Category Archives: Student Posts

For my Directed Studies project I am working with the National Trust of South Australia to complete an interpretive study of Collingrove Homestead, located approximately 7km southeast of Angaston. I recently travelled to Collingrove Homestead with Sue Scheiffers, the Vice President of the National Trust of South Australia Council. My aim for this trip was to familiarise myself with the property and the artefacts, and to identify the themes displayed in the collection.

Collingrove Homestead was built by pastoralist John Howard Angas, who arrived in South Australia in 1843. Built in 1856, what started as a modest 3 bedroom cottage flourished into an elaborate homestead over a 60-70 year period. The property is gorgeous, covering an area of approximately 8 hectares. The homestead is a blend of traditional Victorian architecture and modern Edwardian architecture and styling. The homestead and its collection are a reflection of five generations of Angas family members that resided at Collingrove.

Potential themes identified from the collection include:

Family: Family photos are placed throughout the house, depicting five generations of the Angas family. There are also two extremely detailed family tree charts, the family crest and the family bible on display. There’s an overwhelming sense of family pride and respect throughout the homestead.

Pastoralism: Raising livestock was an important aspect of the Angas dynasty. Photos and paintings of the livestock bred and sold are found throughout the house, as well as many documents detailing the breeds, wool etc.

Travel: Exotic artefacts are found in the main hallway and include: stuffed tiger and deer heads, antelope skulls, a leopard pelt, African weapons and bullet shells just to name a few. These exotic keepsakes illustrate a sense of adventure and a passion for travel.

The property really was a delight to visit. I instantly fell in love with the collection. Next time you’re in the Barossa Valley be sure to visit Collingrove Homestead, you will be amazed!

John Howard Angas

Family photo

1. 

Tiger ornament

 

Before the commencement of the gradiometer surveys testing was conducted over known fire rocks in order to establish the intensity of readings that may be experienced. Testing was conducted at blowout A, as there is an abundance of limestone fire rock lying on the surface of the dunes. These fire rocks may well have been in-situ hearths but have since been uncovered as the dune has eroded away. When I conducted the test it became apparent that not all of the fire rocks gave a strong magnetic reading when traversed with the gradiometer. By accident a theory has arisen as to why this is the case. When testing, a particular fire rock (figure 2) was traversed and gave a high magnetic reading of -24 nT (figure 1). It was picked up off the ground and analysed and set back down in the same position, though by accident it was turned over before being set down again —meaning that the opposite side was then facing upwards. When traversed again the readings were very low (1nT), so my theory is that the face of the rock providing the high readings was the side of the rock that experienced the fire event—hence containing the remnant magnetisation—whilst the other side did not. This seemed to be the case for many of the other rocks tested in this way. There needs to be much more study done in this area, but further testing was beyond the scope of this paper, though this did bring about questions regarding the survey. If the hearths were no longer in-situ and individual stones were shuffled around due to an ever moving dune system, would they be able to be detected by magnetic methods if the fired surface of each rock was not facing upwards? The small amount of testing done during this study would indicate that they would not.

Figure 1: Field Testing – A Bartinton Grad601 sensor sitting on top of a fire rock, providing a reading of -24 nT.

Figure 2: The limestone fire rock that was tested.

While reading through the G-2 Operation Forager Journal for cave locations, I’m looking for a specific set of words and designated map numbers that reveal something about the caves. However, I’ve also come across some slightly disturbing reports regarding civilians on Saipan which is reminding me of the human aspect of the War, instead of the inhumane military reporting of the ‘enemy’.

The following are summaries of reports of civilians from the G-2 Operation Forager Journal for the date 21 June 1944.

The Nurse

As of the 20th, at 1900 hours “one army nurse was captured with throat cut”. She was found within a cave in the area of TA 106CD with a dead small boy, also with a cut throat.

At 1102 hours on the 21st it was reported that the nurse stated that her husband was an Army officer in charge of two companies in the area where she was captured. She said she had been wounded and could not be moved, so that when her husband left, he cut her throat and the boy’s.

At 1420 hours, Sergeant Ohta, after further interrogation of Soga Hanako, the captured “nurse”, was found not to be an army nurse. Her husband was attached to a naval construction unit on Tinian and  not an officer on Saipan. She had been on Saipan with her 12 year old son for two months,working as a nurse and midwife while waiting for transportation to Japan.  She had killed her son because of his wounds and then tried to kill herself.

The Father

On the 20th at about 1500 hours, two Japanese boys, aged 11 and 7, were discovered and questioned by interpreters, Lieutenant Haza_d [sic] and [Rank unreadable] Higashi. The oldest boy stated that a Japanese civilian was still alive in a dugout about 600 yards from the A Division Command Post.

On arrival at the dugout, the interpreters “found the dugout guarded by Marines and there was a man inside holding a dead, bloated and maggoted child in his arms and another child and woman also dead lying on the floor.”

Attempts to talk the man into coming out of the dugout were conducted, but the man replied that he had nothing to live for as his children were dead, and he wanted to be left alone.

The interpreters knew that at the current time that they would not be able to coax the man out, and left with orders to the guards to watch the man, but not shoot. About 200 yards from the dugout, the interpreters were called back by the Marines. The man had hanged himself.

The Collateral

At 1450 hours, the 105th infantry reported that around “300-500 enemy troops and [a] good deal more civilians on Nafutan Pt. running into bluffs and caves and terrain getting more rugged. Interpreter being employed to get civilians out of caves before sealing in soldiers who refused to surrender.”