them your channel at RUclips and Mark Felton's channel to watch. A 23 year old reported back that he enjoyed your episode on Sailing Ships which made him watch some more about change from wood and sail to steel and power. A young lady about 25 came to me saying how much better it was to watch real history on Mark Felton's YT about Battle of Britain and Nazi stuff. I am trying to move the young off games and stupid to some fun and interesting History.

    • @AndrewBlucher
      @AndrewBlucher 10 месяцев назад +5

      I've come to doubt Felton's work since Greg of Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles completely debunked one of Felton's videos using available official technical documentation. That was where the two channels happened to overlap. Fool me once, shame on him. He's not getting the chance to fool me again.

  • @davidvanderven
    @davidvanderven 8 месяцев назад +1

    Seeing a youtuber you've watched for a few years going through some of the places you've personally been, Is quite pleasing.

  • @danm6189
    @danm6189 10 месяцев назад +8

    I thought the part about the detail in the shell room was a great point - frustrating to me when i go to museums that they don't provide layers of depth of information. Great video, thanks.

  • @PurpleRhymesWithOrange
    @PurpleRhymesWithOrange 10 месяцев назад +2

    Thank you. Very educational. I've seen several such shore emplacements but this is the first time I've had a view of the inside of one of the actual turrets with the loading mechanisms and such still intact.

  • @doogledog1740
    @doogledog1740 10 месяцев назад +7

    Thanks Drach. It's interesting to see how they have restored/cleared up the gun battery. The last time I was on Rotto was back in the 1970s and everything aside from the gun(s) and platforms were sealed off. Well, sealed off to all but determined teenagers! We scaled the locked steel gates and wandered around the tunnels with just dim torch lighting (no powerful LED torches in those days) - spooky! There were quite a number of interior doors welded shut and our imaginations filled in what wonders may have been beyond them :-)

  • @scottymac5174
    @scottymac5174 10 месяцев назад +2

    They actually have had a World Surfing League
    contest recently on Rottnest. Really good surf!! Everybody camped on the island.

  • @HGShurtugal
    @HGShurtugal 10 месяцев назад +38

    "Japanese, German, Italian, American let them come. We will defend our quokkas to the last man"- 9 inch gun operator probably

    • @luckyguy600
      @luckyguy600 10 месяцев назад +2

      Sorry. Nobody in their right mind would take over that distant part of Ausieland.
      Ain't going to happen, mate.
      Even the Chinese aren't that crazy.
      Your on your own over there down under.

  • @monostripeexplosiveexplora2374
    @monostripeexplosiveexplora2374 10 месяцев назад +41

    There should definately be a ship named "HMS Quokka"

    • @princeoftonga
      @princeoftonga 10 месяцев назад +6

      With a little smile painted on the bow.

    • @qbi4614
      @qbi4614 10 месяцев назад +13

      HMAS?

    • @malcolmgibson5088
      @malcolmgibson5088 9 месяцев назад +4

      DT (edit ‘MT’ Qoukka!)Quokka (1801) was a medium harbour tug operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) until 1998. She was constructed by Shoreline Engineers, Portland, Victoria in 1982 and completed in December 1983. Quokka spent most of her RAN career at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, except for a brief stint in Darwin, and was sold in 1998.

    • @TheKazragore
      @TheKazragore 9 месяцев назад +1

      There's a missed opportunity for our navy to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies with our ship names. Where's my HMAS Magpie or HMAS Cassowary?

  • @drogoKoJ
    @drogoKoJ 10 месяцев назад +9

    You really should do a trip to Corregidor island in Manila.
    And don't just do the normal day tour (although I do recommend that tour). But stay a few days with a guide, which can be done, in order to see far more. Such as going out to the "cement battleship", the airfield etc.
    They even have a pair of the pop down hidden guns still in place.

  • @markmonce5485
    @markmonce5485 10 месяцев назад +7

    I had the opportunity to visit Rottnest many years ago and can’t remember if my guide even told me about a shore battery museum on the island. My main memories of the day were seeing peacocks - lots of peacocks - and also seeing the Indian Ocean for the first and probably only time of my life. It was a nice way to spend the day.

  • @cartmann94
    @cartmann94 10 месяцев назад +58

    Emus: alright, guys. We have our defenses ready on land. If you see any japanese soldiers, holla at us!
    Quokkas: Got ya, boss!

    • @kittymervine6115
      @kittymervine6115 10 месяцев назад +6

      have you met real Emus? They make no sense in their movements. Shoot a gun or a loud noise near one and it's total insanity. Quokka, no one could shoot at them, and would deescalate any conflict with their ability to make anyone happy.

    • @scooterdescooter4018
      @scooterdescooter4018 10 месяцев назад +10

      cassowary: ::titters madly while sharpening its claw:: "oh goodness no, let them get in niiiice and close. we have something for them, yes, yes we do. ::giggles::

    • @marckyle5895
      @marckyle5895 10 месяцев назад +1

      what about the wombats? They could command the bunny kamikaze squads. There's at least 2 books about bunny suicides out.

  • @michaeldallimore8590
    @michaeldallimore8590 10 месяцев назад +1

    When I was a kid in the late 1960's we used to explore those tunnels with torches. There were a couple of spots where small kids could crawl in. They were full of debris and dirt (and probably snakes as well). There are two guns at that installation but it looks like the second one which is exactly the same has not been refurbished for tourists. It was hidden in the shrubs back then even and a little harder to get to. It is probably still there? Perth is on the Indian Ocean BTW and not the Pacific.

  • @BeastofCaerBannog
    @BeastofCaerBannog 10 месяцев назад +4

    The railway buff in me would love to see a video on naval railways like this one, or the RNAD ones.

  • @barelyasurvivor1257
    @barelyasurvivor1257 10 месяцев назад +1

    Thanks for a fascinating look at the emplacement, and especially the inside workings.

  • @arjovenzia
    @arjovenzia 10 месяцев назад +6

    something that is not featured in any of the guided tours, there are quite a few spotting locations scattered across the island. your probably not supposed to vist them, but tell that to a 14yo lad. took quite a bit of bush-bashing, but yeh, there are a LOT of bunkers hidden in the scrub. some were close enough to the gazetted tracks to be signposted, do not enter etc. but the really cool ones were way off the beaten path. some still had the brass plinth with the directions etched in. Id guess they took the role of rangefinders.
    My Great grandfather was a supply officer on Rotto. I never knew him, but my grandmother lived there from about 11-14 years old. we stayed in her actual house a few years ago.

  • @karlbrundage7472
    @karlbrundage7472 10 месяцев назад +2

    On your next foray to the United States I encourage you to visit Fort Miles, on Cape Henlopen in the Delaware Cape Henlopen State Park. They have rehabilitated the "battery 112", a 12" gun barbette, including the gun, the handling rooms, the plotting room and the ancillary facilities that service the weapon.
    In addition, they have a static display of the type of 16" gun that "Battery Baker" had housed before and during WWII, as well as other displays of common artillery and naval guns of the period.
    It's worth the trip.

  • @williamlloyd3769
    @williamlloyd3769 10 месяцев назад +5

    What an incredible display of industrial might from a past age!

  • @pauliec17
    @pauliec17 5 месяцев назад +1

    HMAS Perth please! Me & a friend (with great difficulty) got into the underground sections of these guns by climbing over the steel doors, way back in the 1970s. We saw everything you've shown, but before it was refurbished. There were still sections where there were rifle racks, some of the medical or accommodation sections still had beds that could be folded up against the wall. There were no shells or anything like that, but there was lots of rubbish that included WWII ration tins & packets, bakelite electrical fixtures, cloth-covered wiring & even some WWII era newspapers & magazines. The engine rooms still smelt of diesel & oil. The gun mechanisms in the turrets were in pretty good condition. We were about 15 or 16 years old & did this 3 times over one summer holiday - never once did we think to bring a camera! The rails for the railway line were all there but this was way before they were refurbished & reopened. Oh, and we walked from the ferry jetty to the guns every time!

  • @c1ph3rpunk
    @c1ph3rpunk 10 месяцев назад +3

    Reminds me of a couple of the old gun emplacements in Hong Kong we had to work around, and include in, new construction a decade or so ago. NW corner of the Island, Mt. Davis, Jubilee Battery, was really cool being able to get around them once they were cleaned up and restored. No gun left unfortunately but the emplacement makes a wonderful viewing station of the harbor.

  • @PaulfromChicago
    @PaulfromChicago 10 месяцев назад +29

    The naval stuff is great, but I want more of the Aussie pokémon.

    • @marckyle5895
      @marckyle5895 10 месяцев назад +1

      Your PokeWombat would have a bad time against a wild Poke ClockSpider

    • @arkdeniz
      @arkdeniz 10 месяцев назад +2

      You mean Quokemon, surely?

  • @martinh8784
    @martinh8784 10 месяцев назад +2

    There are similar emplacements in Auckland/New Zealand. Coming from Europe, I was always amazed about these "splinter-proof" gun emplacements. Given that they are on the other side of the planet and "small targets", it makes sense to me now.

  • @willmetz1490
    @willmetz1490 10 месяцев назад +3

    You should cover the batteries in the golden gate passage near San Francisco. The guns themselves aren’t still in the mounts but they have the gun barrels around

  • @billyhouse1943
    @billyhouse1943 3 месяца назад

    Thank you so much for this video. Very informative. I’m 81yo and have no chance to see these kind of things in person. I’m enjoying your channel so much. Central Texas, USA

  • @sixstringedthing
    @sixstringedthing 10 месяцев назад +31

    I loved the part where Drach said "check out these Quokkas!" and then he Quokka'd all over the place.
    Alrighty then, Meme-Parrot Engagement Duty fulfilled. Time to watch and enjoy the video.

    • @luckyguy600
      @luckyguy600 10 месяцев назад +1

      Large RATS indicative to the area.
      Here where I reside people love our Tree Rats, better known as squirrels.
      Each to their own.

    • @michaelwise1224
      @michaelwise1224 10 месяцев назад +2

      @@luckyguy600
      Squirrels are indeed rodents.
      Quokkas are marsupials. Perhaps you’re making the same misidentification as the Dutch when naming the island in the 17th century.

  • @Salamandra40k
    @Salamandra40k 9 месяцев назад +1

    ngl I read the title as "The most affordable coastal defence emplacement" and I was like "how much to get one for myself?"

  • @philcleaver2703
    @philcleaver2703 10 месяцев назад +2

    Very informative clip I actually live in Perth and never knew this existed Ripper of a video thank you

  • @SingMineshaftGapInAFlatMinor
    @SingMineshaftGapInAFlatMinor 10 месяцев назад +2

    20:00 Great view of the gears, Drach! I was expecting to see a bunch of messy, heavy grease instead of paint, then wondered where said grease would go. On the bottom, that channel isn't a post-war quakka water slide, is it a drain channel for grease?

  • @briannicholas2757
    @briannicholas2757 10 месяцев назад +1

    Drach is the only visitor not tempted to pack up a quokka and take it home, but had to be searched leaving the shell room 😅

  • @lordhumungous7908
    @lordhumungous7908 9 месяцев назад

    Perth is my home city. When I was a child, we had family holidays at Rottnest nearly every year, sometimes twice a year in the 80's-90's. (It's too expensive now for working families. I think Bali holidays are cheaper, these days.)
    I had a guided tour of the guns during a school excursion. I remember the tour guide telling us that a ship would tow a practice target out at sea. But the gun crew were instructed to try to aim shells just next to the target because the target was too expensive to be destroyed. The insides of the turret and other parts you showed weren't accessible to the public at the time.
    Thanks for visiting and thanks for the video.

  • @mflashhist500
    @mflashhist500 10 месяцев назад +1

    I’m glad your visit was so successful! Ours not so… It was a 37deg C day with crippling humidity, the poor little train expired from heat exhaustion on the way up the hill then later we were stuck on a tour bus with no aircon and no opening windows 🥵. Oh well that’s Australia for you…. We hope to go back for a better day !🤣

  • @Cosmic.G1234
    @Cosmic.G1234 9 месяцев назад

    I live in Perth and I’d like to thank you for showcasing our great guns and quokkas

  • @dmcarpenter2470
    @dmcarpenter2470 10 месяцев назад +2

    Interesting subcaliber setup.

  • @BlackHearthguard
    @BlackHearthguard 10 месяцев назад

    We used to cycle up there in the 80's and explore the tunnels, was a great adventure for us as kids. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here mate, come back any time.

  • @ross.venner
    @ross.venner 10 месяцев назад +1

    Congratulations, an excellent exposition of a mount of the period. I would love to see a comparison between the British hoists and the American "dredger" hoists, for which I have encountered very strong claims.

  • @davetooes6179
    @davetooes6179 9 месяцев назад

    I was part of an Army unit tasked with supplying equipment, food and personnel during 1970. My only claim to fame was being able to drive a truck around the island. Others either walk or take the bus. The most fun was taking Army personnel and their family over to Rottnest for the school holidays. It was a fun time as we followed the Swan River down to Fremantle. As we got further away from the land the high spirits quickly disappeared as sea sickness took over. If it wasn't my turn at the wheel then I was tasked with hosing down the decks and trying to keep the sea sickness under control.
    Rottnest is a wonderful place, at that time it was also a great spearfishing area

  • @frankgulla2335
    @frankgulla2335 9 месяцев назад

    Thansk you, Drach

  • @davidhobson7652
    @davidhobson7652 10 месяцев назад

    My grandfather was part of the guard unit of these coastal defense posistions after he got a medical downgrade from wounds after fighting on Kakoda in Papua New Guinea

  • @karlericson2
    @karlericson2 9 месяцев назад

    If you’re interested in this sort of thing and you can’t get across to Rottnest, visit the WW2 tunnels just north of Fremantle, the other side of the train tracks at Leighton Beach. Only open to the public on a Sunday. This video is really great - the author has done really well. Teaching history and making it interesting.

  • @briansmith7791
    @briansmith7791 10 месяцев назад

    Nice description. I immediately noticed Rottnest in the title, because the Rottnest Lighthouse figured prominently in the description of making port in "Silent Running" by James Calvert, his memoir of his WWII submarine service. Fremantle served as a major base of US submarines operating in the South Pacific, China Sea, and Java Sea areas.

  • @jasonz7788
    @jasonz7788 10 месяцев назад +2

    Awesome thanks

  • @OZLAPN
    @OZLAPN 10 месяцев назад +1

    Thanks for your video back in the 70s we would holiday on the eastern end of the island (Kingstown Barracks), which back then was controlled by the military. This end of the island was basically as it was back in the 40s. We would walk and ride our bikes to Bickley Battery where they had a six inch gun that could traverse 360 degrees. It was very exciting exploring the tunnels and walking under the metal camouflage netting. Did you get to visit Bickley Battery while on Rottnest?

    • @OZLAPN
      @OZLAPN 10 месяцев назад +1

      From our trip to Albany ruclips.net/video/0foJ-sT5Ybg/видео.htmlsi=s2JYqJZPrOhYEJbe

  • @bradgardner4299
    @bradgardner4299 9 месяцев назад

    Glad you liked Rotto gun battery.
    I played and explored this site and more on the island as a kid in the early 70s

  • @howardbowen-RC-Pilot
    @howardbowen-RC-Pilot 10 месяцев назад +3

    Been there, the Quokkas are very cute.

    • @bkjeong4302
      @bkjeong4302 10 месяцев назад +1

      A shame that cats and foxes have eaten all the quokkas on the mainland into extinction…(that’s the big impact of invasive species in Australia; eating native stuff rather than outcompeting them. Wouldn’t be as much of a problem if every land ecosystem in Australia hadn’t been fucked up due to the complete loss of all ecological functioned filled by megafauna, including the loss of all native apex predators)

    • @grahambaker6664
      @grahambaker6664 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@bkjeong4302Two colonies were reintroduced on the mainland when I was living in Port Kennedy in the late 1990s. One was at the Port Kennedy Scientific Park and the other was at Harry Waring Marsupial Reserve. Have something happened to those colonies?

    • @Kevin_Kennelly
      @Kevin_Kennelly 10 месяцев назад

      They look tasty.

    • @bkjeong4302
      @bkjeong4302 10 месяцев назад

      @@grahambaker6664
      Didn’t know they’ve been reintroduced.

    • @grahambaker6664
      @grahambaker6664 10 месяцев назад

      @@bkjeong4302 I am hoping that they have survived. Just after I left Perth a large bushfire went through the Port Kennedy Scientific Park and I think bushfires have probably hit the Marsupial Reserve as well given it was 25 years ago. The Port Kennedy Scientific Park was created specifically to try to establish a mainland quokka colony and the Park was fitted with dog and cat proof fences, sally port entry gates, and entry was restricted to scientific researchers with permits.

  • @jameshensley1095
    @jameshensley1095 10 месяцев назад

    The introductory music is very nice, thank you.

  • @WarmasterDeath
    @WarmasterDeath 10 месяцев назад +2

    the jetboat tour round rottnest is also great fun, though if you sit righyt up the front like i did you'll get wet, but its a pearler of a ride! haven't had that much fun in a while!

  • @christ4032
    @christ4032 9 месяцев назад

    Very cool to see my little part of the world on one of my favourite youtube channels, thanks for the info !

  • @mark703
    @mark703 9 месяцев назад

    Excellent Video!

  • @StuartWhelan-up8vs
    @StuartWhelan-up8vs 9 месяцев назад

    Absolutely amazing and very informative video thanks for sharing just started watching your videos

  • @NoName-ds5uq
    @NoName-ds5uq 10 месяцев назад

    I spent 2 years based just south of there in the navy a long long time ago. We had to transit up and around Rottnest to leave Garden Island, but Ive never been to Rottnest! You’ve made a decision for me, I’m going back to Perth for the first time in 28 years at the end of April, and I’d already planned to see HMAS Ovens, so now I have 2 plans! Cheers mate! 🤣🇦🇺👍

  • @skywise001
    @skywise001 10 месяцев назад +2

    Best excuse for a vacation ever!
    The place is breathtaking. Though I feel uncomfortable with so few trees. :P

  • @bumpstart
    @bumpstart 10 месяцев назад

    1943/44 there was RDF ( radar ) stations on the island and on the mainland and these where used for ranging ( not direction )

  • @Peorhum
    @Peorhum 10 месяцев назад +1

    It should be noted that each calibre of gun plays a different role in defence of the port. The smaller guns are meant to stop suspect merchant ships, which need to be inspected before allowed entrance. The next larger gun is meant for more serious business, such as engaging warships trying to enter the port. The larger guns(9.2s in this case) are meant to engage ships off shore, that are targeting the port and port defences. I read a detailed history of preparing the Canadian ports for war and they used the same basic British doctrine that the Australian would be using here. In Canada's case they bought old 10in guns from the USN. One of the main problems was not getting the guns themselves but getting mountings for shore installations. In some cases the guns were bought and transported to Canada but then they were have to wait a year or so for the gun mounting to be made and shipped(from Britain). I suspect the same was case in most ports around the empire. Of course, IF able, removing a turret from a ship and placing them on a concrete hole in the ground, can speed that up... if the ground allows for such a hole in the ground and if you have the means or lifting and transporting the disassembled turret to the hole and reassemble the turret in place.

  • @kingjezza1263
    @kingjezza1263 9 месяцев назад

    If you’re still in Perth, you can go to Point Perron as see the batteries and bunkers there that were protecting the naval base next to it.

  • @hippiebroughton5564
    @hippiebroughton5564 9 месяцев назад

    Was there in 1974, when was like little sea side town with two room fibro shacks with push out solid windows .

  • @tonypegler9080
    @tonypegler9080 4 месяца назад

    The Leighton Beach battery on the mainland opposite Rottnest is a good tour as well.

  • @trevortrevortsr2
    @trevortrevortsr2 10 месяцев назад +2

    It looks like the gun at the top of the Mediterranean Steps in Gibraltar when we climbed it in the early 90's - it was not the sanitized track that is there now - the army guys that were we think de commissioning it looked so surprised to see us

  • @Megaloathyou
    @Megaloathyou 6 месяцев назад

    I’m from Perth and used to goto Rottnest a fair bit, been up to the big gun multiple times…had no idea there was a tram

  • @JJAmes-mb4du
    @JJAmes-mb4du 10 месяцев назад +2

    Good video. I enjoyed it. How strange Australia is. They have an island whose main inhabitant is a rat/rabbit thing. I wonder if people would freak out if the island was needed now for an antiship missile installation?

    • @AndrewTBP
      @AndrewTBP 10 месяцев назад

      There’s no reason to mess up Rottnest any further. It’s protected public land now.

  • @Goatcha_M
    @Goatcha_M 10 месяцев назад

    I visited Rottnest Island once with my family.
    My most vivid memory of it was this incredible cove where the water was so crystal clear that you could see the coral 10 metres below like it was right below the surface, no occlusion at all.
    Add to that how swimming in the Indian Ocean is like swimming in warm silk and it was a wonderful day.

  • @Stoic-of-Rome
    @Stoic-of-Rome 8 месяцев назад

    Very interesting. I visited Albany 1 month prior but had to head north to avoid the bad weather which you copped!!

  • @SamAlley-l9j
    @SamAlley-l9j 10 месяцев назад

    Thanks Drach.

  • @wedgism
    @wedgism 9 месяцев назад

    I’m from Perth, Rottnest was our summer holidays, dream island 🌴

  • @AbananaPEEl
    @AbananaPEEl 10 месяцев назад +9

    Cordite: The forbidden Spaghetti

    • @mattwilliams3456
      @mattwilliams3456 10 месяцев назад +2

      Angry pasta.

    • @Matt123a
      @Matt123a 10 месяцев назад

      The number of times people say things like 'I can smell the cordite' when around firearms using gunpowder does my head in.

  • @axelrajr
    @axelrajr 10 месяцев назад

    in the propellant mahazine, i thought what you called a "viewing window" was where the put the lights. so that any sparks, even with electric lighting, is separate from the magazine.

  • @pierremainstone-mitchell8290
    @pierremainstone-mitchell8290 10 месяцев назад

    Thanks muchly Drach! I visited Rottnest back in 1976 or 1977 and I had no idea this was there which in fairness it probably wasn't at that time!

  • @davidlanfranchi8955
    @davidlanfranchi8955 10 месяцев назад

    Watch out Drach...that quokka in the last scene is ENOURMOUS - bgger than the whoke building behind him!

  • @KevinSmith-yo8qb
    @KevinSmith-yo8qb 9 месяцев назад

    Have done this, really interesting

  • @jacobdill4499
    @jacobdill4499 7 месяцев назад

    The Hotchkiss thing you are talking about is still commonly used for large caliber ordinance to allow you to practice on a smaller range. The US Military calls it a subcaliber gun.