It would appear that the guns were not received in Sydney with any enthusiasm. No mention of their arrival in October 1858 has been found in the newspapers and it is only mentioned in a reply to a question to the Colonial Secretary by Mr Windeyer reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of 23 March 1861:

‘Have the Government received from England two Russian guns, presented to the colonies as trophies of the Crimean war; if so what has become, or what is intended to be done with the same.

The trophy guns in NSW were initially positioned flanking Governor Bourke's statue on the Domain, near the old Bent Street entrance. The statue was the first sculpture in Australia meant for outdoor exhibition. It was unveiled in February 1842. Although concrete bases had been built for the cannons there does not appear to have been any plaques describing what they represented. In 1927 the statue was relocated to the corner bay of the west wing of the Mitchell Library in consequence of the expansion of the boundary of the Royal Botanical Gardens in 1910 and the construction of the new State Library of New South Wales. The two Russian guns may have been moved sometime before the statue as the Sydney Morning Herald of 21 June 1927 contained a photo of one gun and a report:

‘Two Russian cannon which formerly stood near the entrance to the Botanic Gardens were dismantled and removed to Centennial Park, where they have lain uncared for during the past twelve months.

‘It is stated that the failure to re-erect the guns is due to a dispute whether the Agricultural department or the Public Works Department should bear the cost of placing the trophies in position.’’

M A

Morskaya Artillerii

АΛЕКСАНΛ : ЗАВ

Aleksandrovsky Cannon-Foundry

НАЧ БУТЕНЕВЬ-1

36 – фун.

36-Fun

M A

Morskaya Artillerii

The two Russian guns presented to Victoria arrived on the ship Crimea on 12 October 1858 and consigned to the Government store-keeper. Despite some opposition the Victorian Government placed the guns in the Botanical Gardens on an elevated spot overlooking the southern and eastern portions of the city. It is believed the guns were moved in April 1867 to their present location at Victoria Barracks on St Kilda Road. Both were cast under the direction of John Armstrong, Director at the Alexandrovski foundry. They carry the double eagle of the Russian Tsar and are stamped with the initials `MA'; the translation of which is Morskaya Artillerii, meaning naval artillery. The guns had been taken at the Redan fortification in the Crimea in September 1855.

South Australia – 24 Pounder Long Cannon Model 1800

The Adelaide Times of 22 January reports ‘Major O'HALLORAN, in rising to move the resolution standing in his name, said that he had recently been obliged by a gentleman with a copy of the correspondence which had passed between the "Under-Secretary of State for War and Mr De Salis with respect to the reservation of a certain portion of the Russian trophies of war for distribution in the Australian colonies, and the perusal of that correspondence had induced him to move the following motion—

‘That an address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief, requesting that he will be pleased, on behalf of this Province, to petition Her Most Gracious Majesty, to reserve some portion of the trophies taken by the British troops during the late Crimean war, as a gift to her loyal and devoted subjects of South Australia.’

The South Australian Weekly Chronicle of the 28 August 1858 reporting on the opening of the second session of the Legislative Council held the previous day His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief informed the assembly ‘in compliance with your address of the 20th of last January to myself, I requested through Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State, that Her Majesty might be graciously pleased to direct a portion of the trophies taken by the British troops during the late Crimean war to be presented to Her Majesty’s loyal subjects in this province. I have directed the correspondence on this subject to be laid before you; and you will have the satisfaction of learning that Her Majesty’s Government has ordered two guns taken in the Crimea to be handsomely mounted, and presented to this colony, on behalf of Her Majesty.

In August 1867, at the request of Colonel JH Biggs - the Volunteer Military Force Commandant, the guns were moved from the Gardens and tested to determine if they could be used as part of the ceremony to welcome HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. The test was successful and, mounted on new wooden carriages, on 31 October nine rounds were fired from the guns mounted on South Terrace when the Galatea, the vessel carrying HRH, was sighted. The guns were manned by members of the Adelaide Artillery. On HRH landing, a 21 gun salute was fired by No 1 Battery at Glenelg. Following the visit the Russian guns were retained by Army for drill purposes. Years later they were mounted on their Venglovski style carriages in front of the Armoury on North Terrace. There are unconfirmed reports one of the guns was fired daily as the time signal at midday. No record has been found to confirm this but records do show a brass 6-pounder was used for this purpose in December 1853, replaced by a ship’s carronade in 1863 to be replaced by a 6-pounder in 1872. The noon day gun practice ceased in 1882. The Register reported on 14 November 1901 one Crimean War gun was moved to the new military parade ground (Torrens). When the second gun was moved to Torrens Parade Ground is not known but both remain there to this day though they have been moved to different sites on the parade ground on several occasions.

Both were cast under the direction of Alexander Foullon at the Alexandrovski foundry. They carry the double eagle of the Russian Tsar.

Hobart. The gun in Hobart is a 36-pounder carronade, serial number 30139, manufactured in 1847 at the Alexandrovsky Factory, whose Director at the time was Nikolay Fedorovich Butenev (Boutenev?).

Despite the dispute to retain both guns in Hobart it appears from a report in The Mercury (Hobart) of 7 April 1866 ‘The gun sent out to this colony by Her Majesty in 1860 (sic) as a trophy of the Crimean war has hitherto found no resting place at all fitting or suitable. We are glad to hear, however, that that difficulty has at length been overcome.’ The report indicated it was to be placed in the new Town Hall rather than near the Franklin Monument. But Carronade 30139 was located in Franklin Square at least until the Second World War and for a time it was lost to public view. Brigadier Dollery located the barrel of the Carronade in a Council pound at Sandy Bay and the carriage at another Council Depot in 1950 and wrote to the Town Clerk asking if it could be placed at the reserve at the entrance to Anglesea Barracks. The Hobart City Council agreed to this and it was relocated to its present site following restoration by Tasmania Command Workshops in 1951¹⁵. The relocation was not without comment as letters to the Mercury noted that whilst the restoration was admirable it was a gift to Hobart and it should not be in the hands of Defence.¹⁶

Launceston. The gun in Launceston is a 36-pounder carronade, serial number 26851, manufactured in 1840 at the Alexandrovsky Factory, whose Director at the time was Ivan (John) Armstrong.

The Launceston Examiner reported on 7 April 1860 ‘The Russian gun presented by the Home Government to the citizens of Launceston as a trophy of the late war has been landed from the schooner W. B. Dean.’ In an article written by Marion Sargent of the Launceston Historical Society, the history of the gun in Launceston is revealed. ‘The cannon was placed in the middle of Cameron Street outside the newly-opened Launceston Mechanics’ Institute as part of its opening exhibition. The gun was moved from that dangerous and inconvenient spot to a council yard where it languished until 1862. The council discussed where it should be located – Prince’s Square or the Horticultural Gardens? It was placed near the entrance to the Horticultural Gardens, which later became City Park.

Hobart

New Zealand¹⁷

Two 18 Pounder guns captured at Sevastopol during the Crimean War were given to the Auckland Provincial Council in New Zealand by the Imperial Government following a request around 1857. The guns arrived in Auckland on the clipper Excelsior in April 1859 and being serviceable were based at Fort Britomart throughout the New Zealand Wars. Property of the Auckland City Council they were offered for sale or loan to Mr H. Seccombe in 1875 for purposes unknown but the offer did not go through. Instead the Council placed them in Albert Park. Permanent concrete pads 15 feet long and 11 feet wide with upstands on three sides were built for them around the flagstaff late in 1882 by contractor Alexander Archibald of Mt Eden at a cost of £50 18 00 ($A101.80). The concrete pads were broken up in 1905 when large RML guns were placed around the South African War (Boer War) Trooper’s Memorial. It is believed the Crimean guns were moved around the park on several occasions during the next decades. One was relocated near the bandstand, but later were seen by the Princes St gates. Around 1942, with the conflict reaching the Pacific region during World War II, the guns were removed from the park and are believed to have been placed at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club at Okahu Bay probably saving them from the scrap-iron drives. Following the war they returned to Albert Park to stand guard over one of the entrances from Princes Street but in October 1951 the City Council decided to permanently remove them from the park. Protests failed to prevent their removal and they returned to the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. Exposure to the salt air near the Club saw some deterioration to the guns. In October 1979 the Army offered to undertake restoration work on the guns in exchange for one gun being transferred to the new QE II Army Memorial Museum at Waiouru. This was agreed and both guns were moved to the Royal New Zealand Naval Dockyard , Devonport, for sand blasting. In 1980 they were moved to Papakura Camp where the 1^st Field Workshop, Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, painted and reassembled the guns.

Royal Akarana Yacht Club

Gun, serial number 1709, was returned to Royal Akarana Yacht Club and placed near the flagpole where it remained until recent times (2018) when it was removed for restoration. It is difficult to read the markings on the trunnions, the right trunnion is rusted but years ago Master Gunner Wally Ruffell and researcher Colin Andrews translated the inscriptions. They reveal the gun is an 18 pounder manufactured in 1817 at Lugansk (now Luhansk, eastern Ukraine). At that time the factory was under the German Director, Nielus. This is the oldest gun of the 10 sent to New Zealand and Australia and the only one made at the Lugansk factory.

National Army Museum, Waiouru

Royal Akarana Yacht Club