WWII Matilda tank restored by Lancers Memorial Museum in Parramatta
A 1945 Matilda tank, abandoned in a paddock until 1997, has been painstakingly restored by a team of volunteers.
Parramatta
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ARMY veteran Ian Hawthorn never imagined hearing the rumbling of a World War II armoured tank, but after six years of restoration work, the Matilda — nicknamed Ace — crackled to life.
“When I see it and hear it and smell it I can only think of it being a miracle,” Mr Hawthorn, 72, said.
“To think of all the trials that Ace has gone through to get here, it truly is an amazing miracle.”
But it wasn’t divine intervention that helped the volunteers from Parramatta’s Lancer Barracks Museum find Ace, rather a few schooners of beer.
“In 1997 a few volunteers heard some gossip about the possibility of a tank being in a paddock somewhere in Moss Vale but after hours of wandering around they couldn’t find anything,” Mr Hawthorn said.
“They went to the local pub — they thought if anyone would know about the tank it would be the locals. So after a few rounds were bought, they knew exactly where it was; to the centimetre.”
In 1997 the volunteers paid the landowner $400 for the rusting hulk that had been sitting dormant for more than 50 years.
In a remarkable twist of fate, Lancer Association president Les Betts discovered the tank was the very one he had driven at the Battle of Balikpapan in Indonesia during World War II.
“Our primary motivation initially came from a Lancer member and former WWII veteran Les Betts who drove this very tank off the landing craft in 1945 into action,” Mr Hawthorn said.
“It had the same number ‘29923’ and after they picked Les off the floor when they told him the news, it had become a passion.”
Within a year Mr Betts died and the project was put on hold until six years ago.
After fishing out weeds, uprooting trees and clearing a path, the tank was eventually moved to the Burilda Pistol and Archery Club in Cecil Park.
“We were working out of a garden shed, with some canvas, tarps and a shipping container. Not exactly a heavy automotive workshop, but the volunteers, to their credit, persevered,” Mr Hawthorn said.
A small team of seven core volunteers worked on the build while others raised the needed restoration funds.
“It’s taken us six years and 20,000 volunteer work hours to get Ace running,” Mr Hawthorn said.
“During our restoration we all lived, breathed and slept Ace. It was a passion that had its frustrations but that has ultimately been very rewarding.”
Ace is the only tank of its kind in Australia.
Its permanent home will be at Parramatta Lancer Barracks, where the volunteers will take it for regular runs to keep it active.
The public is welcome to view the tank on the museum’s open days.
ACE'S SPECS:
Make: Matilda, 3-inch howitzer
Weight: 26 tonnes
Crew: four people
Speed: 15km/h
Action: July 1, 1945 at the Macassar Straights, the largest ever armoured assault by Australian military at the Balikpapan in the then Dutch East Indies.