Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In September of 1996, my family and I were travelling back to Australia from Papua New Guinea by yacht 'Finesse of Tasman'. We cleared customs at Samarai Island.
Here we met Lennox Smith who was living alone in a small hut facing onto the China Strait.

Before the war, Lennox trained as a jeweller and instrument maker in Warrnambool, his home town. We came from Portland, close by, so he called us his 'one talk'.

Lennox served in Tobruk and later in New Guinea. He was present at the Japanese surrender in Milne Bay and talked about that event. He had a series of diaries on his time in the army and we don't know what happened to them after his death.

After being discharged from the army, Lennox moved to PNG based in Port Moresby and developed a successful jewellery and Omega watch business which he ran for many years. At retirement he moved to Samarai Island.

He asked us to carry a souvenir of his time in Tobruk to Australia (see photo). It was a 'barrel droop meter' which was placed on the barrel of a cannon after it had heated due to repeated firing. The measurement was used to calculate the trajectory of subsequent shots.

We took this instrument to the war museum at the War Veterans Retirement Village on Collaroy Plateau, where it is now on display.