THE "BIG GUN" 155MM GUN
AT 2922 LOGAN ROAD, SPRINGWOOD,
BRISBANE, QLD
USED DURING WWII

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Photo:- Peter Dunn

155mm M1A1 "Long Tom" gun in front of the Big Gun Butcher at Springwood

 


Photo:- Peter Dunn

Though it has been erected to look a bit like an anti-aircraft 
gun it was actually used as a field artillery gun

 

The Logan City Council web site describes the "Big Gun" at 2922 Logan Road, Springwood, as a 155mm field gun which had a range of almost 30kms. It indicates that some of these guns were placed in strategic positions such as Moreton Island and the mouth of the Brisbane River.

Bernie Smallwood purchased five of these guns in 1958. Four were cut up for scrap, but one was kept and could be seen in Bernie's wrecking yard at Springwood as you drove to the Gold Coast. Bruno Laspina started “The Big Gun Fruit Mart” in 1972 near Bernie Smallwood's original wrecker’s yard. The 7 ton gun was hoisted onto the roof of the fruit mart. The complex was redeveloped in about 2004 and the gun is now positioned on its own special stand sitting high for all to see.

The American made 155mm M1A1 "Long Tom" gun was a semi-mobile gun. It had a maximum range of 18.28 kms and could fire either a 96 pound high explosive round or a 109 pound armour piercing round.

Another myth busted! - I have heard another story that suggests that the "Big Gun" on Logan Road is one of the guns from the Forts at Magnetic Island. The guns at Magnetic Battery on Magnetic Island were a different type of 155mm gun. They were a 155mm US made M1918 gun used for coastal artillery.

Another myth busted! - Chris Peters had heard an incorrect story that the "Big Gun" near the intersection with Kingston Road, used to be one of about 12 anti-aircraft guns positioned on top of Mount Gravatt during the war years. There were never any anti-aircraft guns on Mount Gravatt. There was only ever one American searchlight (not 12) on top of Mount Gravatt from April to June 1942 operated by the 94th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald of 29 August 1947 reports that an
auction was held at Moorebank near Sydney on 28 August 1947
where eleven 155 guns sold along with a variety of other guns.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Ray Denning (now deceased), then President of the Mt. Gravatt District Historical Association for his assistance with this home page. I'd also like to thank Chris Peters from Charters Towers for his assistance with this home page.

I'd also like to thank Haydn Neal, Mrs Bainbridge and Russell Miller for their assistance with this web page.

 

Can anyone help me with more information?

 

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This page first produced 11 September 2005

This page last updated 18 January 2020