A 12IN. GUN TAMPION FROM H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA, CIRCA 1913

the 15in. tampion cast in brass with ship's motto ENDEAVOUR, now mounted on wooden display board -- 16½in. (42cm.) overall

H.M.A.S. Australia was one of three ‘Indefatigable’ class battlecruisers and the only capital ship to serve in the Royal Australian Navy. Ordered in 1909, she was launched in 1911, and commissioned as flagship of the fledgling Royal Australian Navy (R.A.N.) in 1913. On the outbreak of War, she was ordered to neutralise the German East Asia Squadron (forcing its withdrawal from the Pacific) but several distractions meant the job was done without her support. Assigned to the Grand Fleet thereafter, she was involved in early naval aviation experiments, and eleven of her crew participated in the Zeebrugge Raid of April 1918. On her return to Australia in 1919, several sailors mutinied after being denied an extra day's leave. Placed in reserve, she was broken up in 1924 to comply with the Treaty of Washington.