130th Anniversary of Launceston Volunteer ArtilleryPrint Page

The plaque details the history of the Russian artillery piece captured at Sebastopol during the Crimean War.  The history was documented by the Artillery Historical Trust of Tasmania to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Launceston Volunteer Artillery.

The Launceston Volunteer Rifle Corps was founded in 1860, although it was disbanded due to insufficient government and public support in 1868. Ten years later, the Tasmanian Volunteer Rifle regiment was formed, with two companies in Launceston and four in Hobart, and the Launceston Regiment can boast an unbroken lineage from that time.

While modern guns are ringing Moscow and Leningrad with barrages of steel and high explosive, Launceston has an interesting link with a Russian campaign of 87 years ago, when the Russians were not our allies. It is a Russian gun acquired by the city after Britain's victory in the Crimea in 1856. It is believed that the unwieldy weapon is one of a considerable number distributed throughout the British Empire as tangible symbols of victory. It stands in lonely dignity in City Park. It has been difficult to obtain reliable information about the gun and further information on the subject would be welcomed. There is a similar one in Franklin Square, Hobart. Although there is an inscription on the gun nothing can be learned from it because it is in Russian.
Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), 27 November 1941.

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