Blast from the past as cannon fires up
The Hughes family’s World War I cannon passed its annual test yesterday ahead of its appearance at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Invercargill tomorrow.
It fired two blanks perfectly for owners Neil and Heather Hughes at a range in Otatara.
The German cannon has featured in five Anzac Day services in Southland since the couple arranged for engineer and armourer Hamish Bruce, of Staveley, Canterbury, to restore it six years ago.
‘‘He got it back into a firing condition,’’ Neil Hughes, of Invercargill, said.
The cannon has been owned by the Hughes family for more than 60 years after Heather’s late father, Roderick McDonald, discovered it in a paddock at Colac Bay in the late 1950s.
‘‘It had been taken off a memorial and abandoned,’’ Neil said.
McDonald kept the cannon at his home in Manapouri and did some work on its wheels so it could be moved around.
‘‘Then they [McDonalds] moved to Earnscleugh and it [the cannon] sat up behind their house pointed at the front gate,’’ Neil said.
About 10 years ago Neil and Heather took ownership of the weapon and put it into storage in Invercargill before sending it to Hamish Bruce for restoration. Lochiel wheelsmith Peter Robson recently made new wheels.
Neil understands the cannon was captured by allied forces and was among weapons used as ballast on the ship Cooee as it brought Kiwi soldiers back to New Zealand.
The Hughes’ cannon will fire a two-shot volley just before 7am at the dawn service.
‘‘Then it will fire a three-shot volley to signify the salute,’’ Neil said.