Carrier photos in service

[Jared Archibald]

G'day Matt and everyone,
I looked over the first set of images that Matt uploaded and was very interested in the last one of the series of five. Looking at the vegetation and the dress of the two crew I was quite sure that it was somewhere in the Top End -(northern end of the Northern Territory for all you overseas blokes) - where I have lived for the last 30 years. Images of carriers in this area during the war are few and far between so it was good to see.

I then read Matt's post to say that this carrier was #2573....... that rang bells and I consulted the list of remains I have inspected over the years in the NT. There it was - a few years ago I was given a right hand front mudguard that had been found in a wartime tip somewhere south of Darwin. It had the build plate insitu, along with a jack holder that had been bolted next to the light guard. The serial number on this plate is 2573!! The guard even has the same bend in it as in the wartime photo. In Matt's image, there is a water bag (?) on the right guard but above and below it can be seen the jack holder base and screw top. In a later photo featuring a bogged carrier and a dog, an empty jack holder bracket can be seen in the same position. At the right rear where this holder would normally reside is what looks like extra 2 gallon water tins - a must in the high heat conditions of the NT. It would seem that this was an unofficial field modification carried out in the NT to allow for the carrying of extra water. It is interesting to note that on the Australian 2 Pounder carriers the jack bracket was mounted on the RH front guard from the factory.

So, I would assume that carrier #2573 went to Japan as scrap in the early 1950s with most of the others that were sold off up here - but its right guard with build plate somehow survived. See the attached pics....