Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler
Thanks Hanno, it's certainly another epic journey for what is already an extraordinarily well travelled CMP! I presume it's ex-KNIL and was brought to Australia soon after disbandment in 1950, possibly via Darwin. It would have been simple enough to ship from somewhere like Surabaya or even Bali where these vehicles are known to have been stationed. I'd be interested to get your thoughts.
|
Well travelled it is! How it came to Mintabie is a mystery to me and open to conjecture.
I can see they needed a sturdy SWB chassis as a drill platform, but why import one from Indonesia if there were comparable if not identical chassis available in Australia? The CMPs used by the Dutch Army came from the Netherlands (ex-Canadian Army), Australia and the Indian Army*) - where this FAT came from.
In 1949 when the Dutch finally threw the hat in the ring, they handed over most of their equipment to the Indonesian Army. I have no information about them selling off any of their equipment. They must have had more than enough, so maybe they sold off trucks to dealers? I have no idea how international the second/ third/ fourth hand truck market was in the 1950s.
Like I said, it’s open to conjecture as we simply do not have enough information at hand. One day we’l find out. For now, I am very happy to see this unique CMP in safe hands
*) British Indian Army units occupied Indonesia after the Japanse surrender until the Dutch could muster enough troops to take over their equipment and continue the occupation and ensuing war