QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Queensland’s unique monster

INTERVIEW: with Mr W. J. Barrett NORTH IPSWICH QLD 4305 BY:

Mark Whitmore, Curator, History and Technology

DATE:

28 May 1988

RE:

CAPTURE OF "MEPHISTO"

Mr Barrett was original1y in the 25th Battalion, 7th Brigade. This was later combined with the 26th Battalion. Mr Barrett does not recall whether this was before or after the capture of the tank. In both Battalions he was in 'D' company 16th Platoon. Mr Barrett saw 'Mephisto' when he was relieving troops holding an outpost line beyond the tank. He says that he spoke with the soldiers who captured it and that they told him that they had to bomb (ie. grenade attack) it to clear the Germans out. This occured very shortly before he passed the tank. He recalls: That 'Mephisto' was a whitish colour, lighter than German field grey and not at all like the colour of English tanks. He doesn't think that this was caused by dust. The tank was not lying over on its side, as far as he can recall. He doesn't remember it being in a shell hole. He does not recall the colour being green, neither does he remember the name and figure on it. The tank didn't look badly damaged on the outside, although there was a hole in the top where it had been bombed. He does not think that a caterpillar track had come off. “Australia is not the first place you would look to find the sole remaining example of a First World War German tank,” wrote Mark Whitmore, author of the first comprehensive account on Mephisto, in his introduction for the Queensland Museum’s excellent 2008 guidebook (cover, below left). During his time as QM’s Curator of History and Technology (1986–95) following its relocation to South Bank, he documented some memories of Ipswich resident William Barrett, a soldier who’d come upon Mephisto shortly after its capture 70 years before; a year later, in 1989, the two recorded an interview (below) in front of Mephisto. “Few Museum artifacts can have been collected at greater risk to life and limb” concluded Mark Whitmore, “long may it continue to attract both local and international visitors to be intrigued and to reflect on its story enmeshed with the lives of an earlier generation of Queenslanders.” Material resproduced courtesy of Queensland Museum Mark G. Whitmore CURATOR HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

Above: No longer required, the second steamroller waits at the side of Gregory Terrace as its counterpart drags Mephisto through the gates of the Museum before a small crowd of spectators, on 22 August 1919, and (top) The Courier’s quaint report one day later of the “impressions” of the successful move. Main background: the ornate Exhibition Building, which was home to the Queensland Museum 1899–1986, is shown here in 1910. Images courtesy of National Library of Australia and State Library of Queensland

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